New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!

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daveaux419

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New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« on: 6 Sep 2014, 12:40 am »
So, I walk up to my back door this afternoon and low and behold there are two white boxes with Odyssey spelled out on both :D I became like a kid on Christmas! I could not unwrap them fast enough but first I had to lug them up to my media room. These babies unpacked came in at 64 pounds a piece! One of the amps had some damage to one of the speaker inputs due to the freight carrier. The folks at odyssey responded within hours of my phone call and are going to have the replacement out first of next week. (Thats real customer service). I little bit of a back story. This little journey started last year with a phone call to Klaus. This is my first set of real audiophile grade amps and was blown away by the ability to have a real frank conversation with the owner and builder about my vision. It was an amazing conversation! At the very end Klaus finally had to say "David, thats all I can put in these puppies, I got nothin left"! I have already started the burn in process and will be giving a very detailed review of these Frankenstein like machines.In a few months I will be getting my Legacy Signature SE's to do my hard core listening.

I want to give a special thanks to Klaus.  Your customer service is top notch in so many ways but one really sticks out, your attention to what your customer really is asking for. Thanks again Klaus and looking forward to years of listening.  :thumb:

JerryM

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Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #1 on: 6 Sep 2014, 12:59 am »
Congrats!  :beer:
Break in time will seem to go by much faster if you post some pics of your new amps.  :green:

germay0653

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #2 on: 6 Sep 2014, 08:02 pm »
+1 on the pics.  Would love to see those monsters, inside and out!

daveaux419

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Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #3 on: 7 Sep 2014, 02:27 pm »
Photos will be on the way shortly!

Wizard454

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #4 on: 8 Sep 2014, 10:02 pm »
King Klaus is (or has been) building a set of Stratos Kismets of me as well. We've been waiting months for the caps to arrive so seeing as you units have been completed and shipped mine should be on the way very soon. Like yours mine have everything including the kitchen sink, bath tube and anything else he could stuff into them. You call yours Monsters and Klaus is calling mine Fred Specials. Mine will be paired up with newly acquired PMC PB1i's running thru a SF Line 2 SE+ (or my Bryston BP26) with two sources being a tricked out Chris Johnson Anthem CD1 SE+ and a Cary CD308. I'm betting we will both be extremely pleased with the product Klaus has put together for us.
Enjoy your Stratos Kismet monster amps and I would enjoy compairing notes with you down the road.
Can't wait!!  :D

soundofrockets

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Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #5 on: 8 Sep 2014, 10:07 pm »
I received my special klaus amps last week.  Seems like he is busy making more amps. 

rikhav

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Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #6 on: 10 Sep 2014, 03:00 pm »
Hi
Caongrats to you all

Can you all list the extras which have gone into your amps

Rgds

Cheeseboy

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #7 on: 27 Sep 2014, 11:20 pm »
I received my special klaus amps last week.  Seems like he is busy making more amps.

I can't wait to hear them this Sunday with your system.   What extra Klaus Sauce is in these monsters? 

klaus@odyssey

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #8 on: 29 Sep 2014, 11:00 pm »
You really don't want to know about the sauces, hehehehe....Have fun guys,  just keep in mind that Sunil has loooong ways to go in the break-in process.....

worldcat

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #9 on: 15 Oct 2014, 02:29 am »
What do these amps sound like?

Wizard454

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #10 on: 28 Oct 2014, 09:51 pm »
In response to: worldcat - "Quote" What do these amps sound like?

After about three weeks always on & 50hrs of playing time I'd say they do not bring any sound of their own to the party, very neutral. What they do bring is a true rendition of what they are fed. The "sound" produced from the amps will be dependent upon your source, speakers, cabling and quality of recording. 

daveaux419

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Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #11 on: 28 Oct 2014, 10:53 pm »
Hey everyone, I was the original poster and had a change in speaker choices. I went with the VR-33 with upgrades. It almost doubled the price of the speakers which worth every penny. So, on the amps, I only have about 200 hours. So far there has been a slow evolution in the overall sound. Right now the sound stage is still a bit under developed and I am still lacking true bass performance. This is to be expected so no worries there. The one thing that has gotten loads better is resolution. It has slowly gotten better over time but truly started to come into its own over the last 50 hours or so. I have a full review coming in the next month or so.

targa02

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #12 on: 28 Oct 2014, 11:11 pm »
Klaus was obviously quite busy shipping amps recently.  I received my Kismet ++ in chrome Khartago monos right about October 1st.  I must say they are beautiful.

They are replacing Pass Labs XA-30.5 and nCore monos that I was switching back and forth on.  I feel the Kismets are still breaking in after over 400 hours.  The changes are getting smaller and smaller as more hours are put on them.  They certainly need a good long break in. 

Oh, one more thing, the Kismets are staying...
 :D

BobC

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #13 on: 29 Oct 2014, 02:03 am »
I received my Kismet ++ in chrome

pics bro, pics!

firedog

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #14 on: 29 Oct 2014, 04:48 pm »
Saying the Kismets sound better than the NCores is quite a statement and quite an endorsement for the Kismets.


Klaus was obviously quite busy shipping amps recently.  I received my Kismet ++ in chrome Khartago monos right about October 1st.  I must say they are beautiful.

They are replacing Pass Labs XA-30.5 and nCore monos that I was switching back and forth on.  I feel the Kismets are still breaking in after over 400 hours.  The changes are getting smaller and smaller as more hours are put on them.  They certainly need a good long break in. 

Oh, one more thing, the Kismets are staying...
 :D

targa02

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #15 on: 29 Oct 2014, 06:49 pm »
I will take some pics tonight.


pics bro, pics!

targa02

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #16 on: 30 Oct 2014, 04:01 am »
Attached are photos of my Kismets in Chromed-faced Khartago cases.  You will notice how highly reflective they are!  Probably not a look for everyone, but I love it.

I apologize for my pics oriented upside down.  I do not see an option to rotate view.

I am feeding the Kismets with Mac Mini>>Empirical Audio OR4>>NAD M51.  The Kismets are driving Martin Logan Summit Xs. 






BobC

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #17 on: 30 Oct 2014, 04:32 am »
Those are sweet!

targa02

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #18 on: 30 Oct 2014, 04:38 am »
Saying the Kismets sound better than the NCores is quite a statement and quite an endorsement for the Kismets.

Very much agreed!!  I love my nCores.  The nCores are very clean sounding and I could easily live with them.  The Kismets are more musical in general and the highs are more enjoyable specifically.  The highs are not rolled off at all with the Kismets, but are more pleasing to my ears.  I am very sensitive to higher frequencies.

Please note, I am using ESLs (Martin Logans), so dynamic drivers may respond differently.

Randy

Re: New Stratos Kismet monster amps have arrived!!
« Reply #19 on: 1 Nov 2014, 11:40 pm »