D'agostino amplifiers: where's the beef?

At AXPONA 2018 I talked to a guy from D'Agostino during a slow period on the last day. He told me how expensive and difficult it was to make the copper heat sinks and how they had to replace a bunch of them under warranty from early in the production run because the lacquer would flake off. The copper pieces have to be machined and coated within minutes because copper instantly starts to corrode. They could only find one machine shop with the capability to meet their standards and I'm sure that shop charged a hefty price. I was a little surprised about him being so open about the cost of a purely cosmetic feature of the amp.

I've seen the Momentums at a couple of shows and they really are beautiful. The term "audio jewelry" totally applies to these amps and I'm sure a significant part of their cost is the casework. If I could afford them I would seriously consider buying them just as I would seriously consider an exotic car. I currently own a KSA 300S that I'm spending $3K to recap and renew so it will be good for another 20 years. It weighs 185 lbs and in my amp most of the copper is in the transformer instead of the heat sinks.

The Momentums sounded good but so do a lot of other amps. Dan has targeted a niche where appearance is a major selling feature of his top level amps. If you want an amp that has both beautiful casework and very expensive components D'Agostino has come up with the Relentless. For $250,000 you can have it all!

Beef is in the margins

I call my system "Frankenstein".  Lots of compromises due to space limitations and budget.  Thankfully it works a lot better than Frankenstein's monster.

I've heard the D'agostino M400 monoblocks at Echo Audio in Portland, in their old space which was really terrible acoustically.  That system sounded amazing.  Maybe the best I've heard.

If I had the space and the budget and wanted to have a system that looks as good as it sounds, I'd definitely consider them.  They don't fit my current situation, but that's no reason for me to disparage others who might find them just right for their situation.

Interesting replies so far for sure.

A few points to consider:

M400's have an 1800 KV transformer as stated in this thread.  I believe my KSA 250 has a 4500 KV transformer that by itself outweighs an entire M400 mono amp by 20 pounds or more.  Just sayin'.....

I have nothing against paying a premium for a great product: in 1997 ordered and purchased a new air cooled 911, knowing it would be among the last of it's kind.  Drove it to work this morning, and still love the build quality, engineering, look, feel and sound that will never be duplicated in a competing product.  

Same with my SME V tonearm I purchased in 1990 and still use - a great high end product and totally worth what it cost at the time ($2500 though I paid less for a new one).

IMO no matter what it costs IF it's good value then it's worth it.

I'm not convinced D'agostino amps are in that category after at least a half dozen auditions and visual inspections.  

Will admit they are pretty in a mini me sort of way … but since I'm more interested in sound AND value I could only consider one used at heavy discount (even then I'm not so sure).