Crites modified Chorus II’s here with the impressive little Nuprime IDA-8.
I’ve been DEEP down the hifi rabbit hole and once had a dedicated listening room where attaining optimum acoustics was a fundamental priority over all else. Once I felt I had achieved that (through the proper implementation of a variety of acoustic treatment devices and many, many room measurements to get a favorable room decay and nicely balanced spectral curve) I went straight for the bucket list vintage and new-vintage “big dogs” as I was a junkie for life like dynamics, scale and spooky realistic resolution/dimensionality. I tried a lot of impressive combinations over the course of my journey, focusing primarily on large speakers (Infinity QLS-1, JBL L250, Altec 19, Magnepan MG-IIIa, Acoustat Spectra 22 as well as some DIY open baffle designs, all supported with a distributed bass rig w/ room correction filtering to overcome any compromises in LF reproduction suffered as a result of a speaker placement that achieved optimum sound stage resolution...always seemed to be a give and take with those two things), big SS amps (Aragon, Krell, Threshold, Soundcraftsmen, Hafler, Emotiva), SET and high powered tube amps, pure class A SS amps, tube, hybrid and SS preamps, and dozens of different DAC’s that offered the best bang for the buck in the $1-2K range. With all this at my immediate disposal to mix and match, I managed to assemble several jaw dropping systems that left audiophiles and non-audiophiles astonished. It was a hell of a ride that lasted about four years, but I decided I wanted to go back to playing music with a gigging band (I’m a drummer) and forfeited my dedicated listening room over to that pursuit.
However, I didn’t want to totally forfeit my hifi, so I set out to assemble the simplest and most capable rig I could (using the systems I had assembled in the dedicated listening space as my yardstick), within a reasonable budget and that fit within the speaker placement constraints dictated by my living room (large and with a favorable acoustic profile) where this rig would be assembled.
I didn’t want a stack of separates, so I looked to the latest and greatest amp/preamp/DAC units that had hit the hifi scene (this was a few years ago) with a focus on a unit that had a great preamp section and main outputs so I could have a few subwoofers and also try a host of separate amps (just to have a little fun now and then) and settled on the IDA-8.
One of my favorite combinations I cooked up in the dedicated space came from Altec 19’s with either a Pass F5 clone (pure class A) or Tube Audio Design TAD-60 with KT-88’s switched to ultra linear or EL34’s switched to single ended (class A), an Accurus RL11 SS pre that had been extensively modified and a Schiit Gungnir DAC being fed by a Windows laptop that had been tweaked for hifi Tidal streaming. I felt the instant and effortless dynamics and clarity offered by horns and the scale and weight offered by a large woofer is what I wanted in the living room since I’d also be sending all audio from the TV through the audio rig for movies and tons of live musical performances via YouTube and other streamed video content. The Altec 19’s were simply too big for the area where the speakers had to go, and I would be limited to placing the speakers no more than a foot from the front wall. Klipsch was the obvious solution, but Cornwall and Khorn would be to big so I considered the bigger KLF models, the bigger Epic models, Forte II, Chorus II and Cornscala. A mint pair of Chorus II’s were the first on that list to become available so I pulled the trigger. Initial listening supported my doubts that they’d be a capable and convincing substitute for Altec 19’s in stock trim, so I immediately swapped out the HF diaphragms and crossover network for units from Crites. I then added a few 12” subs (with digital room correction filtering) into the mix and got exactly what I set out to achieve. One my audiophile friends (who owns only modern, big money hifi...Spendor, REL, Naim, etc) spent a Sunday afternoon listening to the rig and said it reminded him of the Altec 19 based rig in every way (for which he had very high praise). Now, I was using the Pass F5 clone for amplification for most of that session, but did switch back to the IDA-8’a on board chip amp so he could hear the difference and he noted a slight degradation of sound stage resolution/dimensionality and a top end that got a touch shrill at times...but was quick to add that the on board amp was well beyond adequate for casual listening and I agreed completely.
I've also tried a pair of Golden Tube Audio 300B SET monoblocks and found that to be a particularly "lush" listen. Very smooth, very easy...and got loud enough to drown out conversation and still maintain total clarity. Can't say what it did to LF because I kept the subs on. Additionally, I once tried the TAD-60 with KT-88's and that was very, very nice as well. I'll be revisiting that amp in that rig in the not too distant future.
I think the Chorus II’s are very impressive speakers and can offer exceptional levels of performance when tweaked a little and matched with suitable upstream electronics. And with these items addressed appropriately, find them perfectly capable of playing in the same league as speakers that get much more attention and praise.
Oh, and as always, a good room helps considerably in this regard.
-Michael
Here are some pics of the dedicated listening space for reference...
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