Kaiser Kawero Classic

Tbzc

Well-Known Member
Feb 4, 2011
89
102
938
Tbzc thanks very much, very informative:)
Yes i do think Kawero would be magical paired with Aries Cerat pre+monoblocks.
Regarding the TAD Ref One i would like to hear them with CH Precision pre-power.

Just one more thought, I personally would not pair Tad with CH. in my opinion, Tad needs natural sounding power amps with little bit of musical soul, like Gryphon Mephisto, Msb M204, hybrids like Tenor or even Aries Cerat Ianus. You need to pair Tad with musical sources and amplification to get the best out of them. I have tried two CH products at home (a1 with Kaweros and p1 in my present system with Tad). I do think they might be neutral (technically speaking) but certainly not natural. This is what I have heard at home and and shows. But this is just my humble opinion which is biased by my musical preferences...
 

Thieliste

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2014
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Just one more thought, I personally would not pair Tad with CH. in my opinion, Tad needs natural sounding power amps with little bit of musical soul, like Gryphon Mephisto, Msb M204, hybrids like Tenor or even Aries Cerat Ianus. You need to pair Tad with musical sources and amplification to get the best out of them. I have tried two CH products at home (a1 with Kaweros and p1 in my present system with Tad). I do think they might be neutral (technically speaking) but certainly not natural. This is what I have heard at home and and shows. But this is just my humble opinion which is biased by my musical preferences...

Yes you are right Kawero would be better with CH and TAD with Gryphon Mephisto or Aries Cerat Ianus.
 

Hyperion

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
441
231
950
Stockholm/Sweden
Kaiser Kawero or TAD Ref One ?
Which one is an overall better performer ?

These speakers are as different as any (dynamic) speaker could be in my opinion. Kaiser are among the most organic, homogeneous
and fluid speakers on the market. TADs are more monitor like, having one foot in the professional world and the other one in ours.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se
 

Hyperion

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
441
231
950
Stockholm/Sweden
Just one more thought, I personally would not pair Tad with CH. in my opinion, Tad needs natural sounding power amps with little bit of musical soul, like Gryphon Mephisto, Msb M204, hybrids like Tenor or even Aries Cerat Ianus. You need to pair Tad with musical sources and amplification to get the best out of them. I have tried two CH products at home (a1 with Kaweros and p1 in my present system with Tad). I do think they might be neutral (technically speaking) but certainly not natural. This is what I have heard at home and and shows. But this is just my humble opinion which is biased by my musical preferences...

Agree. This is all in line with my experiences as well. We're carrying Kaiser (as well as CH and Absolare), where I've also auditioned TAD Reference several times. We've got a pair of TAD Compact Evolution One here (client trade in) which I've listened to at length recently. These are great and very well built speakers, but very different from Kaiser.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se
 

Hessec

Well-Known Member
Oct 27, 2018
20
36
93
45
Southlake TX
I personally love them, but I wrote the check for them as well. I have them in an all Kondo system very similar to what is shown at Munich albeit in a much smaller room. They are not speakers that are going to blow you away with their dynamics or resolution. While I feel they have both, they do not sound like a TAD or the huge Focal's and there is no way they ever will. Physics are heavily in play here. They provide me with an enjoyment of the music like no other speaker has. Your brains turns off "analysis" and starts cranking the seratonin... I have had crazy resolving systems and find that after a while I am bored with them or avoid them altogether because as mentioned above, it's too intense good or bad. When I demo'd these, we listened to the Magico M3/ S7 on the same electronics back to back. I felt the Kaisers had better dynamics than the M3 but were far superior in their natural portrayal of "music" not "sound".

As an aside, the Kondo electronics can really change their character with the tubes and cables used. All Kondo tubes and all Kondo cabling is very nice but lacking some sparkle and jump. I have also used the Kawero's with an all Soulution setup and thought it too was very good. My room is heavily treated (all Kaiser treatments) 19x15x11.
 

