Superior Build Awesome quality Excellent sound The best customer service on the planet A twenty year warranty

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In a word....Awesome. I recently went to one of those extremely high end audio places. I listened to a set up comprised of twenty thousand dollar speakers with about thirty thousand dollars worth of components driving it. They had all the most expensive cables, and all the sales people were self proclaimed audio masters. So here I am listening and waiting to be blown away. So they fired up a tune from Diana Krall and then of course a Zeppelin tune. Well, guess what....I was not blown away. I have to tell you, my home audio system, with the new love of my life, my Odyssey Stratos (with cap upgrade) was as good if not better than a fifty thousand dollar system. My home speakers are Klipsh KLF 20's and I also have a 15" Klipsch sub. My preamp is nothing too fancy either. But at the heart is an amp that simply is more awesome than anything else you can buy for the money. You would have to be an absolute moron to buy any other amp other than Odyssey. I figured it out. Klaus (the owner and advisor) is secretly a billionaire whose mission is to provide high end audio to the masses and lose money. That is the only possible answer to why he makes one of the finest amps in the world for just over a Grand. I mean to look at this thing and to feel it, you are thinking multiple thousands. The faceplate has got to be close to a quater inch thick. It weighs more than my kids, combined. As for the sound, and mine has not completely broken in yet, it is phenomenal. It is sweet, detailed, clear, precise, controlled, and yes very f-----g loud. As far as service, Klaus is the man. Here is a guy who can charge at least double, but wants to provide an excellent product at a great price. He knows his stuff and will point you in the right direction. I am awaiting the demise of my other components so I can replace them all with Odyssey Audio products. I see no reason to ever buy anything again with out the Odyssey label. I just hope Klaus lives forever.

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incredible build and construction. more powerful than rated (or is it that others simply overstate theirs?) you can actually deal with the owner of the company.

none i can think of.

a co-worker of mine always raved about his odyssey amps. i "yeahed" him as i've heard the story everytime before as soon as he gets another new piece of equipment. anyway, he advised me on a preowned one at a great price on audiogon. after some convincing, i bought a stereo stratos. later found out that it was actually an ODL unit not made by klaus! klaus was extremely understanding and even though he was not obligated too (since it was an odyssey imposter), he helped me out tremendously. in fact, after discussing some details, i opted to have him convert the stereo stratos to the mono-blocks. at the time, i was using an acurus pre-amp and cd player, b&k amp and final electrostatics. the finals, being electrostatics, are extremely power hungry. in fact, one review on audiorevolution mentioned it required a minimum of 200 per channel. the reviewer even contemplated keeping the speakers as a test for amplifiers! the b&k amp is a model ex4420 which was a dual mono 200 watt/channel which sounded fine. problem is that thing got super hot driving the finals! even with no signal going thru the speakers (as i generally left them on), they were quite warm. the odyssey's on the other hand are quite cool and just warm when driven at louder volumes. i also had an audiosource amp 3 used as a spare and when i connected that to the electrostatics, it actually killed the amp! talk about needing power! these things are built like a tank! all the extra high grade parts are impressive (squishy feet, excellent binding posts, engraved etchings,etc). it also had my name on a small plaque attached to the rear of each unit. kinda funny but i'll be sure to point that out to audio visitors! i set up the mono-blocks and immediately noticed a big difference despite the lack of burn-in. for one thing, the finals are very directional. with the odyssey's, the sweet spot and soundstage is far better and not as narrow. the bass also tightened up and no longer boomy. i prefer female vocalists and the odysseys bring the sound to another level. the sound is still improving as it's breaking in. many thanks to klaus for working with me on what could have been a disaster!

Dynamic Sound Quality, Build/Looks, Customer Service. Runs Cool.

Requires a little patience - Longer then usual break-in.

Had some reservations ordering this piece with out listening to it first. Glad I took the chance on it. I listen to a wide range of music and found the unit does an excellent job with everything. Never sounding harsh like some of the other amps I auditioned - yet still has amazing clarity. One thing I have to note- In my experience the stratos did take some time to break in. Although it sounded pretty good right out of the box..a little congested...But after the first couple of weeks there was significant improvement. Whats real odd, is that up to month 7 or 8 the unit seemed to continue to improve.

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Auditioned: B&K, Rotel, Denon, Anthem

As to Klaus: he is a pleasure to work with. Right mixture of sales guy, afficionado and technical whiz-bang. Things came when he promised at prices he promised. Summary: I have to give the amp easily five stars for everything, primarily at this price-point. It's a steal frankly, only if it would go for 10k$+ price-point I would give it 4 stars since at this price point I remember hearing a tad-of-a-nuance better amps (or rather amp/speaker combinations than my M80 and Stratos). My suspicion actually is that if Klaus stops making them, in couple of years you could get seriously better money than what you pay for the amp now in the aftermarket. Build Quality: two thumbs and two toes up, nothing more to be said. If I want to cause serious hurt to someone, that would be my weapon of choice. I'd probably pull another muscle but the job would get done and I'm sure the amp would flawlessly keep on performing its primary duty after the fact.

