Which Odeon models do you have in house now? Have you compared them to Diesis (probably the closest conceptually of the speaker brands you carry), which I also think are great?
Audio Note UK vs Audio Japan Sonic Differences
- Thread starter caesar
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I am really looking forward to the Lorenzo LM 1 with both the Kagura and Ongaku. Although when my pair is finished I am sending them to a reviewer first so it will be a good six months before I see them.
I have the Carnegie at my place and we have the Helix and Semper in California and Chicago. The only comparison I can make is with the Carnegie. They are in different rooms so it’s also hard to tell but all I can say is the Carnegie throws a really holographic 3-D sound stage. Very layered but with uncanny imaging. So far people love them, but a few people that have listened to both have chosen the Roma Triode recently. Surprisingly, we sold two pair of Roma Triode last month. Although the RT are matched with REL REF 31s, which completes the RT.
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A friend of mine had his older Odeon No38/2s upgraded to Carnegie status. Cabinets, horns stayed the same but all Carnegie drivers and crossover but tuned to work with the older cabinets. Axel said they were stunned at how well it worked...I can confirm it is an amazing speaker. THat Roma Triode is truly superb as well...loved it when I heard it in Munich.
No, I know what speakers you have liked. My point was not lumping you into the Wilson/Magico crowd but that people like those speakers. Wealthy audiophiles listen to a lot of products including SET/HE and for their taste, that's what they like.
The reality is most people in this thread who claim to like Kondo - including you - have said "I heard Kondo sound Meh at so and so place or with such and such speaker" but they have heard them sound in their/your opinion sound 'great or spectacular."
But if another person has heard them 4-5 times and each time all they heard was the "meh" then can you blame them? They have not heard them sound "spectacular" when you heard them sound "spectacular."
Now you understand my ANUK issue. However, since I have never heard them in other than an all ANUK system it is not that easy to tease apart why the sound was "meh". I am speculating somewhat based what I know from design and other reviews where they were out of an all ANUK context. All low powered equipment needs to be matched properly (as do a lot of high sensitivity speakers), although that match is not always what one would expect...and sometimes the expected good match doesn't work so well.
But certainly the sound at Kondo Factory in Tokyo is not a disappointment. On the contrary it’s fantastic. I visited Kondo Factory today and spent very good time with Masaki San.
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- Mullard Blackburn XF2 preferably double getter EL34
- GE 6072 black plates, square getter,
- RCA 12BH7 black plates preferably U or horse shoe getter.
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They are Jensens but I don’t think they are Imperial horns. If you look closely you can see the driver is at least a coaxial or more likely a Jensen Tri-Axial.
In the original Imperial with its folded horn, the woofer wasn’t visible since it was entirely inside the cabinet. In later years Jensen used the Imperial label for other models as well including bass reflex cabinets.
In the original Imperial with its folded horn, the woofer wasn’t visible since it was entirely inside the cabinet. In later years Jensen used the Imperial label for other models as well including bass reflex cabinets.
Nice pick up on the difference with the coaxial. Interesting that the Imperials and the triplex’s also signalled the start of the move away from simpler one and two way speakers to three ways and to more complex crossovers. Lovely detailing on the cabinets.
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Kevin Scott of Living Voice is the Kondo distributor in the UK (Definitive Audio). He used Kondo gear when he brought his horn set ups (VOX Olympian and Palladian) to Munich, as well as in his listening room. In recent years, he has been showing his Auditorium series non horn speakers in Munich. His set-ups with the horns have always been considered one of the best of the show in years past. We mainly use Kondo electronics with our VOX Olympian/Elysian set-up. I have tried Lamm electronics as well and the combination was fantastic. Personally, I think Kondo amps are best when driving horns and can understand the negative impression some people might have after listening to these amps driving other types of speakers.
Sorry typo, should read...... I don't believe 'Definitive Audio' are the Kondo Japan distributors any more !
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