Robert Koda - Press Release
Absolute Sounds & Ten — An Artisan Collection Appoint Paragon Sight & Sound as Exclusive US Representative for Robert Koda
One of America's most respected high-end audio specialists, Paragon Sight & Sound, owned by Larry Marcus and Richard Marcus, will exclusively represent the complete Robert Koda Takumi system across the United States, bringing one of the world's most singular analogue electronics lines to the American market at full breadth for the first time.
London / United States, 2026. Absolute Sounds Ltd, the United Kingdom's foremost importer of ultra-high-end audio, and its curatorial division Ten, An Artisan Collection, today announced the appointment of Paragon Sight & Sound as the exclusive US representative for the full Robert Koda Takumi range of hand-built analogue electronics.
The appointment marks a defining moment for the Robert Koda brand in North America. For the first time, the complete Takumi system, encompassing the Takumi K-15 EX flagship preamplifier, the Takumi K-160 monaural power amplifiers, and the MC-One moving coil phono stage, will be represented by a single, dedicated specialist whose values and standing in the American high-end audio world are beyond question.
Paragon Sight & Sound, a family-owned business, has for decades occupied a singular position in American high-end audio. Under Larry and now Richard Marcus's stewardship, Paragon Sight & Sound has built a reputation for pairing the world's finest audio instruments with an approach to customer relationships as exacting and personal as the products themselves. It is precisely this philosophy that makes the partnership with Robert Koda not merely appropriate, but inevitable.
Robert Koch is, by any measure, one of the most singular figures in the history of high-end audio electronics. Born in South Africa, he discovered his passion for audio at the age of twelve, immersing himself in the journals of the Audio Engineering Society and building his knowledge through years of hands-on work in high-end retail before his defining encounter with the late Hiroyasu Kondo of Audio Note Japan. The lessons Koch absorbed during those formative years remain the foundation of everything Robert Koda produces today.
What did working with Kondo-san teach him? In Koch's own words: "Perseverance and patience first. Materials and technique second. Then perseverance and patience again, completing the task you set out upon without any loss of interest or focus." It is a discipline that manifests in every aspect of the Takumi range, from the point-to-point silver wiring to the two weeks of testing that precede the delivery of every single instrument.
Koch's amplifiers do not follow trends, respond to market cycles, or chase specifications for their own sake. They follow a single, unwavering principle, which Koch calls Dynamic Simplicity: that music is in a constant state of flux, and that the electronics serving it must introduce no additional moving parameters of their own. As Koch has said: "I am looking for a sound that preserves the original colour of the music without adding, losing, or shifting anything." The Takumi system is the purest realisation of that ambition in the history of the brand.
For the American audiophile public, the arrival of the complete Takumi system through Paragon Sight & Sound represents something genuinely rare: access to instruments that are not products in the conventional sense, but commissions, each one built to order, assembled by hand, and signed off by their creator. In a market saturated with ambitious claims, Robert Koda stands apart because the music simply speaks for itself.
A Meeting of Kindred Spirits
Robert Koda, the creation of South African-born, Japan-based designer Robert Koch, occupies a position in the audio world that few manufacturers can claim. Koch spent years working alongside the legendary Hiroyasu Kondo of Audio Note Japan before establishing his own workshop on the Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka Prefecture, where every Robert Koda product is designed, built, and tested by Koch himself.
Koch's guiding philosophy, which he calls Dynamic Simplicity, holds that the finest audio electronics must add nothing and take nothing from the music passing through them. Every circuit decision, every component selection, every solder joint reflects this principle. The result is a range of instruments that, in the words of those who have heard them, do not so much reproduce music as allow it to arrive intact.
When asked the secret of his amplifiers' absence of sonic signature, Koch replied: "Dynamic simplicity is a strong theme and key word in our designs. Music is in a constant state of flux and in order not to displace this delicate time and amplitude relationship we need inherently stable electronics." What did working with Kondo-san teach him?
"Perseverance and patience first. Materials and technique second. Then perseverance and patience again, completing the task you set out upon without any loss of interest or focus."
Ten — An Artisan Collection was established by Absolute Sounds to represent exactly this kind of maker: craftsmen working beyond the mainstream, whose products demand a different kind of advocacy and a different kind of dealer. The alignment with Paragon Sight & Sound is a direct expression of that mission.
Three Instruments. One Vision.
