Hats off to Dan D'Agostino

SPEC2man

Are we there yet?
So it was time to lay down the birthday money for a new cartridge; I had put it off as long as I could. Yardwork was done, laundry, dishes, floors swept ... I figure I'm probably going to spend more than I should, I better get my ducks in a row with the little lady. You just never know where your wallet might go, when you start looking at little diamonds. I jumped the train and 45 minutes later I was standing outside Echo Audio in downtown Portland. I'm always a little excited when I open that old creaky door. It's a truly wonderful place and I had a pocket full of bad intentions. I was greeted by Kurt as I always am ... he was helping a lady with her cell phone. Kurt's the only person I know who has time for everyone. She was a slightly elderly woman ... seemed out of place but Echo knows no favorites. As I made my way to the back wall I could already see new toys abound ... Levinson No. 23, Krell KSA, Modwright pre, lots of Mac gear and a set of just slightly used Ryan Audio 630's. I had intended on picking up a Denon DL-103 for my backup table but Kurt pulled me in the back and after a 20-minute discussion, I had a Hana SL in my hand. On the way out Kurt tells me "Hey, do you have a minute, I want you to listen to something that just came in" That's always a prelude to something wonderful. As he sits me down my eye focus straight ahead to the rack ... Modwright phono pre, same table, CD and Sonos I am accustomed to seeing. Then I glance down and there they are - a flawless set of Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblocks. Holy crap are they beautiful. We spent the better part of an hour listening to everything from Sachmo to Zeppelin. My jaw stayed on the ground the whole time. The amps are simply amazing. I suppose a $65,000 set of amplifiers SHOULD sound amazing but these amps made everything sound better. We tried the Ryans, a couple sets of KEF's and a set of Wilson Benesch ARC. We spun vinyl, CDs and even Tidal pumped through the Sonos was fantastic. We ripped it up pretty good - they never even got going. Gobs of power and bass authority like I have never heard. They really showed off the difference between each type of speaker. I have heard and owned a lot of great amplifiers in my life, but NOTHING compared to what I heard yesterday. Used price? $35,000 and maybe a touch less if you're nice. Way out of my comfort zone but it was a hell of a demo just the same. I can't imagine they come up used very often ... The story goes they were originally purchased by the man who started Priceline who lives in Seattle, bought em and just didn't like em. God knows what he replaced them with but he took a hell of a hit.


Billionaires, cant live with em, can't live without em. Needless to say, I bought lotto tickets on the way home ... I'm scared to look.
 
:thumbsup:

One of the things I miss most when I moved away from Portland is stopping in to see Kurt and all the great gear at Echo Audio.
 
I posted a thread about hearing those amps with some big Wilson speakers a couple of years ago. It turned into another "eat the rich" argument between a couple of folks and got closed.

Still some of the very best sound I've ever heard. The ultra high end gear may be deep in the land of diminishing returns, but there are still returns to be had.
 
B69AAFA8-1F73-4791-9D3F-E7CA6D6F8117.jpeg 00774431-1051-4A02-867C-56A4F3A1D9B4.jpeg Back in January I attended a demo day at a Philly Hifi shop. One of the rooms was a complete D’Agostino Momentum monos and pre running a pair of Vivid Giya speakers. Pretty amazing. It’s wild being able to hear some of that stuff. One of their reps was there explaining all the machining and everything that goes into manufacturing these things. Truly works of art.
 
Very cool ... I wanted to get pics but my phone died as soon as I got on the train. Tiny little works of art ... I know they are way out of my (or most anyone's) price range but so are most paintings in art museums. Doesn't cost anything to enjoy them, if only for a few minutes. I think that's why I like Kurt so much. He just wanted to give me a chance to sit down and enjoy the Momentum. He mentioned he would love to keep them for himself but some stuff is out of even his comfort zone. 95 lbs each ... I was astonished at how much they weighed.

My lotto numbers didn't come in, so it looks like I will spend a little more time at Echo.

For what it's worth, the post folks make after Expona/RMAF and other shows are some of my favorites. It's always interesting hearing what an average person thinks of the very top end. It seems like our opinions contain less bias, as we have no real dog in the fight. I'm not going to ever purchase something like the Momentum monoblocks, so I can be as honest as I want here. Believe me, I have heard a lot of expensive gear over the years - some of it I liked, some of it I loved and some I didn't care for. These amps really did it for me ... made every song sound new again, hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. Maybe it was the mood I was in or maybe it was just the right set of equipment to complement them but if the planets ever align I'm not going to think twice.
 
View attachment 1192598 View attachment 1192599 Back in January I attended a demo day at a Philly Hifi shop. One of the rooms was a complete D’Agostino Momentum monos and pre running a pair of Vivid Giya speakers. Pretty amazing. It’s wild being able to hear some of that stuff. One of their reps was there explaining all the machining and everything that goes into manufacturing these things. Truly works of art.
What shop Frank?
 
I love listening to the gear that is the best of the best. I wish the people who make fun of this stuff without ever hearing it would go have a listen. Sure it's way out of my comfort zone, but listening to this type of gear answers a lot of the questions that get asked all the time. And NO, amps are not all alike.

Before Soundex in Willow Grove PA shut it's doors, I spent plenty of Saturday mornings in Room #1 listening to the biggest baddest systems you could assemble.
 
What shop Frank?

The Philly audiophile group did a demo day at David Lewis Audio. It was pretty cool. They had reps from D’Agastino, Aesthetix, and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio. Like the OP, it was fascinating to hear.
 
The Philly audiophile group did a demo day at David Lewis Audio. It was pretty cool. They had reps from D’Agastino, Aesthetix, and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio. Like the OP, it was fascinating to hear.
Cool, I have not been in there for many years. The guy wasn't so nice to me when I did stop in, nor when I tried to ask for value of the gear in my sig, because all but the CDP came from his shop bought by a neighbor of mine. I was much younger when I dropped into his store and I guess because I didn't have that Money In The Bank look or clothes, he gave me little of his time even tho I was the only one in his caged up store.
 
I love listening to the gear that is the best of the best. I wish the people who make fun of this stuff without ever hearing it would go have a listen. Sure it's way out of my comfort zone, but listening to this type of gear answers a lot of the questions that get asked all the time. And NO, amps are not all alike.

Before Soundex in Willow Grove PA shut it's doors, I spent plenty of Saturday mornings in Room #1 listening to the biggest baddest systems you could assemble.

I thought all amps were pretty much alike for awhile...power was the only real difference...that's before I got to experience any "good" ones...and by good, I don't even mean "great" or high priced, just very good amps that even I can afford. For example, this McCormack DNA 0.5...wow! Definitely sounds different than the Sony it replaced...and I thought the Sony was very good too, but this sounds obviously different. So yeah, now I'm in the "amps don't sound the same" camp. Casual listeners may hear no difference but after about 5 years in this hobby now, I know what to listen for.

I'd love to hear some of this high end stuff. The only high end I've heard were a pair of Wilsons...definitely a WOW moment...such a huge sound stage, it was crazy!
 
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