Belles vs.Odessey

Thanks again Mdhoover and very nice write up on the Stratos extreme's.

"I cannot find a dealer/person who will let me demo a pair of Belles."

That's a real drag. It's a long shot, but perhaps the Belles company itself would allow such an audition. In order to find a willing dealer, you'd probably have to convince him or her that you were basically ready to purchase ("pull the trigger") on whichever of the two models would win. It might be considerably less appealing to the dealer if she or he thought you were just tire kicking. Another thing you could try is to see if any of your audio friends own Belles monoblocks, and are willing to allow you to demo them. The only other option probably would be to purchase the Belles, do the test and then resell whichever loses--which seems completely absurd to me.

Reviews and testimonials are nice, and I even posted an Audiogon review of the Odyssey Stratos Extremes, but there's no substitute for one's OWN ears. Good luck.
-Bill

Thanks Bill.I cannot find a dealer/person who will let me demo a pair of Belles.I saw a pair just go for $5k here,so that got my interest in state of the art new/used amps under 5k.

If Belles will let you try an in home audition, I'd bet Klaus Bunge (Odyssey) would do the same. Then you'd get your answer, with a shootout in your own home. I ALMOST did this very thing with Odyssey Loreleis versus the Intuitive Design Summits, but ended up just getting the Summits without ever even hearing the Loreleis (I still have some guilt feelings because I really like Klaus and he's been very good to me), because I just wanted to make a decision and get it over with. Also, four speakers would have been quite a hassle to unpack and repack. (I love the Summits, by the way, and DID get a chance to hear them--twice--before buying.)

On the other hand, even though the amps would still be quite hefty, the four monoblocks would be much, much easier to hoist around, pack and repack, etc. Plus, you could do it yourself with nobody else around, assuming you could get both parties to ship demo units to you. It's just a thought, but such a test would likely answer your question, especially if you could manage to get older, nicely burned in units from both manufacturers (like units they've hauled around to shows that are already scratched up and already burned in).
-Bill

you're talking about a huge difference in price range.