Odyssey Amplifiers

[Stefan]

Anyone familiar with these?
http://www.odysseyaudio.com/
In the latest TAS, Jonathan Valin seems to be rather enthusiastic about the Karthago amp.
They are apparently built to order and there are possibilities to have them tuned to the rest of your system.

 

[Stefan]

No one?
I did send them a mail asking what they would recommend to use with a pair of Spires (I have a pair of Puritys today, so I am just checking...) and the suggestion was a pair of custom built Stratos Mono Extremes. The price seems reasonable but I am a bit in doubt if it is such a good idea to order a pair of monos that seems to be relatively unknown.

Here is some specs http://www.odysseyaudio.com/products-stratos-mono.html
to me it looks like a serious piece of equipment, but...

 

[Mantana]

Anyone familiar with these?
http://www.odysseyaudio.com/
In the latest TAS, Jonathan Valin seems to be rather enthusiastic about the Karthago amp.
They are apparently built to order and there are possibilities to have them tuned to the rest of your system.

I read that review too ...i'm curious myself if anyone on this site
owns or has heard this amp. Their products are in the
NAD price bracket.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Stefan,

Why don't you see if they have a 30 day money back option.

GG

 

[Kruppy]

Oddysey amps have been discussed here a bit before. I believe Crawdaddy system 172-ish has Stratos monos. Use the google search bar on the bottom of the page to search the site, if you have not already. It works much better than vBulletin's.

 

[Dreamer]

I've never heard them hooked up to Martin Logans, but I have heard them driving some Carver Platinums, and some custom-built speakers based on the Carver Amazing's ribbons with JL Audio woofs, and a set of Taylor Acoustic towers. On all these speakers, they delivered a lot of clean, clear power, and a very focused soundstage with a lot of resolution.

The Odyssey amps seem to never run out of juice. The have truckloads of very clean power, and deliver a level of punch in the bass that is hard to find in their price range. As far as "bang for the buck" they are a great deal, IMO. They seem to never even break a sweat when driving difficult loads, and seem to have clean output even when you're driving them to ear-bleeding levels.

All that said, I found them a little on the "dry and analytical" side. If you like the "old Krell sound", you will be very impressed with the Odysseys. They have a very clean, clear, highly resolved sound, and have tons of detail. But if you like your amps to be a little on the "warm" side, or if you dig the "tube sound" you might not be so keen on the Odysseys.

But for their price, I think they are a great buy. If you're on a budget, and need tons and tons of power, they are hard to beat...

--Richard

 

[MiTT]

I've heard them several times at RMAF over the years. My comments would mirror Dreamers to a tee. Great bargain, gobs of power - but ultimately a very dry and analytical presentation. If you're a fan of the Bryston sound you'll find these very similar. I've not heard them with a tube pre-amp, but that might be a way to balance them out a bit. They are actually quite striking looking, especially in black with the Odyssey logo backlit in blue.