I had promised I would post a few comments about the Odyssey Mono Extreme SE monoblocks with the recent iteration that Klaus is offering with the thicker double sided circuit boards (which can be either red or blue).
I previously had the regular Odyssey Mono Extremes which were built in early in 2007 so they were the recent redboard version of those.
I was quite pleased with those, but well... you know how it goes.
I did not have any other SE versions so the comparisons are based upon going from the regular Mono Extremes to the SE version with the thicker circuit boards. The mod also included new wiring, some select cap and resistor replacements, and speaker post upgrades among other things.
Will try and be concise here and not too metaphorical.
The amps have about 400 hours of break in on them so are settling in pretty well at this point. I am guessing a bit more break in will happen.
The good:
-More transparent while retaining smoothness
-better resolution
-Better detail, recording room cues, and ambiance
-better depth of soundstage
-bigger soundstage
-speakers disappear easier
-slightly faster lower midbass
-sweeter midrange
-blacker background or quieter
-the Odyssey visegrip bass control remains
-build quality is precise and immaculate inside
The neutral or interesting or bad depending upon what your preferences are:
-Soundstage is more forward in my opinion
-lower midbass is faster which can sound slightly leaner
-the gain or input impedance is somehow slightly different (Have no idea if this is true specification wise) as I can now turn the volume pot on my preamp up higher which is usually supposed to be a good thing. Now can get to around 1-2 o'clock on the dial for max listening level where as before could not get past 12.
-Also allowed me to switch to the MC input on the phonostage where I was kind of in no man's land before between the MM and MC inputs with my Dynavector 10X5 high output MC cartridge.
-these amps take significant amount of labor to build so the turnaround wait needs to be planned for (will take a few weeks once you are in the queue). Klaus' communication and service thoroughout the process was excellent and he is always fun to talk to.
Overall, this was an excellent upgrade in my opinion in my system.
Several incremental improvements in many individual areas which when combined together make quite a jump in overall performance. Keep in mind that the regular Mono Extremes already are in the same league with some of the better amps out there so it was not like there was some major deficit or problem issue that had to be addressed with an SE upgrade.
A very good value for the price(which is negotiated with Klaus based upon the unit you are upgrading from).
Bottom line- the instruments and music sound more real.
Congratulations Klaus-this is a very fine product.
