Awesome system sightings: statement Kondo electronics on statement Dynaudio speakers
This system look like it would be fun to listen to. Not so happy with the speakers pointing at the gear, but what gear! The new Kondo Kagura amps on what looks like Dynaudio Evidence Platinum speakers with new dCS front end.
Someone who still likes CDs. Yay! [but tell me it doesn’t look a little weird to see all those CDs these days…]
The full AudioTechnique review of this system (in English) off Dynaudio’s site (pdf file, slow to load…)
Our reviewers here in the States could learn a thing or two here about what the appropriate caliber of associated components should be when test high performance speakers. Or to test high performance anything, for that matter. Even the most famous reviewers act surprised that their solid-state amps that seemed to sound OK on speakers that have a lot of their own sound [covering up the sound of the amp] sound bright and edgy on higher quality speakers that are more neutral and revealing [I am referring to a recent review which shall-not-be-named, and the speakers weren’t all that revealing, in point of fact, it is just that the amps they used are really THAT bright and edgy].
Here we have the Dynaudio Evidence Platinum speakers, fairly revealing and perhaps overly neutral, paired with the Kagura amps, very rich and emotional. And on the front end we have dCS digital, fairly high resolution and perhaps overly neutral, paired with the Kondo M1000 mkII preamp, again rich and involving an another good match.
I would call this a well-designed system, and one could use the choice of what cables to use to tune the sound for the room, and for the listener’s preferences in terms of dynamics, overall resolution, etc..
Not sure what the turntable is, but the racks are Finite Elemente. They have multiple layers of unfamiliar vibration platforms and tweaks under various components [ one platform starts with what looks like the letters: THIY… ] and this is potentially an issue for any kind of linear, predictable behavior – some frequencies/dynamics will be more damped than others – but it looks like they had fun setting it all up. 🙂