odyssey amp's how do they compare to others


are other amp's just over priced? could most people tell one amp from another if it was covered with a cardboard box?the stratos seem to get rave reveiws.am I just crazy to send more money on other move expensive amps.thanks in advance to everybody this is a great website
nikonf
Jetter,

No problem at all. My response wasn't directed at you at all. As for A/B compos, well, it's a very personal hobby after all. Even if somebody tries to be as fair and objective as possible, the whole listening environment, system setup and synergy, etc. might be in favor of one amp over the other in this particulat setup. No problem at all, since this is pretty much taken for granted.
There's a reason why there's ss and tubes, dynamic, ribbons, and Estats out there, and I'll never argue with somebody's personal taste. Hey, as a matter of fact, I'm actually selling tons of pre amps for several tube manufacturer if our customers want to run a tube pre. It's a no bullshit approach, of which I'm very proud of. Also, the factory direct marketing allows me this and gives me other areas of freedom as well. Personally, I love the discussion of comparing a variety of products within the umbrella of system synergy, and with my 14 years of experience in this business, I think that I have a pretty good background.

HOWEVER, if somebody blatantly tries to discredit my business, and ultimately also my life's work, then of course, I have to act somehow and set the record straight. Guys, think about if somebody's doing the same thing at your work - business place. It's not a pretty idea, and because this is a hobby industry, and as such very shaky in the first place, one can do real damage in a heartbeat because with the freedom of such great forums such as this also comes flipside in that it can easily be abused for alternative motivs or plain mean behavior.

Just my thoughts, and thanks for the support from you guys,
Klaus
Why so many great reviews? Ask why someone trashes them when they havnt even listened to them. I want to hear from people who know of what they speak (have at least heard the thing they are trashing). Who has compared these amps to other well known amps? Skeptical is one thing but you gotta give it a fair shake.
I own the Odyssey Monos. Probably some of the first Klaus did. I bought them from a local dealer when Odyssey wasn't sold direct. I have had them for 3+ years and haven't looked to upgrade and I haven't posted a review on AR. I have compared them to a number of other amps. Did other amps sound better? Sure there were other amps that I liked marginally better, but the price was more than marginally higher for the other amps. These amps took a long time to break in (longer than 30 days Klaus), but I haven't regretted this purchase in any way. I will say that before the monos I had the stero Stratos and that the monos are much better in my setup.
I was one of the original people who purchased the monos. They are very fine amps and are hard to beat at 2K. I would have to say that they are very musical amps that are amazingly fast and detailed. I sold my pair of monos a few months back and have replaced it with a custom amp built by Andy Bartha. For a "stock" amp the Odyssey is very hard to beat.
I have owned Symphonic Line amps. First,the RG1 mk2.It was a good match with my Martin Logan CLS 2 with the old copper version of the audioquest lapiz and clear cables. I played and compared it with the old Krell KSA50 (too dark in sonic character), VAC90C (not enough power,but a killer at moderate volumes with female vocals), Melos 400 GOLD (talk about huge holographic images popping in my living room), and Rowland 8 (I mostly fell asleep while listening to music). Above are the personal snapshot impressions I've come up with over a few years of audio listening comparing Symphonic Line to other namebrands. Today I own a RG4 MK3 monoblocks. I am in the process optimizing the system by trying out Straightwire cables. So far I have gotten good results matching the amps with CAT SIG pre-amp, SONY SACD, and a good assortment of copper and silver cables from Music Metre, XLO, Tara Labs,and Dunlavy. However, I am getting the itch to switch back to tubes again. Perhaps an ARC VT200 for my ML CLS2Z, and Thiel 2.3, I heard they work well with these speakers,hmmm... Isn't this fun?