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Anyone remember speakers by Kindel Audio?

I owned 2 different pairs of Kindel speakers, the Phantom and the PLS-a, a friend still has the PLS-a's and they still sound fantastic. Am I the only one who was into these? Bill Kindel is a talented speaker designer. Seems like with the demand for speakers that are efficent the PLS-a at 94db would be great for SET guys. They were an 8ohm nominal load but do have a dip to 2ohms. This may drive some SET amp nuts. The PLS-a is big(130 lbs. each) and dynamic! The Phantom was a smaller speaker for a more intemate listening room. They had fabulas sound and were very transparent! I miss them sometimes.
maxgain
rcprince
3,078 posts
 
I remember them, but only through a Stereophile review of what I guess were the Phantoms. Same with the Robertson amp you referred to in a prior thread. Those were the days of the Stu Hegemanns (he was from where I live, by the way, though I don't think I ever met him) making speakers in their garages. Now such a designer would have a hard time getting his designs reviewed by the 'Phile, I'd imagine.
maxgain OP
526 posts
 
The PLS-a was reviewed by TAS, I was not aware of the Phantom review in the Sfool.
rcprince
3,078 posts
 
I'll have to check the back issues, I remember the review. Back then, the review might even have had some critical content!
maxgain OP
526 posts
 
Ain't that the truth. I think they(TAS) missed the boat somewhat.If I recall they hooked them up to some big bad SS amp(94db with 1 watt, come on who needs 200 watts per channel!)and muttered something about "Black Sabbath". Du Du, Du Du, oy oy oy oy, du du de de di de du da, I'm going off the rails on a crazy train, didly , didly ,didly ,didly! (Ya like the guitar transcription part?)Seriously these things work wonders with a 50 watt tube amp, why the hell didn't they use a more appropriate amp, guess they didn't cost enough for them.
rlapporte
62 posts
 
I sold the Kindel line in Michigan through my store, Great Lakes Audio, for a couple of years. They were quite good for the money. The large line source model was dynamic, coherent but a little rolled off in the top. Overall, a good speaker line that wasn't marketed well enough to take on the big boys.
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