The Takumi K-15 EX
Koch's flagship line-stage preamplifier is the most complete expression of his proprietary ITC (Inverted Transconductance Coupling) circuit to date. Five true balanced or single-ended inputs are wired point-to-point direct to the selector in pure silver wire, with one circuit board in the signal path housing the ITC circuit. The chassis is a laminated copper and aluminium sandwich; every circuit stage occupies its own individually shielded chamber, copper, mu-metal, or iron as required. The zero-feedback power supply is totally separate from the signal path. Total harmonic distortion below 0.0003%. Dynamic range in excess of 140 decibels.
A Volume Control of Extraordinary Depth
Critical to the K-15 EX's final sonic outcome is a volume control of unexpected extravagance. A custom-built eight-channel mechanical switch using solid silver contacts forms the basis of a fully balanced L-pad attenuator. Of 256 hand-matched nude resistors of the finest audio grade, fabricated specifically for this purpose, and only two per channel phase are ever in circuit at any one time. Koch chose the costly path of hand-wiring and pure mechanical switching throughout. Signals travel in four-nines pure silver wire, soldered with 99.99% purity copper lead-free alloy. RCA jacks are milled from high-purity copper and rhodium-plated. The result is simply evident in the listening.
The Takumi K-160
The K-160 monaural power amplifiers represent the culmination of a decade of research that followed Koch's celebrated K-70 valve amplifier. Entirely solid-state, operating in pure Class A at 100% into any impedance, the K-160 employs only N-type transistors, eliminating crossover distortion entirely, and runs zero negative feedback throughout. Its reactor-based power supply provides a static, constant DC current feed to the output stage regardless of programme demands, eliminating the modulated supply noise that compromises conventional designs. Output: 150 watts into 8 ohms, 230 watts into 4 ohms. Distortion: 0.0009% at 5 watts. Signal-to-noise: 125.5dB at 100 watts. Each K-160 weighs 45 kilograms and is assembled, tested, and personally approved by Koch. Five pairs are produced per year. Order books are healthy.
The Takumi MC-One
The MC-One is Robert Koda's statement moving coil phono preamplifier, the product of years of research and a wholly original approach to implementing the RIAA equalisation curve. Developed after Koch spent considerable time listening to the finest phono preamplifiers in existence and finding each of them wanting, the MC-One required years of fundamental research and then another two years to properly realise those discoveries in production form.
With 72dB of available gain, the MC-One delivers a combination of ultra-low noise, wide dynamic headroom, and an overload margin that sets it apart from every competing design. Dedicated exclusively to the moving coil cartridge, it is optimised for that singular task without compromise of any kind. Like every Robert Koda product, it operates with no negative feedback, no servo circuits, and significant silver hard wiring throughout the signal path.
The MC-One will be available through Paragon Sight & Sound nationally across the United States. Rick Brown of Hi-Fi One in Carlsbad, California, whose commitment to the MC-One as the world's pre-eminent moving coil phono stage has been unwavering and exemplary, will continue in his role as a dedicated representative for the MC-One in Southern California, doing so proudly under the aegis and sponsorship of Paragon Sight & Sound, whose leadership of the Robert Koda brand across the United States remains absolute.
About Robert Koda
Robert Koda was founded in 2008 by Robert Koch, a self-taught designer whose formative years included an extended period working alongside Hiroyasu Kondo of Audio Note Japan. All products are designed, hand-assembled, and personally tested by Koch in Higashi Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Production is strictly limited. Every unit is, in effect, individually commissioned. robert-koda.com
About Paragon Sight & Sound
Paragon Sight & Sound is one of America's most respected specialist high-end audio retailers. With an uncompromising commitment to musical performance and a deeply personal approach to the client relationship, Paragon Sight & Sound occupies a singular position in the American high-end audio landscape.
About Ten — An Artisan Collection
Ten — An Artisan Collection is a curatorial project established by Absolute Sounds Ltd to represent the world's finest independent audio craftsmen. The name Ten is the romanisation of the Japanese kanji for heaven, sky, and fate. Ten currently represents Robert Koda, DeVore Fidelity, Dohmann Audio, HSE, Metaxas & Sins, and Trafomatic. ten-collection.com
About Absolute Sounds
Founded in 1977, Absolute Sounds Ltd is the United Kingdom's foremost importer and one of the world's most exclusive and influential voices at the forefront of super high-end audio. 58 Durham Road, London SW20 0TW. info@absolutesounds.com absolutesounds.com
CHECK OUT THE COLLECTION HERE
