Hello Klaus and others,
I'm a young-ish (26) music-lover in Central Indiana (Lafayette), and I had no idea we had this kind of home-grown high-end audio enterprise here in Indiana. My current system has a variety of components at several different price points, the most expensive of which is a third-hand (but very functional) Mark Levinson No. 38 preamp, and the least of which is my Musical Fidelity V-DAC. I also use a Marantz single-tray CD player as a transport, and a second-hand Hafler 9270 provides the power. I've been very happy with the Hafler's performance, but I'm also interested in what else might be out there that would be an improvement, for not a whole lot more (the Hafler was originally just under $900 new).
Based on the above, I've been taking a close look at the Odyssey Khartago. My dream amp (the one I'd buy if I had the cash) is the GamuT D200. I'm particularly intrigued by its use of a single very beefy MOSFET device per rail per channel, for a total of 4 in the amp, which is done to improve coherence and speed, reduce mismatches between devices, and simplify repairs. Also, its reviews indicate that it is a very neutral-sounding amp with plenty of haul-ass when the bass demands it. However, at my age and salary (and with a house and car payment) I'll need to wait a while until some D200s trickle down onto the used market. The Khartago, on the other hand, is very much within reason.
It's easy to tell from the photos of the Khartago's interior what is going on with the Khartago PCB layout, and I appreciate the engineering sense that this conveys. I'm curious to know how difficult it would be to build a model based on the Khartago's PCB, but with only one output transistor installed per rail, per side. Would this simply cut the output power of the amplifier in half? This might make it possible to offer an even more basic version of the Khartago, as well as a lower-powered mono-block, for a small cost savings, while providing a product that is upgradable to higher power output.
Is this something that there might be any interest in?
