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Dan d’Agostino is back
Perhaps you recognize the name:
Dan D’Agostino and his then wife
Rondi launched Krell back in 1980.
The philosophy: there’s no such thing
as too much amplifier power. Of course
Krell gear never did come cheap, and
the D’Agostinos sold Krell last year.
Or at least that’s Dan’s spin. In fact
he took on an equity firm, KP Partners,
as a minority investor, and the buzz we
get is that he made a mistake that has
been made by countless other high end
companies before Krell. The new partner
had a minority of the company stock,
but a majority of voting stock. A little
before last Christmas the locks were
changed, and the D’Agostinos (including
son Bret) were escorted to the door.
They’re suing, but what part of “voting
control” don’t they understand?
Why a free version?
KEF uses its demo tech
Go through our report on CES 2010
in Vegas (in this issue), and you’ll see
what can only be called a rave for an
enigmatic loudspeaker called the Blade
Concept. The venerable British speaker
maker has used its suite at the Hilton
for expensive speaker demos before.
The previous year it had shown off the
Muon, an aluminum sculpture that made
people think of the evil T1000 cop from
Terminator 2. And it subsequently sold a
number of them, despite a price deep into
six digits.
Would it do the same with the Blade
Concept, a magnificent carbon fibre
speaker that wowed us (and other reviewers
too)? No, the word “concept” indicated
that this speaker was not destined
for production, but was a “mule” for new
technology, just like those impractical
concept cars you see at auto shows.
And now the technology has migrated
south…south in price we mean.
For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF
version of our magazine.
The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and
that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why
But Dan isn’t planning to retire any The Q300 bookshelf speaker, shown
we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large
time soon. He’s set up a new company, here, uses a single coaxial Q driver, much
amount of information…for free.
with the self-effacing name of Dan like those that have been used by KEF
We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business.
D’Agostino Inc., and his first product for what seems like centuries, but this
Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many
is the Momentum amplifier you see time using technology developed for the
as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing.
here. It’s got high power (300 watts per Blade, which also used Uni-Q drivers.
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download…
channel), but you would expect no less There’s a smaller Q100 too. We have
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home
from the founder of Krell. It has 28 no prices on either of them, but the “Q”
under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need
output transistors, and that’s not paint series was never KEF’s top of the line.
to do in order to get the information to you.
on the side heat sinks. They’re made Which left us to speculate on what
Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We
of copper, for superior heat dispersion. the Blade Concept would cost if it were
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on.
The price is listed as $42,000 a to go into a short production run, say 500
pair. Yes, a pair — the Momentum is a pairs. Would it cost $300,000? Perhaps
monoblock.
as much as a half million?
Just one thing, Dan. People like There could still be a market for
Mark Levinson, Nelson Pass and Steve them. True, we all tend to have dark
McCormack could tell you how danger- suspicions about people who can afford
ous it is to give a company your own such products. Are they the ones who
name. Now that you’ve done it, don’t go threw families into the street and then
talking to any more equity firms. got government bailouts? Eek!
ADVERTISERS
Allnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
ASW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 2
Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 55-62
Audio Zendo . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ETI (Eichmann) . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Europroducts International . . . 13, 17
Hammertone Audio . . . . . . . . . . 14
Liberty Trading . . . . . . . . . Cover 4
MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3
Radio St-Hubert . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Roksan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4
Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Tri-Cell Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . 33
UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 39
UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Van den Hul . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2
Well Tempered . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 81
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