D’Agostino Factory Tour

[UltraFast69]

I was heading to Scottsdale, Arizona on business and at the last possible minute dropped a message asking Dan D’Agostino if I could swing by before my week started on Monday. Dan answered very quickly over the weekend, said he was in NY but his son Alex would take care of me.

This really being my first time in Arizona where I had some time, did some discovering and stayed in beautiful Sedona about 2 hours north of Phoenix and visited The Grand Canyon still a few hours north of Sedona and to add a factory tour.

D’Agostino’s factory was directly in route back to Scottsdale where I had a seafood show to attend while observing on the drive back how the topography greatly differs. I now can see why D’Agostino moved operations from the East Coast to Arizona, originally setting up camp in Carefree then moving down the road to his now beautiful headquarters and factory located in Cave Creek, Arizona.

On a 100 degree, dry heat day, the parking lot was filled with cars belonging to the many craftsman building several amps in all different stages along with his son and daughter working in the family business. The layout is a bullpen type feel with everyone approachable and visible. I feel I really now know Dan, without really knowing Dan - it was clearly evident doing things right was embedded in his team, a sign from a good leader - I like that!

Upon entering the factory, there was a near complete set of Relentless Monos getting ready for a new owner residing overseas as well as several Momentum and Progressions in various stages of build shipping all over the globe as well as here in the United States.

But back to the Relentless, there is no way anyone could not notice this. I know the Relentless is massive in every way but seeing it up and close in a build setting just showed how colossal of an amp this really is.

This visit further established my support for the brand as an owner and equally important to the man and team behind the equipment.

In my case, the Momentum’s clearly grip the Wilson Alexias with complete authority allowing for music to be played in the manner it should.

Thank you DD’ and Co, I look forward in listening to your products for many years to come!



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[Ritmo]

Fantastic and thanks for sharing!

One of those Momentum preamps may be mine which is at the factory getting upgraded to the HD level.

Safe travels!

 

[UltraFast69]

Fantastic and thanks for sharing!

One of those Momentum preamps may be mine which is at the factory getting upgraded to the HD level.

Safe travels!

Thank you!

I wondered while I was there if any were from our group, I was aware Stillone ordered an HD Pre, and there were 3 under construction.


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[Ritmo]

I was told earlier today that mine has been upgraded and going through testing and validation.

I havent been roughing it since Mike loaned me very nice pre. But, I’m ready to get mine back.

PS - I believe Jim’s (still-one) is black.

 

[Mike]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.


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[still-one]

I was told earlier today that mine has been upgraded and going through testing and validation.

I havent been roughing it since Mike loaned me very nice pre. But, I’m ready to get mine back.

PS - I believe Jim’s (still-one) is black.

Yep, my new one will be black. Haven’t heard a update on build or delivery yet.

 

[UltraFast69]

Fantastic and thanks for sharing!

One of those Momentum preamps may be mine which is at the factory getting upgraded to the HD level.

Safe travels!

If it’s the one, it was this one in the picture below. The photo is an internal shot of the pre on the far right but not knowing to what extent it’s being updated (PreAmp with styrofoam between the main power supply and the pre.)

M300

M400

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[laynesaddiction]

Thank you!

I wondered while I was there if any were from our group, I was aware Stillone ordered an HD Pre, and there were 3 under construction.


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Thank you for posting the pictures and talking through your tour. My wife an I have been listening to our upgraded Momentum HD preamp for about 3 weeks now. In our humble opinion, anyone else who jumped either to upgrade their current pre-amp or buy a HD outright will not be disappointed and very much thrilled with the new component.

 

[Ritmo]

Thanks for the comments on the HD pre Anthony. Did you upgrade or buy a new HD?

 

[laynesaddiction]

Thanks for the comments on the HD pre Anthony. Did you upgrade or buy a new HD?

We upgraded our original Momentum pre-amp.

 

[Ritmo]

My HD upgraded pre arrived yesterday. I was able to listen for just a couple of hours.

My my initial observation is that the upgrade was well worth it. More air, larger stage and tighter bottom; similar impression I experienced when I upgraded the S200 to S250. And, the new remote with Bluetooth connectivity to the pre works great!

 

[still-one]

My HD upgraded pre arrived yesterday. I was able to listen for just a couple of hours.

My my initial observation is that the upgrade was well worth it. More air, larger stage and tighter bottom; similar impression I experienced when I upgraded the S200 to S250. And, the new remote with Bluetooth connectivity to the pre works great!

Mike
Your comments are making me antsy for mine to be manufactured and delivered.

