Krell Amps and Pre-amps


Are they that good to justify the costs??

I am considering switching to mono amps across my front three channels and a 2 channel for the surrounds in my home theater. All comments welcome.
simancd

Showing 3 responses by krell1

I see where Lev335 is comming from but I am wondering about the statement on the bass. Krell is probably the most noted for their bass and slam in the entire industry. There are many arguments on "which one is the best", and it entirely relies on the synergy of cables, etc., in the system and the room it is in. This is nothing new to anyone on this site, but I think what Simancd wants to know is weather to use mono amps or multi-chanel amps. I use a KSA-300S into B&W 801 III w/North creek crossovers and the KAV-250a/3 into a HTM center and DS-6 surrounds with awesome results. I have had this system for 4-5 years and am far from tired of the sound or sonic signature. In fact, I could not even begin to think I would be getting a marginal increase in performance unless I spend 10 times the amount. I am using PAD Proteous throughout the system except rear speakers. I hear this all the time about Krell, but that is similar to when people would sell their B&W 801 matrix speakers after only running them with Adcom, B&K, etc. amps. People very rarely knew what they had before extracting the most from it. I am not saying to not try ML or anything else, but you should know what you are after before laying out this type of money. I am not sure I agree with Lev335 on the soundstage either because mine is acurate to the recording, but as for depth that might be because Krell puts you front row and ML is like row 10. As for realistic, I have played drums for 20 years, and all percussion is very realistic to say the least. Remember I am not saying this about all the Krell gear, but for my system this is the case. I have argued with others over the FPB Krell's and in my system the FPB-300 lost the synergy for me. It was at Christmas when I switched and I felt like I got a lump of caol in my stocking. I recommend for Simancd to go for monos if money is not the concern, but for these manufacturers the stereos are considered dual monos in one chasis. I know that the monos would be the best, but for a cost$$$$$$.Listen and choose.
Buy and forget the gear.......listen to the music.
Maybe I should start another thread on this but, has anyone had a chance to hear or heard how the new PS Audio line is? It looks interesting to me because I also plug my entire Krell system into the P1200/P600 power plants and never could go back. Maybe thats why my Krell sounds sweet to me because I have a good dedicated room with accoustic treatments and the power plants. PS Audio has a nice selection of multi chanel amps and even reference monos. They aren't supposed to require the power draw also that most amps require. Does anybody think they will sound good?
I have to disagree with the statements that "The designer skimped on transformer size/quality and/or power supply filtering, so now you need a separate and expensive unit just to improve on the performance of the original power supply." from Karls and "If you need power conditioners, you need to find better amps. Go for McIntosh and the others that design good power supplies from the start" from Aball. I really don't think there is a problem with the design or quality of the KSA-300S. I don't think Krell is perfect by any means, but I don't think they were far off or skimped anywhere. But there is relevence of taking the wall current and converting it like the power plants do and making a much cleaner and stable current. I would bet you'll hear it on very revealing components (McIntosh, etc.).