sirspeedy: Thanks for the compliment... I think :)
The unit that you spoke of, indeed, was a prototype (AKA. pre-production unit). The reaon for the show was to find US representation and get some press for the product. If you read Wes Phillips'comments below, it will verify what I stated in my earlier post:
Stereophile Excerpt:
It was late May 2002 and I was about to leave the Free Republic of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, for the high-class hallways of the New York Hilton and Home Entertainment 2002, so I could file daily reports for www.stereophile.com. As he was giving me last-minute instructions, webmaster Jon Iverson said, "I don't know whether or not you followed Hervé Delétraz's articles on building his amplifier, but he's going to have a sample at the Show. You should drop in and check it out. It sounds kind of interesting."
I had seen Delétraz's amp stories, but I'd only skimmed them, so I dropped by the darTZeel room expecting a kludgy DIY project. There wasn't anything remotely like that on display, so I almost moved on, convinced that Delétraz must have been unable to negotiate the shipping hurdles to bring his engineering-school project from Geneva, Switzerland, to New York.
Fortunately, Delétraz spotted my nametag and introduced himselfwe'd corresponded by e-mail a time or two but had never met.
"Too bad you couldn't bring your amp to the show," I commiserated.
"But you're listening to it!"
I goggled at the beautiful, beefy power amp sitting on the floor between the speakers. It featured a thick, gold-anodized faceplate and soft, red-anodized casework and heatsinks. A smoked-glass top plate revealed a topology that looked more sculpted than laid out. A pair of domed indicator lights pulsed softly to the music, and a centrally located power switch lent the front panel an overwhelming resemblanceinadvertent, I assumedto a face.
It was purtyin fact, the amp's fit'n'finish rivaled that of any audio component I had ever seen. This was a DIY project?
Well, Hervé Delétraz is Swiss. And an engineer. And, well, Swiss.
I sat down and listened. And marveled. And lusted.
"You have got to manufacture this amplifier!" I blurted.
"I would like to," said Hervé, "but it will be quite expensive. I used to think that stereo cost so much that I would be better off making it myself. But when you make only one, it really gets expensiveand I don't think it gets much better if you make 50, either."
"Then you're going to need to make a whole lot of these, because people have got to hear what this amp can do."
"I'd like that," Hervé said.
Delétraz has managed to keep the price more or less stablein Swiss francs. US dollars is another story. The greenback's precipitous dive has driven the amplifier's Stateside price steadily up. It currently hovers just below $18,200.
END Stereophile Excerpt.
I hope this clears things up for you as I also hope you get a chance to hear the amplifier in a system that you are familiar with.
As far as 18k for 100 watts, the amp you seem to really appreciate is the LAMM ML2.1, which is 18 watts in 2 chassis. The Wavac's are 60k+ for 100 watts in 2 chassis and let's not even bother discussing the FM Acoustics. Are these all incredibly expensive? Yes, but price per watt, does not really matter. I hope you see my point.