 

[Ritmo]

Mike
Your comments are making me antsy for mine to be manufactured and delivered.

i would be very willing to bet that you’ll be happy Jim.

 

[UltraFast69]

I am crying inside with envy for the both of you as it is apparent I will be well out of budget after I move forward in the analogue arena putting this off until next year.

 

[Knecht]

On Friday I ordered the Progression Stereo and seeing these pictures gets me more excited. I would have loved to have purchase the Momentum, but can’t bring myself to spend that kind of money. Does anyone know how long it typically takes to ship once ordered? I know they are hand made but do they keep stock or are they made to order?

 

[laynesaddiction]

My HD upgraded pre arrived yesterday. I was able to listen for just a couple of hours.

My my initial observation is that the upgrade was well worth it. More air, larger stage and tighter bottom; similar impression I experienced when I upgraded the S200 to S250. And, the new remote with Bluetooth connectivity to the pre works great!

My wife and I have been listening to our upgraded Momentum Pre-amp HD for about a month now and also agree the upgrade was very much worth the $$$. In our system and to our ears we felt the following:

- The micro-dynamics (to our ears) of both individual instruments and also the said instruments within the soundstage was the biggest improvement. Expect a much faster response to initial hits of a percussive instrument, pluck of a string, or even the dynamics of the air around the vocal cords of a singer. To us, this improvement took an already hyper-dynamic pre-amp and pushed it further into reality. Just outstanding.
- While this might be because of the above changes, the speed at which a FF->P or P->F dynamic swing in intensity has very much both sped up and stopped faster. This gave the intensity of either loud->soft or soft->loud passages a more realistic representation. Loud to soft passages don't exhibit any "hangover" (think tape saturation as an analogy) and stop on a dime. Soft->Loud is super quick without being overtly harsh.

- There was definitely a perceived and apparent kick in the pants in the lower octaves that made both the perceived bass more pronounced in addition to being tighter.
- We felt the width of the soundstage widened, but not so much the depth.
- Again, this might be because of the dynamic improvements of this pre-amp over its predecessor, but even the timbre of certain instruments seemed to be more realistic. We would not say every instrument, but certain ones obviously benefited(lower toms on a drum kit, cymbal crashes, keys struck individually on a piano, strings picked on a guitar (especially the nuances when an arpeggio is played on a guitar, where the ringing of the prior played note interacting with the other picked note gained more realism in our opinion)).

I would say to our ears in our system for dynamics, the Momentum Pre -> Momentum HD Pre upgrade was similar in scope to the Momentum -> Momentum M400 upgrade, but we still feel the amp upgrade was a "bigger" (if that makes sense) upgrade. However, as said above, it is well worth the money and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

For us it took about 45+ hours of break-in when most of the changes solidified, with about 70 hours hitting a plateau where there were no more easily perceivable changes to our ears.

Thanks for listening.​

 

[Bar81]

Is the tone the same as before - warm?

 

[laynesaddiction]

Is the tone the same as before - warm?

While I can't speak what is "warm" to you, what I can say is that the balance or accuracy (which to my ear when pushed to the extreme can be considered harsh, bright, or sterile) vs. humanness/musicality (which to my ear when pushed to the extreme can be considered syrupy, methodical, etc.) has not lost its IMHO place in the continuum of Momentum products. I feel Dan biased his current Momentum designs with nice engineering tradeoffs for an accurate and musical presentation. If I had a gun put to my head, it might be a hair towards the accuracy side of the continuum I speak about above, but that would be true of the original Momentum Pre-amp also. So, I don't think is moved much away from the original "house sound" if you will.

 

[Bar81]

While I can't speak what is "warm" to you, what I can say is that the balance or accuracy (which to my ear when pushed to the extreme can be considered harsh, bright, or sterile) vs. humanness/musicality (which to my ear when pushed to the extreme can be considered syrupy, methodical, etc.) has not lost its IMHO place in the continuum of Momentum products. I feel Dan biased his current Momentum designs with nice engineering tradeoffs for an accurate and musical presentation. If I had a gun put to my head, it might be a hair towards the accuracy side of the continuum I speak about above, but that would be true of the original Momentum Pre-amp also. So, I don't think is moved much away from the original "house sound" if you will.

Fair enough. Thanks, that's what I wanted to know.

 

[Ritmo]

Anthony's description is spot on what I've experienced with my newly upgraded pre to the HD level. It's sounding so good that my wife spent a couple of hours last evening with me listening to vinyl. She will typically listen for a little while then move on but not yesterday.