Odyssey, GIK Acoustics, and more

It was all psychedelic retro in Room 9000, as Odyssey’s Klaus Bunge dimmed the lights and headed to Fillmore West as he played Iron Butterfly’s "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” Given that I was hardly prepared to drop acid in the midst of blogging the show (as in who is that strange person from Stereophile who has spent the last 15 minutes staring at our turntable while muttering something about God being the deepest groove of all?), I didn’t know what was going on equipment-wise until I found Klaus outside the room and asked which way was up.

At that point, he decided to enter the room, turn up the lights and play something else. Before I could make a request or offer one of my CDs, another visitor to the room asked to hear his newly purchased used copy of an Argo LP of Neville Marriner and the Academy of you know what in-the-Fields playing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. Around the same time, Jonathan Valin of The Absolute Sound walked past me as he headed to a seat in front row. Within a split second after he passed by, an empty cardboard box fell on my head. “Is this what happens when someone from TAS walks in and spots a writer from Stereophile?” I asked, while musing silently over the fact that this was not my preferred way to get stoned.

After a good laugh, we all settled down to the business at hand. Lots of strings are hardly a good way to evaluate bass, but the system’s highs were warm, gorgeous and transparent. . . until volume increased, and hardness intruded. Klaus informs me that, a half hour later, he and the visitor went downstairs and had the very dirty record cleaned on a Ultrasonic Record Cleaner ($1500). The transformation was so significant—Klaus reports that all hardness vanished—that Klaus resolved to buy a unit for his own use.

Three of the Odyssey components in the system—Odyssey’s Kismet Beryllium Reference loudspeakers ($3900/pair), Candela Tube Reference preamplifier ($1500), and Khartago monophonic amplifier ($1900/pair)—are sold as package, along with the requisite Groneberg Quattro cabling, for $6700. Also heard was a 20-year old VPI turntable fitted with a van den Hul cartridge and Odyssey’s Suspiro Deluxe two-piece phono preamplifier ($1900 with outboard power supply). Keeping psychedelic excess under control was a host of room treatment from GIK Acoustics, ranging from TriTraps ($149/each) to the Q7d diffusors ($349/each). I believe Michael Fremer is also commenting on this system at our sister publication, AnalogPlanet.com.

COMMENTS
Ken Harley's picture

Why more drug mentioning for an audio show? I have seen you posting about LSD in a past post and you admitted to taking a lot of it during th 60's.Doesn't make for confidence in what you seem to hear now does it?Aslo plese stop using so much profanity as in other posts on here.

John Hall's picture

If you don't like the story, don't read it!

corrective_unconscious's picture

More like, read it and "Reply wittily for once if you don't like it."

corrective_unconscious's picture

The Iron Butterfly cut demanded a drug reference, even if the lighting schemata on its own did not, that's why.

jgossman's picture

You realize the amount of drug use needed to bring on all the "brain damage" inflicted on the poor mice in the government studies from the 50's and 60's would be the equivilent of smoking pot or doing lsd almost continuosly (meaning non-stop) for years without a break?  Which admittedly some have..

Elicit drugs, are illegal.  And we must as law abiding citizens, conform if we are to get good jobs, stay out of jail, etc.  But most of them are not, in fact, particularly bad for you.  Alcohol, as a matter of fact is the one drug, that outside of moderate daily usage, IS actually particularly bad for you.  So there you go.

corrective_unconscious's picture

What this industry needs right about now is an "LSD Eddie" ad campaign: "His prices are lysergic!"

And it would end pretty much as the original one did.

eugovector's picture

Good to see acoustic treatments with some sound science behind them. I wonder if they expanded the soundstage, added bass impact, made the music less localized in the speakers, and, most important, made the listening experience more compelling.

Nope, looks like they only kept excess under control.  Oh well, that's something that is much needed at times.

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