I was most pleasantly surprised to find my new XTreme monoblocks waiting on my doorstep yesterday afternoon, overjoyed that they had arrived, surprised that UPS had left $2500 worth of amplifiers on my doorstep with no one at home.
First off, these things are HUGE. If you're getting a pair, get a friend to come over and help you unpack them, as they are quite heavy. I had to wrestle mine into place by myself, and it was a chore. Once in place, hooking them up was no problem. I will point out that the RCA jacks are SO beefy that one of my DH Labs BL-1 interconnects won't even fit over it, I had to "adjust" it a bit with some needle-nose pliers. This wasn't a new interconnect either, it had been hooked up to several pieces of equipment previously.
OK, now for the good part. I powered them up and figited around for about an hour while they got a little warm. Then the music. OMIGOD!
What a soundstage! Absolutely gorgeous. Wide, deep, black backgrounds, everything the reviewers at Absolute Sound talk about that I could never hear before, it's all there. The control over the speaker cones is magnificent and most certainly apparent. Even my wife is enthralled with this system.
First up was Roxy Music's Avalon, one of their later recordings. I've heard this song a thousand times, but I think I really heard for the first time with the Xtreme monos. So many more details I can't describe them. Andrew McKays saxaphone was right in front of me, slightly off to the right, and he was blowing it hard!
Next up (please don't laugh) Shania Twain - If You're Not In It For Love, I use this one for system auditions because it has a very forward drum and general percussion section. This was the first place I noticed the XTremes superb control over the woofer cones. The drums had "punch" and a lot of it. A real impact, you could almost feel the air move in the room.
Then onto Jetho Tull - Thick As A Brick. This album has some low-high transitions (volume wise) that can give a slow amp fits. There's a part on it where it goes from "skipping through the woods playing my flute" to "smashing your face in with an electric guitar" very quickly. The XTremes prove themselves to be very fast on this track. Beautiful attack, beautiful decay.
Finally - Eagles - Hell Freezes Over - Hotel California. 5 guys sitting on stools playing. The imaging the Xtremes show on this track will literally bring tears to your eyes. Fucking gorgeous!
All of my dealings with Odyssey have been extremely pleasant, Klaus is a great guy to deal with, he's producing a first class product here with the XTremes. Count me as one happy cat.
System: Rega Planet 2000 CDP, Monolithic Sound PA-1 passive / active preamp with HC-1 power supply, B&W 604 S3 speaks (can't help it, love that B&W sound), DH Labs BL-1 interconnects, Nordost Red Dawn speaker cable, and Odyssey XTreme Monoblock amplifiers.