Kroma Thais Loudspeakers at the Audio Show Deluxe

Last weekend, Whittlebury Park Hotel near Silverstone in Northamptonshire once again played host to the Audio Show Deluxe.

This was the fourth time this show has taken place at this venue and it’s always a great weekend. This year was no exception – it felt busy as well, which was really encouraging to see. It’s a smaller show than many and it has a very informal, relaxed feel to it. There is never too much hustle and bustle in the corridors and it’s all very friendly and informal. Some of the listening rooms can get busy – it was standing only at times in the Boyer rooms, but it never took long to find a decent seat and enjoy the music.

Boyer Audio decided it would be useful to have a second smaller room at this years show, the feedback of their main room in the Monza Suite is always exceptional, but the thought process was to show off some alternative equipment in a more real world setting. Kroma Atelier loudspeakers have always featured in the Monza Boyer room with models such as the Jovita and Matilde taking centre stage, this year the mighty Callas took the honours in this room.

As ever, this system sounded incredible, but around the corner, Boyer’s smaller room was producing some incredible music. In this second room, the Kroma Thais were used. The Thais are physically a very manageable speaker, standing at just a metre tall, and are a room-friendly design which is critical for the typical UK living space. They measure 230mm wide and just under 400mm deep.

I ordered myself a demonstration pair of Thais in striking Seychelles Blue a couple of months ago. The plan was for these speakers to be used at the Show, and then they would be shipped up to me afterwards.

In the standard white Krion finish, the Thais are priced at £22,950 a pair – the colour option adds £1,050. As well as blue, there is the choice of black, dark grey, off-white, bronze, and green. The blue finish certainly makes a bold statement, which is exactly what I wanted with them!

This system also featured the superb Engstrom Arne Integrated Valve Amp along with a Cinnamon Audio Calle DAC. Music was streamed via Qobuz using a Metronome Le Streamer.

Shunyata Research cabling was used throughout, along with the brand new Delta X Power Conditioner. An Alpha X NR was used on the Arne and an Alpha X XC was used to connect to the Delta X to the wall socket. All other cabling was Theta, which is the second level of Shunyata cables. I spoke to a couple of customers at the show who were pleasantly surprised when I told them that it was Theta cabling. It is incredibly capable given the price points.

An Altaira X Grounding Hub was also used, as was a Network Acoustics Tempest Switch.

It was an exceptional system – the Thais have superb transparency and they disappeared beautifully. Whilst open and detailed, they possess a real sweetness and delicacy about the way they portray the music. They are tonally positioned just off neutral and offer a slight warmth to the final sound. They make a refreshing change to many speakers on the market today which I find too forensically detailed and they end up pinning you down, sounding forced and artificial as a result.

The Thais are a fun loudspeaker which have balance, poise, and –importantly – they excel at allowing you to connect with the music on an emotional level. I played DJ for a while on Sunday morning and the feedback was exceptional. I’ve already lined up a home demonstration with a good customer of mine who travelled down to specifically see this room. Given the compact nature of these speakers, it was interesting to hear time and time again people ask where was the subwoofer hidden!

The Thais take their time drawing you in and will reward you hugely. They are quite an obvious step up from many of the usual suspect speaker brands including Bowers, KEF, PMC, Kudos, and Harbeth to name but a few.

This pair of Thais will be making an appearance in our demonstration room at some point over the next week or so and I’m really looking forward to showing them off, as ever demonstrations are always welcome in our recently refurbished demo room. I’ve also a pair of Kroma Leonore on order in red for demonstration, the Leonore is a standmount from Kroma’s next range up, these should be making an appearance later in the Spring.