Ken Micallef

Onkyo Is Alive and Well (Case in Point: Its New Icon Series)

Guess who's back from the brink of existence? It's Onkyo, the storied Japanese audio brand that filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Like Mark Twain's rumored demise, reports of its death were greatly exaggerated. In Munich, Akihisa "Alec" Watanabe, project leader at Onkyo Technology, and Dave Gans, VP of Marketing & eCommerce at Premium Audio Company (Onkyo's U.S. distributor, which also handles Klipsch) convinced doubters that the brand is alive and well.
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Glory and Hallelujah: My Time at Kondo Audio Note

My last stop of the show was a real highlight. The only Kondo Audio Note equipment I'd heard up till then was at a friend's home in New York City. His setup included a Kondo Ongaku integrated amplifier, a Kondo KSL-SFz SUT (step-up transformer), Kondo silver interconnects (KSL-LPz and Ls-41), and Kondo KSL-SPz silver speaker cables. The sound was consistently beautiful, very natural, with a touch of romanticism.
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Revival Audio Instinct: French Speakers, Nordic Muscle

Jacky Lee, CEO of French manufacturer Revival Audio, presented a fine system that included an Electrocompaniet ECM 1 MKII high-end DAC and music streamer ($5800, all prices approximate when converted from Euros), an EMC 1 MKV Reference CD player ($7300), an EC 4.8 MKII Reference preamplifier ($5700), and Electrocompaniet's AW 800 M Reference stereo/monoblock amplifiers ($24,000 each).
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