It takes a long time to break-in, I think it took around 1 month 8-10 hours a day pumping current through it until I started to hear stuff that I heard from much more expensive 'reference' amps. So, given 6 weeks wait time for the order and a month of break-in, there is little instant gratitification here. Except the very substantial feel, cool logo and beautifully anodized front (I got blue, very pleasant). Reminds me as well, I pulled a muscle on my leg hoisiting this beast into my rack, 70 pounds of pleasure and joy but if you can get your neighbor to help you ;-) The top plate starts to vibrate ever so slightly when very, very loud (>85dB). I put cork-plates on it and other components beside vibration-feet and that helps. But even TacT at much higher price has the same problem :-/ Seems 'screw top plate on' is not a great solution' soundwise but maybe the only practical one to get to innards of a box like that.

First, my setup: Axiom M80, _Stratos Dual Mono_, TacT 2.0, NAD 541i and other sources. All Groenberg interconnects, didn't have time to play with anything else (yet). I'm a beginner to high-end audio and this is my first setup over $2K or so. I talked to, read and researched a lot before though and heard quite some gear to have a reference. More technically, soundstage: at the beginning very little and collapsed in heavily instrumented pieces when loud playing. Now, width is very, very good, going on good recording beyond speaker outer edges easily. Most amazing stuff was actually the clock on the 'kid from cleveland in the comfort of routine' waters' 'Amused to Death' (recorded Q-sound) that clocks on the left of me, basically to the left of my head, about 8-9 feet in front of the speakers! On 'kind of blue' the alt and tenor sax are 3-4 feet outside the outer edge of the speakers and I can localize Miles' trumpet head moving when playing. Depth is ok, the speakers/amp went from very front to little recessed presentation, depth is however only 9=12 feet deep I would say. I heard better (but only on amps ~10k$). Instrument placement is much better than at the beginning, pretty good overall I would say. Amp has lots of effortless power, very loud and complex passages go through without any congestion (Epiphanies, Number 11 as example). No matter how much bass and violins romp on the stage. Bass: First, I am lost how people can make such strong statements about bass quality unless they have very, very good listening rooms with no room modes. I did CAD (Cara) modelling to place my speakers, still the peaks and dips below 300Hz are unbelievable. And my room doesn't echo much, has sloped celing and is very non-rectangular. Correcting using TacT made the bass a completely different game and only then I could start to hear differences in different sources and amps clearly. Anyway, when corrected, the bass is very deep and controlled with the Stratos (compared to smaller e.g. NAD amps). I'm sure with subs it would be even better albeit M80s have probaly some of the best bass I heard from floorstands. Middle: Looks to me like Stratos really shines here and could be even better with electrostats or ribbons. Female vocals/sax are outstanding. But, not sure whether it's my speakers or the amp, for very sharply plucked instruments with lots of harmonics (acoustic guitar) I heard better. It is very good still but the 'raise-my-hair' magic I heard on AR with 10K$ amp is not here. That's irregardless of running through the TacT DAC, the CD's DAC and TacT ADC. Maybe the CD player has a weak spot here, don't know. Top: First they sounded bright and with little detail. Now, I find them pleasant (rolled off with TacT about 3-6dB from 4kHz to 20kHz, that helped) and definitely very detailed. I can't objectively measure it but on recordings with problematic presence and upper region the sibilants become worse when played very loud. I suspect however that the speakers start to emphasize the tops when played very loud. I think I heard better micro-dynamics or what you call it on very expensive amps/speakers, the top was more melodical, hard to describe and put my finger on really. Again, maybe it's the speakers. Transparency and Musicality: both seem very good. On most classical recordings you hear page-turning, piano player breathing, on jazz you hear the guy getting his lips on the trumpet clearly, that kind of stuff. I heard first digital 44.1 sources and they were fine but now switched to analog 96 oversampled and I realized that the digital version is leaner, almost stringent compared to good analog which is however just a tad more noisy. Good sign the difference is clearly noticable through the Stratos and analog sounds nice and melodical. Thanks a lot Klaus! You deserve the rating on this site. disclosure: no affiliation with any of the products mentioned except as happy customer.

