Art Audio Vinyl Reference vs Maxxed Out K&K

Kevin had the goods at RMAF, just not in the finished package. The room sounded great. After dealing with Kevin on the phone a number of times it was great to finally meet him in person. I hope he keeps both lines running.

I own one of Kevin's upgraded Maxxed out phonostages and it would be a pity to see him discontinue it. I would think that his existing product support is from a money concious group that want big performance from little exspense, not big performance from big exspense. I'm sure he would have a handful of dedicated followers but my guess is that would be the exception and not the rule. Hopefully he would still support his existing product which has garnered a healthy following. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Kevin's existing products, but the buck would stop there for me unfortunately.

Taylor, et al. I hope you know I was joking in my post above, wherein I suggested that in my brief conversation with him, Kevin regretted that he was stymied in completing the Sonus Veritas by "business". He seemed quite happy with things as they are and indicated in no way that he has any plans of changing his business model. It seemed that the SV is just a fun project for him that he likes to pursue when he can grab some time for it. So, chill. It's all good.

I don't think he's planning to discontinue the kits. I spoke to him a few weeks ago and he said he's actually planning to increase the options for the Maxxed Out by, if I understood him correctly, creating modular back panels that will allow customers to choose the standard MM/MC configuration, or MC/MM with a capacitance adjustment dial, or even MC/MC.

Late last spring, when he did my upgrades, I had him mod my Maxxed Out with a MM capacitance dial on the back panel so I could play with MM cartridges. It makes this terrific phono stage even more versatile and at no sonic cost. And because I have a two-armed 'table and sometimes run two LOMCs rather than a MM and a MC, I bought one of his premium SUTs, based on the same LL1931 trannie as the Maxxed Out. To my ears it easily sounds as good as the MC input on the phono stage (the only real difference is extra IC) and it's cheap. Now I have nearly the same flexibility as a 3-input phono stage like the Rhea or Steelhead or Wavestream at a much lower price point. And I actually prefer the sound of the Maxxed Out to the Wavestream, which I auditioned in my system.

So I think this phono stage is a wonderful deal and Kevin should be applauded for making it available. That being said, I *will* audition the Venice when it's ready. Kevin says it's miles ahead of the Maxxed Out, so it must be amazing.

I can say definitively that Kevin is NOT going to abandon kit sales in favor of Sonus Veritas phono preamps. These two items are targeted at very different groups of buyers and deserve to share the stage together. In fact as the previous poster wrote, Kevin is working on improving the Maxxed-Out Kit on a continuing basis. The latest upgrade is worth applying to both the original kit (2003-2007) and Maxxed-Out Kits sold prior to September 2010. Starting with the kit I am building this week, the upgrades will be "on the board".

BTW, this is Kevin. Thanks for all of the kind words from you owners!

Cheers and Happy New Year!