I’ve been a fan of Odyssey Audio and Klaus Bunge for some time, and have been happily using his Kismet amplifiers with my Magnepan 3.7 loudspeakers for a bit over a year now. He does really good work, and more importantly, can tailor that work to your budget. His website is somewhat misleading, as it gives the impression that there are off-the-shelf items you can simply go online, select, and purchase — I mean, there are, but that’s really not the point. All that stuff is just suggestions. If you’re smart, you call Klaus, tell him what you want and how much you need it to cost, and he’ll tell you what he’s willing to do.
Take my Kismet amps. They’re not, not exactly — they’re actually Khartago cases. But the guts? Kismet — and then some. I bought these from him, wanted all the performance I could get, and in that discussion, Klaus offered that it might be a bit cheaper to simply get the “plain” cases. Sounds the same. Costs less. When was the last time a designer did that for you?
The big news this week isn’t audio, interestingly. No, Klaus was kinda giddy about his new furniture. He already had all the machining bits on hand, so, why the hell not? You can get just about anything you want (typical Odyssey!), with many different sizes, levels, or even colors — yes, those posts are anodized and there’s a myriad of colors you can choose from. He can even laser-stencil them for you. I asked about getting a rack with my site’s new logo all over it and Klaus just shrugged, “sure, we can do that.” There’s not much to the rack, other than stout piecework — the shelves are massive and heavy and the aluminum braces are thick. I asked him about bracing, dampening, or any of that other stuff and Klaus shook his head. “Don’t need that with these big shelves.”
Pricing for the rack, as shown, would come in under a $1,000. Shipping is extra. Curious? Call Odyssey directly.
Overall nice sound in a difficult room.