Odyssey Stratos Extreme Monoblocks . . .

Oh crap. I was searching for Ben's thread on his interconnects and ran across this. I don't have time tonight but I will offer a review this weekend. EDIT: That was obviously a lie. Preliminary one word review?

Impressive.

While I'm at it, I still can't find the thread you sold me the amp [via Ken]. I still need to leave feedback....positive, that is for everything I got.

How about sign language? I wouldn't be sure how to post it though.

You guys and gal's still want the review? Do you care?

Damn you are quick. Review tomorrow unless I grab another beer or twelve.

Tomorrow is in 23 minutes. It's been this long, I think you can wait. BTW Darla, it's great to see you back in the swing of things and our discussion last week has made a 180 degree turnaround. All is well in the house of treitz3. Thanks. You rock!

treitz3 wrote: »

You guys and gal's still want the review? Do you care?

Nope.

OK, the first thing that needs to be understood is that this amp will sound like absolute **** when you power her down and turn it back on after it sits for some time. Why? Don't know, don't care. It does sound like **** until it's ready to rock. I have not had experience yet with a new unit and with that said, a new unit [not broken in properly] may differ with the time associated with this amp to be at optimal sound performance.

Now, once the unit is ready to rock, the sound is VERY impressive. Mo' better bass than many amps I have tried in all my years of swapping gear. "Tight" would be an understatement. Klaus does a great job with the sound, aesthetics, build quality and he does know his amplifiers well.

To the nitty gritty....when the amp is warmed up and ready to go which IME takes about 3 days in my rig, this amp delivers. The frequencies that it offers and the level that it delivers it in is simply outstanding. It adds a new dimension to the music. Tracks that I have listened to many a time with a variety of amps sound like I replaced the speakers and a couple of components as well. Things that were always in the recording that I never heard before bring a new listening enjoyment to the table. This amp brings it all to the table.

Over time I have discovered that some albums that I previously did not particularly want to listen to now seem to have a sound that I want to listen to. The bass region is the most noticeable of the areas of improvement. The slam with precision makes the drum beats sound accurate for reproduction. One of the most noticeable differences in the bass region is that it has enough reserve that when a guitar riff is going on, you can distinguish between that and the big drum at the drummer's feet AND the drum at the drummer's knee height all at the same time which improves the sound stage considerably.

The top end is definitely not like a tube amp, but doesn't have the shrill factor I have heard in many an SS amp. Mids are fluid and very, very nice to listen too with no listening fatigue presented after 8-10 hours of listening [with my speak's] at low or high volume levels. The amp seems to have a endless supply of power to give the listener what they want, regardless of the volume wanted. It's almost as if the amp laughs at you when you want to find out how much it can give you. The more you feed it, the more it coasts through transients and the more it laughs until you turn it up so much, your daggum ears just can't take it anymore.

Aesthetically pleasing to the eye, this amp is very plain on the front panel. All you see is a peice of aluminum that has been brushed with a "Stratos" label approx. 2" below the "Odyssey" cutout that [if you do cut it off] glows in the dark in the color of blue which is actually a pretty cool effect if you ask me, though I rarely see it.

One thing you must consider when getting this amp is that the weight and dimensions of the unit are something that you must consider when planning a system. The length of the unit IIRCC is 19", but you must factor in the PC upgrade if interested. This brings the total length necessary to close to 22" or more, depending on the flexibility of the PC. I don't know off the top of my head what the actual weight is anymore, but I do know that it is quite heavy. If you have a low quality stand, you might want to reconsider getting a stand that can handle this kind of weight. She's not light. That much I can tell you.

The heat sinks of this unit are on the sidewalls running the depth of the unit itself. From what I have noticed, the heat output of this unit are close to what a tube amp would be. Meaning that when the room temperature gets to be about 7-8 degrees hotter than the rest of the house, it's ready to rock. That may be a result of my entire rig, but that's just what I have noticed. YMMV.

Impressive build quality on the back of the amp as well. An IEC connector is provided for a PC upgrade and the SC posts are rather impressive themselves. It reaks of quality. The power switch is located on the back so if you do want to turn it off [not recommended], you can.

That's it for now, more later.

Thanks for the review. I don't know if I would want to plan my music listening 3 days ahead of time though.

IIRC the binding posts are WBT's and the last time I looked they were $90.00/pr,,I leave mine on 24/7,,plugged into huge APC's.There are some interesting threads at another forum regarding Odyssey amps,burn in,warmup,etc,,and Klaus will tell you that "they sound like crap" outta' the box. I think the general consensus is about 240 hours of burn in.And no,, I'm not trying to start another capacitor burn in debacle,,for Odyssey amps,,you have to decide for yourself.:cool:

wingnut4772 wrote: »

Ahhhh. Ok. I thought tube amps had to be shut off.

It's a SS amp.

Nice review. That sure is a long warm up. Sound like what you have to do to speakers to break them in. LOL

engtaz

If lightning strikes while your gear is off, it can still cause damage. Unplug it if you have a nasty storm on the way.

Thanks for the review.

Treitz -- just leave it the amp plugged in and don't worry about the lightening. Besides, lightening never strikes twice . Seriously, I believe you when you talk about the three day warm-up and unplugging the amp periodically would drive me insane, too. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, so don't.

Well bub, I made an order yesterday for some new toys from Klaus. I won't disclose as to what because I told the fellas over at the CF that it would be a surprise for our get-together in Sept. but if you are curious, just give me a jingle.

By then, I will have had everything ordered completely broken in and will offer another review of the new gear. I'm stoked!