Stratos Extreme Mono's

jdodmead · « **on:** 18 Feb 2007, 12:05 pm »

Hi my name is Jeff, I'm new here, but have been a member of Audiogon and AudioAsylum for quite a while.
I just sold a pair of Nuforce 9.02's, because of the RFI issues. Just picked up a used pair of the Extreme Mono's yesterday and I wasn't quite expecting the build quality and mass of these amps. They are HEAVY compared to the 8 lb amps I was using. They don't have quite the bass slam that the Nuforce amps had, but they may also have been accentuating it. I probably could have gotten by with a stereo stratos, but I will be keeping these. These do each have two pairs of speaker connections, does it matter which one I use? I couldn't find anything in the manual on that.
Thanks
Jeff

TomS · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 12:42 pm »

Jeff,

Welcome to AC. It's a great place to be.

The second pair is for bi-wiring with two sets of speaker wires. Not very common to do that but you could. My bi-wires were joined together at the amp end, not requiring two sets of posts. I found that single wired with jumpers on the speaker ends sounds fine in my situation.

You may be right on the NuForce regarding accentuating it. My Extremes have more "slam" than I could ever need.

Please tell us about the rest of your system.

Tom

jdodmead · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 01:18 pm »

Thanks for the welcome.
My system consist of:
Von Schweikert VR4jr's skeakers
VTL TL-5.5 pre amp
Cary 303/200 cd player
VPI Scout turntable w/ koetsu Black cart
BAT VK-P5 phono pre
it's a combined 2 channel h/t system, but with focus on 2 channel even though the ht side is darn good also.

Jeff

TomS · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 01:31 pm »

Very nice system Jeff. I'm sure you get a lot of listening pleasure from it already.

I also just acquired a pair of Mono Extremes in the past week, so we're kind of in the same boat. I've heard them a few times before and have a lot of respect for what Klaus does and the way he does it, so I decided they were something I wanted to try in my own system. So far so good as they settle in. I'm playing with various power cords at the moment.

To get the full measure of this I'd like to try a Candela at some point too. When I heard them as a system at RMAF 2006 they were very good.

Also, there is an "SE" version of the Mono Extremes that a few people here have as well. I don't know all the details, but I'm sure Bunky or someone here could tell you about it. There are also numerous threads on it in the Circle.

Tom

dangerbird · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 04:31 pm »

I have a pair of the mono se's,, all I can say is very,very,sweet,,as close to "reference" as I'm gonna get,,I'll let WCW III, chime in as he knows more about the specific's.I've owned many amps,, adcom,anthem,parasound,belles,etc,, the se's are by far the best,,IMHO,,couple them with a tube front end,,and just enjoy. My regards to Klaus and crew,and WCW III for their time and advice.

rosconey · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 04:50 pm »

i have the original mules -the boards he voiced the xtreme mono's with in my mono extremes

and the first shipped candella

and i like to think the first regular monos to be used as sub amps

and you can say im a happy camper

i want the first phono stage he does-to add to my collection of firsts
you listening klaus-

jdodmead · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 04:58 pm »

Should I be hooking the speakers up to these dfferently? I am using one set of binding posts, should I be doing something with the second set? I don't need them for bi-wiring.

Thanks
Jeff

rosconey · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Feb 2007, 05:49 pm »

are you supposed to have jumpers between the 2 sets of posts?

if you have some extra wire why not try it since your monos have the extra speaker connections

lazydays · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 01:28 am »

you didn't say how long you've had them turned on, but it will take at least four days to hear good bass out of them. Mine were very unlistenable till they had about four days of being powered up.
gary

DMi · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Feb 2007, 11:38 pm »

Yep. Dead right. You need the monos turned on all the time. There is a huge amount of capacitance in the power supply that takes some time to condition fully. Once it is charged... stand back because the bass slam will be there. It's almost like the thing has to polarize or something the longer the things run the sweeter they get.

Mine are still breaking in. If I turn them off to move them I need to let them sit powered back up overnight before things settle down. My old Stratos stereo plus was plugged in and turned on for nearly four years straight. Turning it off after it was fully broken in was painful as it took hours before things settled in again.

The posts are wired in parallel internally, they don't need a jumper. You don't need to do anything with them unless you want to bi-wire your speakers.

Doug

bunky · « **Reply #10 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:38 am »

Quote from: dangerbird on 18 Feb 2007, 04:31 pm

I have a pair of the mono se's,, all I can say is very,very,sweet,,as close to "reference" as I'm gonna get,,I'll let WCW III, chime in as he knows more about the specific's.I've owned many amps,, adcom,anthem,parasound,belles,etc,, the se's are by far the best,,IMHO,,couple them with a tube front end,,and just enjoy. My regards to Klaus and crew,and WCW III for their time and advice.

