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Krell Founder Starts New Company

Weston, Conn. – Krell co-founder Dan D’Agostino launched a new company and the company’s first new product.

The company, called Dan D’Agostino Inc., launched the Momentum monoblock amplifier, said to combine extremely high power output in a compact 4 by 12.5 by 18-inch chassis with low power consumption. The Momentum will ship this fall at a suggested $42,000 per pair and will soon be followed by the Momentum preamp. That product is said to combine the functions of a traditional analog preamplifier and a digital media server.

Each Momentum amplifier is rated at 300 watts into 8 ohms, 600 watts into 4 ohms, and 1,200 watts into 2 ohms but draws less than 1 watt of power in standby mode, whereas many other high-powered amplifiers draw 100 watts or more in standby, the company said.

The company attributes the amp’s compact size to a cooling technology that uses copper heat sinks. “The thermal conductivity of copper is 91 percent greater than that of aluminum, making it possible to use smaller heat sinks,” the company said. For additional efficiency, the heat sinks use venturis instead of fins. The venturis are 0.75 inches at the top and bottom but 0.5 inches in the middle.

As a result, as heat expands the air at the top of the venturi, the air gets pushed upward and pulls up air in from the bottom of the venturi.

The amp also features a front power meter said to get its inspiration from a Breguet watch face. No fasteners are visible from front, back, top, or sides.

“Most 300-watt monoblocks are the size of an air conditioner, but the Momentum fits easily into an equipment rack,” D’Agostino said. “Because the power draw is so low in standby, it’s not going to heat up your room.”

D’Agostino resigned from Krell’s board in March, a D’Agostino spokesperson said. Late last year, he and Krell co-founder Rondo D’Agostino filed a lawsuit against private-equity fund KP Capital Partners and current KP-allied Krell executives to regain their management roles at the high-end audio company they founded in 1980. The suit is ongoing, D’Agostino’s lawyer told TWICE.

Rondi D’Agostino remains on the Krell board, a D’Agostino spokesperson added.

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