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heard NAD, ML, AR, TacT, Rowen, B&W, Ayre, Maggies and others

Musicality

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I purchased this amp because I added a pair of Martin Logan Quest speakers to my system and the AES tube amp, although an excellent amp with the right speakers, was a little underpowered for these speakers. I was doing research on the net looking for another amp and had read many of the reviews on the Stratos and thought I would give one a try. I owned a pair of Quest speakers about 4 years ago and tried several amps with them and had liked a few so I basically knew what I was looking for. The Stratos fit in the category and was most likely the best amp I could get for the least amount of money. I really wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is and the more I listen the more I like it. First of all, I bought the amp from one of the reviewers below, Michael Francis, who is one of only two people, him and his friend, who have reviewed the Stratos and have not given it the best rating. I'm the third person on this web site to review this particular amp. Right away I could tell this amp had tremendous authority and control of the Martin Logan speakers. It takes an amp with a very good power supply to accomplish this. Bass was incredible but sounded a little bloated at first. Midrange and treble were good but a little thin and somewhat 2 dimensional in the front to back stage although left to right seemed OK. I had expected a little better. I called Klaus and asked to send the amp in for inspection and "a tune up." He was very nice and agreed to check it out. After arrival at Odyssey Audio, Klaus called me to explain the amp was actually an older ODL amp and had several things wrong with it. The biasing was off by as much as 70% in one channel and the wiring to the capacitors had been done very poorly. I had him proceed with the tune up and put in the latest Groneberg wiring and LED on the front panel. After receiving the amp back from Klaus, improvements were obvious. The bass had really improved, very tight and well defined, not boomy anymore. The front to back stage depth had increased tremendously and musical instruments seemed to float in space. From top to bottom the amp had improved significantly and I would compare this amp to the best amps I have ever owned at any price. If anyone out there is considering the purchase of an amp in the $1000 price range, don't pass this one by. I can't think of another amp in this price range that sound so good. It's a killer. Also, my hats off to Klaus. His passion for music is only surpassed by his excellent customer service. Thanks. System: Philips SACD-1000 Creek OBH-10 AE-3 DJH Super Preamp AE-25 DJH Super Amp Martin Logan Quest DH Labs Silver Sonic Interconnects Analysis Plus Oval 12 Speaker Cables

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Unbelievable value for the money. Maybe the best value right now. Good looks. Free tune up and reasonable upgrade policy. Phenomenal resale value

Long wait, which makes you want to buy used, which results in the high used cost. Odyssey should do a better job in marketing their service policy. The before and after difference of the upgrades and the tune up was huge. Any buyer of a used Stratos should take advantage of this service.

My bias seems to be different than most reviewers here. We didn't upgrade from a midfi system but have the fortune to be able to play in the high end. The mainstays of our system consists of Nautilus 801 and a modified CAT Sig. We look for amps that gel with these products, and our reference is ML 33H. Expensive, yes, but the best we've ever had. We recently also sold our tube amps, older Melos, and have experience with digital amps and a very wide variety of all sorts of amps and other audio gear. The Melos has intense midrange musicality, while the Spectron digital amps have that uncanny ability to give you every detail clean and sober. We kept the Melos as toys as my wife isn't too crazy about big tube amps. With the digital, we also listened to Bel Cantos and the PS Audio in our system, but the Spectrons simply had more authenticity and musicality. We looked to change our video system and some of our friends recommended the Stratos. After reading up on it, We've had to have one. The long wait bothered me, so we bought used. Upon receiving the Stratos I was at first disappointed but liked it after a few days of powering it up. I called Odyssey to pick their brains and they told me to send it in for the current upgrades and a check up. $ 120. US and 2 weeks later we hooked up the Stratos again. With the advice of giving the amp some days to warm up we first listened to it in the AV system. Sounded promising, so on to the main system. What a difference. For the money, a gigantic WOW.The Stratos has the authority and clean power of the best digital amps, and nearly the same liquid midrange and imaging of the tubes. Highly musical, extended and I hate to admit it but I believe that the imaging betters our ML. It is unbelievable to us to find a product which combines the strengths of so many different designs with such an authority for the money. Is it as good as the ML ? No, but it comes close in many areas and in imaging and midrange musicality it's at least as good. My wife loves the look and feel of the amp and the blue light display. Very classy. We looked into digital amplification for our Video system, and after hearing the updated Stratos we're going with Odyssey .

