Kondo Ongaku......from the past

[Rhapsody]

 

[gian60]

I had 4 Ongaku in my life,The first smaller,2 units in Italy,then 2 Ongagu Audio Note and the Kondo Ongaku KSL
I tried together the AudioNote Japan Ongaku,the most famous because made by Kondo and the new KSL.
For my taste the new KSL was better,more transparent and more open on high and little more fast

 

[Rhapsody]

I had 4 Ongaku in my life,The first smaller,2 units in Italy,then 2 Ongagu Audio Note and the Kondo Ongaku KSL
I tried together the AudioNote Japan Ongaku,the most famous because made by Kondo and the new KSL.
For my taste the new KSL was better,more transparent and more open on high and little more fast

For me there is more than the sound in this case. I enjoy pieces that were from the Kondo san era. I like that this Ongaku and Kyoeun have all of their original tubes, were one owner since the early 90's. Special for me, I don't even play either of the amps all that much, I just like having them in the room.

The fact that Herb and Mike drove these amps out to Arizona in the 90's and installed them and now they have arrived back in NYC, arranged by their gracious owner of the past 25 years, it's more about "the story" of these specific amps.

 

[gian60]

Sure,for me are pieces of art like the old Audio Tekne,Sakuma,Yamamura

 

[Rhapsody]

Exactly

 

[cjfrbw]

I remember hearing a Japanese Audio Note Ongaku at the Stereophile show in 1991 (?) (early 90s-ish) in San Francisco, before Peter Qvortrup had his notorious break up with the Japanese branch to start British Audio Note.

It was being demo'd with Audio Note Speakers, and I was incredibly underwhelmed by the sound. I couldn't believe it, so I went back several times, and it was the same, just not that that. Peter was very aggressive with his pointed British accent in asserting the excellence of things, but I just shrugged.

It is a gorgeous object, and I don't doubt that in a non-show setup it would change my mind on the sound, but at that time and place, nichts.

So much for evaluating things at audio shows in hotel rooms.

Nick Gowan had one at his repair shop in Campbell (at least I think it was Ongaku, just gorgeous), although It might have been the British Audio Note version that he played while working. At that time, he had it at the front desk in the place (a small house). It was hard to evaluate because he kind of had them set up as a garage system for his workplace, heh, heh!