Dan D’Agostino Integrates – Again!

Geplaatst op 16/01/2014 door hermanvandendungen

dagostino-logoThe integrated Amplifier has always been -at least for me- one of the most common audio pieces you could think of. The “real” thing was the next level up: a seperate pre- and power amplifier.

Then … Dan D’Agostino, while at Krell, introduces the KAV-300i. A small integrated amplifier. Huh … The big Krell known from the big heavy amps designed an integrated amplifier? Yes, they did and it became one of their most popular products ever. For them and for us. We decided to try and see what the effect would be of introducing this product in our market at the US retail price (excl taxes) and gave the product a lot of attention. And it worked. We ordered this model not in quantities of 5 or 1o units, we ordered by 100 pieces. A first for us, a first for Krell. Once we did this, the other distributors in Europe kind of woke up and the model became popular all over. It became a classic.

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It did not only became a classic, it also made the integrated amplifier recognized as a real high-end product. Some even started to argue about the advantages of having the music signal treated without the wired distance between the preamplifier and the poweramplifier. Soon most high end companies were offering a high end integrated amplifier. We at Durob Audio are also responsable for the design, production and distribution of PrimaLuna and Mystère products. We actually always -till now- stárt with an integrated amplifier and from there we “travel” to the seperates. During this CES 2014 we did that again and brought the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP Integrated Amplifier on stage. During 2014 you will hear more about it. Keep an eye on us.

picture "stolen" from absolute sounds uk. thank you

pic “stolen” from absolute sounds uk. thank you

And Dan, during CES 2014, in his new company Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems, did it again. He introduced his new … D’Agostino Integrated Amplifier. I have not actually seen the unit. I have seen a picture here and there and it is, as you can expect from Dan, a very impressive machine.

During 2014 you will hear more about it. Keep an eye on us, keep an eye on Dan’s company website. For now you can get the maximum available information from the company’s pre CES 2014 press release which you can download here.

Geplaatst in Algemeen info - Informations générales, Awards - Oscars, Dan d'Agostino, Krell Industries, PrimaLuna, Versterkers - Amplificateurs | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Plaats een reactie

Live And Love Your Life, Enjoy Your Music

Geplaatst op 15/01/2014 door hermanvandendungen

Yesterday I was once again discussing within our company the need of advertising or non-advertising of our products, services, special offers, second-hands etc. More on that maybe later. Following that discussion I was Googling a bit and landed on an old page of one of our websites and in fact one of the first hifi-related websites in BeNeLux. It made me smile. It made me sad. It made me think. Just showing how fast things seem to change. Below you find a range of pictures related to the promotion of our Hifi Notes website. I smiled because of the good memories. I was sad because of the people not being with us anymore. I was thinking Live And Love Your Life as long as you can. On the funny side of things: my Volvo is still here.

I don’t dare to say from when exactly these pictures from this Guerilla Marketing Project are, and I don’t have the time to find out. But I hope these give some of our readers a smile , and I know it will give some of our readers a tear. But let the lesson be -and I know many will say: Look at Yourself- we have to enjoy as much as we can. Music is an excellent tool for that!

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Geplaatst in Algemeen info - Informations générales | Tags: , , , | 1 reactie

High End Audio – Audio with a Passion!

Geplaatst op 14/01/2014 door hermanvandendungen

PassionThere are always many new, excellent audio products entering the market and you see a part of them disappear after some time or live a low level life in the shadow of others. How come?

I think that the simple reason is that many of these products lack a passion. A passion from the leading man behind the product, often the designer, the original owner of the brand! It’s his product, his child, his baby. His blood, sweat and tears are in this final product and he will do everything to defend it and bring it where he thinks it belongs: AT THE TOP!

Think of the top high end brands and realise that you also often know the name of the designer, the owner. Think of names like Saul Marantz, John Dahlquist, Jim Bongiorno, Dan D’Agostino, Bill Johnson, Dick Sequerra, Dave Wilson, Franco Serblin and others. Once they die, or leave the company, it’s not the same anymore. The 5 stars mastercook has “left the building” and “the building” doesn’t know how to continue the game the same way. Simply because there is no more that PASSION.

I have been very lucky I have met a great number of famous high end designers and manufacturers during the last (almost) 40 years. And I feel good about the fact that I share one thing with them that what makes an excellent product a high end audio product: PASSION!

I am very lucky that at this very moment we have a team that is highly motivated, skilled ánd full of PASSION! This PASSION will make 2014 the BEST YEAR EVER for us.

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Geplaatst in AH!, Algemeen info - Informations générales, Audia Flight, Audio Research, Awards - Oscars, Bow Technologies, Conrad Johnson, Copland, Dan d'Agostino, darTZeel, Kiseki, Krell Industries, M2Tech, Mystere, Playback Designs, PrimaLuna, Sonus faber | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Plaats een reactie

CES is over … Now back to normal!

Geplaatst op 13/01/2014 door hermanvandendungen

cesThe fact I was not in Las Vegas doesn’t mean I wasn’t at CES. I had my daily contacts with Kevin PrimaLuna USA about how things were going at the show. Had my contacts with clients being there, with some people of the press and was of course following the CES news that arrived through one of today’s digital pipelines. But … CES is over and now back to normal I would say. But what’s normal …

THE YEAR 2014 will be our BEST YEAR EVER. Main reason is because we were given back a FREEDOM which was stolen away from us without really understanding it was stolen away. Later this month you will understand better what I mean.

Back to normal means for example for our brand KISEKI that we look to the introduction of a new model, the Kiseki PurpleHeart N.S. But also to the fact that we have almost a limited run ready of the Kiseki PurpleHeart N.O.S. Hopefully also our Kiseki “bridge” will be ready to be introduced to the market. We are evaluating a transformer design for the N.S. models, while we still have a small stock of Audiophile Products / Kiseki transformers recently found back in our warehouse. And look what we have more ….

trafoagaatThe Kiseki Agaat cartridges you see on the picture are cartridges from the very past. These are defective and at that time returned to us. Being busy, busy, busy, these never made it to the repair department and found a small corner in the “wherehouse” instead. Now what to do with it? Recently we saw a defective Kiseki Agaat cartridge “go” on Ebay for € 1,250.-. Mmm, not bad. IF you have a really, really good repair service. Well we have one that we can really recommend. Not the cheapest, but certainly (one of) the best I met on my journey through analogy since 1975. We offer these defective Kiseki Agaat cartridges for € 1,000,- a piece. In case you buy in combination with one of the silverwired 5.3/40 Ohms MC transformers (€ 500.-) next to it, the price for the cartridge comes down to € 750.-. Remember that the cartridge has to be repaired and the costs for that depends totally on what the repairman finds upon his investigation. If interested, please let us know and eventually make a choice upon what you “see” on the picture.

Geplaatst in Accessoires, Algemeen info - Informations générales, Audio Research, Awards - Oscars, Kiseki, Phono stage, Sonus faber | Tags: , , , , , | Plaats een reactie