Anyone heard of Odyssey Kismet Amp

[AcousticTheory]

I see lots of well poisoning in here based on unknowns. You people should know better. That said, Odyssey is a sole proprietorship and the owner Klaus Bunge is known to be quirky (he threw some friends of mine out of his show room a few years ago for identifying some parts used in his speakers, which is douchebag behavior so I don't really have a reason to defend him), but the amps are decently well regarded, based on Symphonic Line designs. The only serious misgiving I see to agree with in this thread would be buying something that is possibly out of warranty, but they are simple analog designs that are easily serviced if need be.

If you see an amp you like, and the price isn't too big to swallow, and you want to experiment with it, by all means go ahead. I doubt it's going to blow up your speakers or cause loss of property. If there's an opportunity to get one measured by Amir or another one of the techs on here, we could all learn from that.

Side note: I went into Odyssey's demo room while making my rounds at AXPONA 2025, and Klaus was still there, so as of this year I believe they are still in business. Still quirky.

 

[Sharkdrive]

Been around long time. Comment alleging out of business and not honoring warranty is ridiculous. You can google company in 10 seconds to refute that libelous statement. Wonder why Magico praises these cheap amps.

Company was called something else at the time, (I do not recall actual name) and I believe they had some issues with the german "mother" company which led to the issues with warranty etc, it was quite some time ago
On the plus side, it was big and heavy and looked awesome with its thick faceplate

 

[Billy Budapest]

I’ve heard of them and they have been around for at least 20 years. The amps look well built albeit “no frills” in the cosmetics department. I’m not sure about the circuit design or how they measure or sound.

 

[theatro]

Getting ready to send my Odyssey Candela Preamp in to Amirm and follow that up with one of my amps. Stay tuned.

 

[Salt]

Been around long time. Comment alleging out of business and not honoring warranty is ridiculous. You can google company in 10 seconds to refute that libelous statement. Wonder why Magico praises these cheap amps.

"cheap amps" is very ... relative..

 

[mck22mck]

Odyssey is a small company located in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) that has received few, but consistently positive reviews for their hand made amplifies that are mostly based on circuits designed by the German manufacturer Symphonic Line. They make both solid state and tube amps and preamps. They seem to be all Type AB designs. Last time I looked on the website, they are also an authorized dealer of Symphonic Line products. (But those are too expensive for my consideration.)

They have been in business for at least 20 years and are known mostly through word of mouth. They don't often get reviews, I guess because they don't often buy advertising space. But when they have been reviewed or mentioned in show reports, the comments have been uniformly very positive.

Their products are rarely seen on Audigon (I've looked several times after reading a review years ago) which I interpret as owners keeping them long term. They also sell a couple of speakers and some accessories like cables. (I'm not shilling for Odyssey, I just grew up in Indiana...and I wouldn't have expected "If I ain't seen it, it can't be any good." attitudes at ASR.)

 

[Sharkdrive]

Odyssey is a small company located in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) that has received few, but consistently positive reviews for their hand made amplifies that are mostly based on circuits designed by the German manufacturer Symphonic Line. They make both solid state and tube amps and preamps. They seem to be all Type AB designs. Last time I looked on the website, they are also an authorized dealer of Symphonic Line products. (But those are too expensive for my consideration.)

They have been in business for at least 20 years and are known mostly through word of mouth. They don't often get reviews, I guess because they don't often buy advertising space. But when they have been reviewed or mentioned in show reports, the comments have been uniformly very positive.

Their products are rarely seen on Audigon (I've looked several times after reading a review years ago) which I interpret as owners keeping them long term. They also sell a couple of speakers and some accessories like cables. (I'm not shilling for Odyssey, I just grew up in Indiana...and I wouldn't have expected "If I ain't seen it, it can't be any good." attitudes at ASR.)

Mea Culpa, turns out my amp was ODL, not a real odyssey (though it was advertised as such. I deeply apologize for my erroneous statements, a bit of research came up with this:

• 2004 controversy: A dispute arose between Odyssey Audio and another company, ODL, which was accused of building "knock-off" amplifiers using Odyssey's designs. Odyssey's Klaus Bunge won the lawsuit, and ODL no longer exists. The victory affirmed the legitimacy of Odyssey's designs, which were based on Symphonic Line's patented circuitry.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Mea Culpa, turns out my amp was ODL, not a real odyssey (though it was advertised as such. I deeply apologize for my erroneous statements, a bit of research came up with this:

• 2004 controversy: A dispute arose between Odyssey Audio and another company, ODL, which was accused of building "knock-off" amplifiers using Odyssey's designs. Odyssey's Klaus Bunge won the lawsuit, and ODL no longer exists. The victory affirmed the legitimacy of Odyssey's designs, which were based on Symphonic Line's patented circuitry.

I did a little more research and apparently, the ODL Stratos wasn’t a “knock-off” of the Odyssey Stratos, but rather was exactly the same amp except for the faceplate. ODL was Odyssey’s manufacturing partner, and when Odyssey and ODL’s relationship split, and Odyssey decided to begin manufacturing in-house, ODL just kept manufacturing the amps under their own name.

 

[Salt]

If they both are clones from Symphonic Line l, that would mean some support in case of failure could be managed from the 'Ruhrgebiet'.

 

[mhardy6647]

The victory affirmed the legitimacy of Odyssey's designs, which were based on Symphonic Line's patented circuitry.

So... Odyssey licensed Symphonic Line's design(s)/patent(s)?

 

[Thunder240]

Lots of statements in this thread about Odyssey amps, so far nothing backed up with testing. Not very ASR.

I’m an Odyssey owner. Sent my amp back twice, once for a warranty issue (it was honored), once to have it upgraded from “Stratos Plus” to “Kismet Reference”. I’ve been happy enough to stick with it over the years, but I’d love to see some testing!

 

[Salt]

Lots of statements in this thread about Odyssey amps, so far nothing backed up with testing. Not very ASR.

I’m an Odyssey owner. Sent my amp back twice, once for a warranty issue (it was honored), once to have it upgraded from “Stratos Plus” to “Kismet Reference”. I’ve been happy enough to stick with it over the years, but I’d love to see some testing!

Send it to Amir for testing.

 

[Thunder240]

Send it to Amir for testing.

Perhaps in the future, but it’s my only stereo amp at the moment, so that’s not currently in the cards.