The Mono Extreme SE's are my "Reference" power amplifiers. i have a friend on another forum who owns a C.T.C Barbeque Power Amplifier which is handmade and designed by the late Great Bob Crump, Carl Thompson ,and John Curl which is the precursor to the JC1 monoblocks and i spent eight hours listening to this fine power amplifier and my Mono Extremes were in my opinion Equal to it. in SE form in my opinion the Mono Extreme's easily surpass this Reference Amplifier with equivalent Gear

thank you for being the good guy that you are George

thanks....WCW III

djbnh · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:39 am »

Quote from: DMi on 19 Feb 2007, 11:38 pm

Yep. Dead right. You need the monos turned on all the time. There is a huge amount of capacitance in the power supply that takes some time to condition fully. Once it is charged... stand back because the bass slam will be there.

Ditto re: keep the Extreme Monos on all the time. Once in a while we lose power as the odd Nor'easter rips thru (witness last week's snow+wind blast in NH) - it's a minor pain to wait for the Extreme goodness to fully return.

Happy listening!

Spirit · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 01:01 am »

Quote from: DMi on 19 Feb 2007, 11:38 pm

Yep. Dead right. You need the monos turned on all the time. There is a huge amount of capacitance in the power supply that takes some time to condition fully. Once it is charged... stand back because the bass slam will be there. It's almost like the thing has to polarize or something the longer the things run the sweeter they get.

Mine are still breaking in. If I turn them off to move them I need to let them sit powered back up overnight before things settle down. My old Stratos stereo plus was plugged in and turned on for nearly four years straight. Turning it off after it was fully broken in was painful as it took hours before things settled in again.

The posts are wired in parallel internally, they don't need a jumper. You don't need to do anything with them unless you want to bi-wire your speakers.

Doug

I agree completely. I had mine turned off for a few weeks while I was away. I turned them on and starting listening right away and I broke into a cold sweat. They sounded awful. After letting them settle in for a few hours, WOW - what a revelation!

Curious. How long have you had that you say that they are still breaking in.

Can you explain what you mean regarding the biwire situation with the Monos

jdodmead · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 11:55 am »

I have not turned them off, since I got them Sarurday. I don't know how long they were unplugged before that or how much use they have had. I am now the 3rd owner and I don't thik the 2nd owner had them for very long. I had e-mailed Odyssey(also tried calling numerous times) about the warranty and never heard back. Then I find that it's transferable only once. I found that out after I purchased them, hopefull there won't be any issues and from what I've read Klaus treats people proper.
Sometimes i think they soundgreat, but at other times I am wondering if I made the right move. I will give them more time to settle in. what's the difference between the Extreme's and the SE's? or are the Extreme's SE's?
Thanks for your input
Jeff

Spirit · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 12:32 pm »

Quote from: jdodmead on 20 Feb 2007, 11:55 am

I have not turned them off, since I got them Sarurday. I don't know how long they were unplugged before that or how much use they have had. I am now the 3rd owner and I don't thik the 2nd owner had them for very long. I had e-mailed Odyssey(also tried calling numerous times) about the warranty and never heard back. Then I find that it's transferable only once. I found that out after I purchased them, hopefull there won't be any issues and from what I've read Klaus treats people proper.
Sometimes i think they soundgreat, but at other times I am wondering if I made the right move. I will give them more time to settle in. what's the difference between the Extreme's and the SE's? or are the Extreme's SE's?
Thanks for your input
Jeff

Jeff:
Best time to reach Klaus is in the evening by phone.
He seems to work very late into the night and usually is hard to track during the day.

kgl936 · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 03:44 pm »

This thread has me a bit worried. I do not currently own any Odyssey products but after many months of saving my pennies and after reading so many glowing reviews of Odyssey gear I decided to give Klaus a call. After talking with him I am now on the waiting list for a stereo Khartago extreme. Here's where my worry comes in. I never, ever leave any of my hifi components powered on unattended. Why? You probably wouldn't need to ask that if you've ever had half of your house burn down from an electrical fire. No, it wasn't a hifi component that started the fire but the incident has made me extremely aware of all things electrical and I am now probably over-cautious but I never want a repeat of that incident. I even went as far as to ask Klaus if the power switch could be relocated to the front of the amplifier since it's going to be mounted in a rack and reaching the rear mounted switch will require me to do my best Gumby impersonation. For sound technical reasons, he talked me out of it. I figured that the improvement the Khartago would bring my system would make up for the time I'd have to spend fishing my arm through a rack before and after every listening session. Now, after reading that some here report waiting for days

for their amplifiers to sound good I am wondering if I'll ever hear what the Khartago is capable of since I won't ever have it on for more than hours at a time. Have I made a mistake? What can I expect from using the Khartago this way? Does anyone else here turn their Odyssey amplifiers on only for listening? I hope I don't have to start over again in my search. Thanks.