Hyperion

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
441
231
950
Stockholm/Sweden
I personally love them, but I wrote the check for them as well. I have them in an all Kondo system very similar to what is shown at Munich albeit in a much smaller room. They are not speakers that are going to blow you away with their dynamics or resolution. While I feel they have both, they do not sound like a TAD or the huge Focal's and there is no way they ever will. Physics are heavily in play here. They provide me with an enjoyment of the music like no other speaker has. Your brains turns off "analysis" and starts cranking the seratonin... I have had crazy resolving systems and find that after a while I am bored with them or avoid them altogether because as mentioned above, it's too intense good or bad. When I demo'd these, we listened to the Magico M3/ S7 on the same electronics back to back. I felt the Kaisers had better dynamics than the M3 but were far superior in their natural portrayal of "music" not "sound".

As an aside, the Kondo electronics can really change their character with the tubes and cables used. All Kondo tubes and all Kondo cabling is very nice but lacking some sparkle and jump. I have also used the Kawero's with an all Soulution setup and thought it too was very good. My room is heavily treated (all Kaiser treatments) 19x15x11.

Spot on. Kaiser is "all about the music". They are not speakers for the ones chasing constant improvement of typical HiFi qualities - resolution, transparency and "speed". They're all about forgetting about all that :).

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se
 
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Tbzc

Well-Known Member
Feb 4, 2011
89
102
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Reading above comments may lead some members, imho, to wrong conclusion: that Kaiser is musical speaker and Tad not. Let me give you some perspective about my sound preferences: before owned Kaiser Kawero I had owned Harbeth 40.1. I loved them both. Very organic, holistic, musical speakers. So, I am not seeking for technically perfect hifi speaker highlighting speed and transparency. For me music reproduction at home is about emotion and connection, involvement with music. After owning Tad Ref One for two years I am convinced that Tad are very musical speakers on a much higher level then other speakers mentioned. Hearing classical music through Tads is unbelivable realistic experience, for example. BUT you need to work hard to get the best out of them. If you do not own dedicated room and you are not prepared to really optimize the whole chain and spend considerable time on speaker positioning, do not buy them. When I heard them at dealer’s place my ears almost hurt from thin, analytical presentation (ch pre, pass monoblocks). It is much easier to get musical satisfying result from Kaisers. The magic of our passion is not only the final result but also the path to it. For me, Tads are like arabic horse: enormous potential but hard to master. Therefore you get double pleasure when you are successful
 
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CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
Before owning Tad Ref One, I had Kaiser Kawero Classic. Although later has its merits, Tad plays in different, higher league. It is real full range speaker with unbelievable dynamics and transparency. My friend still owns Kaweros and when I listen to them I now find them colored and much less realistic. When he listened at my place he was blown away by transparency, dynamics and energy of music. For him, the presentation of Tad was a bit over the top: to realistic, not allowing to listen to them as a background music, to intense experience.

On the other hand, the best sound I have achieved with Kaweros was with tube amps: Ayon Vulcan evo and, interestingly, Audionote Jinro, which was magical combination. Very musical. The designer of Kaiser listen once to Audionote integrated at my place and he was very pleased with the sound. So, if you are thinking about Aries Cerat tubes, it might be excellent combo.

Tad for me is like a classic, muscle car. The design is more than 10:years old and IMHO they still can compete with most of the speakers in that price range, be it Magico or Wilson or Focal. I actually think there is a hidden potential in the crossover of Tad. Where Kaiser uses top parts by Mundorf and Duelund, the parts in crossover in Tad are really cheap. I just can not imagine what could be achieved if someone would build externall crossover with top parts!

Agree with Tbzc 100%.
I listened to Kaisers many times in Hong Kong. They are sweet and musical. Best for small-scale music.

