Amazingly Close to Krell Sound


Hi,
A few years ago, I sold my Krell KSA 80B to my brother in law. 80 lbs was nothing to a tree climber with his own landscaping business. Well, diabetes has caused huge health problems in the last few years and he's asking me to help him.
He loves the Krell sound. But he has absolutely no energy to move his amp. Each time his health fails further (recently lost a toe) he has to get help moving his amp. (moved from his own home to a large one floor apt. then from there to a floor in his brother's home) Folks don't mind doing it, but that's not what he wants. We've read about the KSA 50 being warmer, and that appeals to him, and he likes the KSA 80b's sound. Here's what we were wondering:
1. ...of the Krell owners, what is the closest company to the Krell sound? PASS? Spectral? Who?
2. How much do the KAV amps different from the KSA amps if there is no answer to #1 as any other amp being close?
3. I'm going to have to sell his KSA80, I'll send it back to Krell for their stamp of approval, and sell it here and have it shipped from there. So what can I get him for about $800 that will be 40lbs and sound as absolutely close as possible.
I'm sure you folks can help me. Krell experience a must for this one.
Yes, I know system dependancy is important, but we'll leave that as a constant, "you've had Krell, you've loved Krell" and go from there.
he's had yamaha NS500's Ns 1000's, VanderStein 3's, and is now running some I built for him with Vifa aluminum dome (like the Vanders) and Dynaudio 7's, polyprope caps with teflon bipass caps and silver clad 6 9's copper wire. Now that he's going with smaller woofers, that tight solid bass is a must. He's running a Krell KAV 250CD and a McIntosh tube FM Tunor, into a Krell PAM-5 pre.
Okay, another post for more help on this, so we can stay on topic. Help... I really want to help him.
Thanks
spiro

Showing 1 response by jc51373

If Krell did ever make a tube amp, I am sure they would still find a way to make the sibilance cut your eyeballs out when you listened.