-Kevin-

jdodmead · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 04:27 pm »

Leaving them on doesn't really bother me, I normally leave my equipment on anyway. How about using a power strip or filter that has an on/off switch.

lazydays · « **Reply #17 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 04:39 pm »

Quote from: jdodmead on 20 Feb 2007, 11:55 am

I have not turned them off, since I got them Sarurday. I don't know how long they were unplugged before that or how much use they have had. I am now the 3rd owner and I don't thik the 2nd owner had them for very long. I had e-mailed Odyssey(also tried calling numerous times) about the warranty and never heard back. Then I find that it's transferable only once. I found that out after I purchased them, hopefull there won't be any issues and from what I've read Klaus treats people proper.
Sometimes i think they soundgreat, but at other times I am wondering if I made the right move. I will give them more time to settle in. what's the difference between the Extreme's and the SE's? or are the Extreme's SE's?
Thanks for your input
Jeff

Still, not exactly knowing how many hours are on your amps altogether, let me just say it takes a solid 400 hours to get there. When I had 300 hours on mine I knew I was there, but was promptly informed that they are really still burning in. He was right as usual. At 350 hours there was a slightly noticable difference in the bass section. Then at 400 hours something happened like a switch was thrown, and now I have bass that I never knew existed. At five hundred hours the differences are slight, and at six hundred hours I see little change. These amps do seem to take awhile to break in, so you just gotta give them time (I put the first 350 hours on mine driveing them with a solid state B&K tuner preamp into a pair of Polk RT 800 HT speakers).
I have not found a tube preamp that these amps just didn't sound great with. One of them I've always considered good enough for nothing but a spare unit. The speakers I drive with them are known to be a little shy on bass (but then again I'm not a very low bass friendly person anyway). They are really built for tubes, but the funny thing about them is the way they've opened up with the mono extremes in front of them. The best cable I've found in them so far is a Cardas, but alas I can't use the pair I have due to the speaker location now.
gary

lazydays · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 04:47 pm »

Quote from: kgl936 on 20 Feb 2007, 03:44 pm

This thread has me a bit worried. I do not currently own any Odyssey products but after many months of saving my pennies and after reading so many glowing reviews of Odyssey gear I decided to give Klaus a call. After talking with him I am now on the waiting list for a stereo Khartago extreme. Here's where my worry comes in. I never, ever leave any of my hifi components powered on unattended. Why? You probably wouldn't need to ask that if you've ever had half of your house burn down from an electrical fire. No, it wasn't a hifi component that started the fire but the incident has made me extremely aware of all things electrical and I am now probably over-cautious but I never want a repeat of that incident. I even went as far as to ask Klaus if the power switch could be relocated to the front of the amplifier since it's going to be mounted in a rack and reaching the rear mounted switch will require me to do my best Gumby impersonation. For sound technical reasons, he talked me out of it. I figured that the improvement the Khartago would bring my system would make up for the time I'd have to spend fishing my arm through a rack before and after every listening session. Now, after reading that some here report waiting for days for their amplifiers to sound good I am wondering if I'll ever hear what the Khartago is capable of since I won't ever have it on for more than hours at a time. Have I made a mistake? What can I expect from using the Khartago this way? Does anyone else here turn their Odyssey amplifiers on only for listening? I hope I don't have to start over again in my search. Thanks.

-Kevin-

I'm with you here! I was very aprehensive about leaving my mono blocs turned on 24/7; let alone plugged directly into the wall. Since doing this I've picked up a pair of 20 amp recepticals, and probably will install one of the high current surge protectors between them and the wall when I make this change later in the year. My monos get just a little warmer than my hands, never very warm. The only problem I have with them is that my cat likes to sleep on top of them when it's really cold outside.
gary

kgl936 · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 Feb 2007, 04:50 pm »

Hi jdodmead,

It's not really the switch that has me worried at this point. What has me worried is that I hear people saying that these amplifiers have to be turned on for days on end before they sound good but I won't ever be leaving mine on for more than 10 or so hours at the most. A typical week day for me would have the amp on for only about 4 or 5 hours. If the amp sounds terrible for several days after being powered off (as many in this thread have said), I'm in big trouble since my amp will be powered off at the end of every day. I have owned a lot of amps in my day, both tube and SS and I have never had one that didn't sound 95% of it's best within about 15 minutes of powering it on. I wasn't prepared for what I read here about the days of warm up required. Hence, my worry if I have made a poor choice for my application.