TAD Ref 1 belongs to another league which is much much higher.
Yes, it is an allrounder and can compete with any of the current top speakers of other famous brands.
However it's too big in size for home environment of most audiophiles in Hong Kong.
 

sujay

Member Sponsor
May 5, 2012
516
219
955
Singapore
Reading above comments may lead some members, imho, to wrong conclusion: that Kaiser is musical speaker and Tad not. Let me give you some perspective about my sound preferences: before owned Kaiser Kawero I had owned Harbeth 40.1. I loved them both. Very organic, holistic, musical speakers. So, I am not seeking for technically perfect hifi speaker highlighting speed and transparency. For me music reproduction at home is about emotion and connection, involvement with music. After owning Tad Ref One for two years I am convinced that Tad are very musical speakers on a much higher level then other speakers mentioned. Hearing classical music through Tads is unbelivable realistic experience, for example. BUT you need to work hard to get the best out of them. If you do not own dedicated room and you are not prepared to really optimize the whole chain and spend considerable time on speaker positioning, do not buy them. When I heard them at dealer’s place my ears almost hurt from thin, analytical presentation (ch pre, pass monoblocks). It is much easier to get musical satisfying result from Kaisers. The magic of our passion is not only the final result but also the path to it. For me, Tads are like arabic horse: enormous potential but hard to master. Therefore you get double pleasure when you are successful
Reading above comments may lead some members, imho, to wrong conclusion: that Kaiser is musical speaker and Tad not. Let me give you some perspective about my sound preferences: before owned Kaiser Kawero I had owned Harbeth 40.1. I loved them both. Very organic, holistic, musical speakers. So, I am not seeking for technically perfect hifi speaker highlighting speed and transparency. For me music reproduction at home is about emotion and connection, involvement with music. After owning Tad Ref One for two years I am convinced that Tad are very musical speakers on a much higher level then other speakers mentioned. Hearing classical music through Tads is unbelivable realistic experience, for example. BUT you need to work hard to get the best out of them. If you do not own dedicated room and you are not prepared to really optimize the whole chain and spend considerable time on speaker positioning, do not buy them. When I heard them at dealer’s place my ears almost hurt from thin, analytical presentation (ch pre, pass monoblocks). It is much easier to get musical satisfying result from Kaisers. The magic of our passion is not only the final result but also the path to it. For me, Tads are like arabic horse: enormous potential but hard to master. Therefore you get double pleasure when you are successful
absolutely agree.while all speakers need dedication and commitment to get placement right, cone floorstanders, especially, demand proper placement and listening space. In my view, a lot of people draw the wrong conclusions about cones based on sub-optimal placement. My humble Aviors sound amazingly coherent and dynamic when properly placed, oriented and optimized for the listening space, especially in near-field. In stark contrast to a pair of Stenheim Ref which I listened to recently - were poorly placed in a medium sized room with glass walls on one side.
 

merrillaudio

Well-Known Member
I had them across my room in LA at the LA Audio Show. We did extensive listening as one of the SF Audio Society officers was interested in purchasing them. They played well loud, could handle a lot of power and was very nice to listen to. It was a little on the rougher side with all recordings. For the small number of drivers, it was dynamic. At the end the office was given such a deal on the Lawrence Audio Double Bass Speakers the Kaisers were knocked out. The Lawerence did have a flatter response, still with tight mid and bass, with deeper bass. MSRP both were in the same ball park. I would put the Kaisers in the same group as the Hansen speakers - same tone and dynamics.
 

Birdwatcher

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2018
218
98
135
EU
Has someone heard the Kaiser Kawero Classics with Zanden? What can I expect from a Zanden 9600 MkII with matching phono and pre with the Kaisers?
Do they match well complex big orchestra, powerful acoustic music like flamenco with clapping, percussion, loud shouting singers and guitar, or bold blues sounds, or colorful deep basso continuo in baroque music, just to name some of my preferences?
I could buy the speaker for my Zanden system, but won’t be able to hear them together before decision.
Thanks for any input.
 
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