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All of it's strengths have already been highlighted by others in over 100 reviews

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My audio / home theater system consisted of "mass market" equipment until 4 years ago when I started upgrading. Basically I only have one more upgrade to do at this time and that is to purchase a quality CD player. During my upgrades to mid to high end equipment I always looked for the best value for the money and when I came across the Stratos it virtually took my breath away. It's a solid performer that is extremely well built both internally and externally. It has top quality connections, runs cool and is very musical, in addition, it's covered by one of the best warranties in the business. I would recommend this amp to anyone who wants to purchase a high quality amp at a "down to earth price". I met up with Klaus this past week end at the Montreal International Hi-Fi Show. I was able to spend a considerable amount of time with him and got to know him a lot better. I auditioned the complete line of Odyeesy products at the show, including speakers and pre amps and found them all to be of exceptional quality and performance. Sunday evening, after the show was over, Klaus upgraded my Stratus by replacing the internal cables with Groneberg cable. What else can I say except that Klaus is a great guy who is honest, knowledgable, hard working and provides 100% "after sales" support and service.

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very well balanced sound

the top plate would be less sensitive to vibration if it was corrogated. it would be nice to have a "stand by" switch which would mute it and drop off current draw so that it would be possible to switch it off without having to let it warm up for such a long time after truning it off.

Some people claim that all amps sound the same… and my experience has shown that for the most part they do. The only difference that a very good amp makes is at the very edges of the musical performance – the transition spaces between sounds, the control of decay, the shape of the sound around the notes, etc. The bulk of the sound does sound the same, but for me, a large part of the emotional impact of music is not in its bulk but precisely at its edges. If this is also true for you, if you have to sit still and close your eyes for a while before feeling like you are “really” listening to music, and you have not more than $3000 to spend on an amplifier than I don’t think that you can go wrong with the Odyssey Stratos stereo amplifier. (If you have many thousands of dollars to spend on an amp, then please spend some time to reflect upon what is important in life :) The specs of the Odyssey Stratos never impressed me, but after reading the reviews, which are overwhelmingly positive, I decided to give it a try. Now, after listening to it for over a year I can honestly say that I understand what Klaus (the manufacturer) means when he says “the music is not in the specs… an amplifier is a piece of art which is a product of the inventor’s ear and ability to shape sound through the manipulation of electronics.” Listen and believe your ears and not some numbers that someone jotted down. This amp is very musical and a solid performer – for the price I could not find anything that could beat it…. But yes yes, as any gear, please do break it in before forming an opinion about it. System: Legacy Classics Odyssey Stratos with cap upgrade Creek OBH 12 Scott Nixon TubeDac+ Pioneer DVD some decent cables

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Hafler, Adcom, Yamaha, Sony, McIntosh, Denon

o Sound quality o Build quality o Connections

o Weight (it's heavy ~ 58lbs.)

This was my first foray into components -- I had to make the move after my receiver started humming (and not in tune with the music). I didn't know a tremendous amount about Odyssey except that they didn't seem to advertise much - at least, compared to the mega manufacturers I've listed in the products used section - but they did have a good following of people who seemed to like their product. After seeing all the positive reviews on this site and others I decided to have a conversation with Klaus. First off let me say that Klaus is a great guy. He's not a salesman or marketer. He's just a talented audiophile who likes to share his passion with others. I've never had such great feeling of trust with any company as this one as Klaus is a man who stands by his word and his goal is to make you happy. I ended up ordering the Stratos and each day that goes by I am more and more happy with my decision. The amp is powerful and really brings out the music. I could have gone with one of the mass market brands I listed below, but for every dollar I paid them, only a fraction of it would end up in the equipment. A good majority of it would go into the dealer's profit, the slick marketing and the cutesy eye candy they stick on the amp. Instead, buying the stratos I can see that most of my money went into a very musical, powerful and well built amplifier that will easily last me past the 20 year warranty. Would I make the same choice if I had to do it all over again? You bet, in fact I already did ... sort of, I also picked up a pair of Odyssey monoblocks.

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very strong and sturdy ... i bet it can take a beating. great warrenty great support Klaus and company have always been right on

Time to get it... I like to have stuff the day I order it. I just dont have patience.

I purchased my Stratos about 8 months ago. I heard it at the audio show in NYC. It blew myself and a few other audiofiles away for the price. I also got the tempest which will be sent out soon to be upgraded along with my stratos. Along with this I purchased a pair of Lorelei's "Mother of Perl" loud speakers. Some of the innerconnects were damaged but nothing that could not be fixed. Once I had it all setup I played a cd through my reciever (Onkyo 575). Its an older unit but does the job for home theatre needs. As with most of you if you dont have all the right pieces when you buy something you rig whatever you need to to get it up and sound coming out so you can play with it. I put some cdz in and sat back as I was blown away. What I had heard at hte show was what I had got. Still to date Im completely satisfied with my purchase and would recommend these to anyone. On another note I would like to just state how disapointed I am to see some peoples reviews bashing these due to the fact that an email address could not be written tooo... I know my mom changes her email address ever few months when her free aol trial account expires :).