Searching for that certain "tone"

[guitarpath]

The KM 1000 is the loudest, with the most" bluegrassy" tone and cutting power in a banjo-infected environment, the 700 is in the opposite camp, with a warmer and rounder sound

The Loar 700 does not have tone bars (which may explain the warmer, rounder tone). The km1000 does have tone bars.

A better comparison to the km1000 would be The Loar 600 (both tone bar mandolins).

[joni24]

Just a follow-up to this discussion... the Kentucky KM-1000 was delivered today, and it's everything I had been looking for. The tone is exactly what I wanted, it feels really good to play and the price was right (got it used from the Mandolin Cafe classifieds). Thanks to everyone for your input, since I wouldn't have known to take the risk on this without all the encouragement. This site is truly awesome.

[Andrew B. Carlson]

I could have quoted you word for word in September. My MC classifieds KM-1000 is more than satisfying. Just remind me to never play a super high end mando.

[joni24]

Follow-up #2: This week I took my KM-1000 to its first jam (with me, anyway). All I can say is Wow! I'm only a beginning intermediate player, but this baby really sounded spectacular. It gave me the bluegrass "bark" that I was looking for, and cut thru the other instruments with a sweet woody tone for my breaks. I'm in love.

[yankees1]

Another point to remember is that a mandolin sounds different to you when you are playing than it does when you are listening to someone else playing it. I urge you to evaluate instrument using both methods. Get someone else to play it and stand in front and away from them a bit. It'll give you a more balanced perspective on how the instrument really sounds.
Bill

Most definitely! It is difficult for me to describe tone of an instrument. Loudness is easy but tone is subject to many factors and everyone hears tone differently.