Krell VS McIntosh

depends on the speakers you are driving with them, what type of music you listen to, and what the upstream gear is.

And it depends on what McIntosh amps your comparing against the Krell.

I have listened to Krell with Theil-Vienna Acoustics and PSB speakers. I have owned McIntosh and listened to them with a number of speakers as well. My impression (personnal taste of course) always has brought me back to McIntosh. I feel that the smoothness and transient reactions seem more natural and comfortable for listening. When ever I listened to Krell I felt that it was somewhat more analytical and for the lack of a better word, aggressive. It will really come down to the speaker you choose and the music of preference and finally what you are wanting to hear. I would say in a HT setting the Krell may offer more impact, but for music I really find that Mc is more relaxing. Now I have listened to the same speakers with VTL or Primare and found the speakers behaved differently, so I came to the conclusion of the Krells that I indicate. There are a lot of Anti-Mc folks that will probably accuse me of prejudice...and they are almost right. I prefer post-judice. All MHO of course.

I've had both and they are very system dependant (like everything else I suppose). What speakers, size of room, listening habbits etc, etc.

Krell can be forward and thinned out on top.. mcintosh a bit more Solid state with tube sound.. Krell depending on the speakers will have authority to really have tight punchy bass, but mcintosh has a low damping factor that works well with easier to drive speakers making them sound a little more vast, organic, or natural in the bass.. Sometimes this can with some speakers seem as a little more "Full"...

It will also ultimately depend on the impeadance match of not only the speaker to amp, but the preamp or source driving the amp as a synergy match.. I think if you want more detailed and sometimes "spacial" sound the Krell will fit that bill, if you want a little more intimate feel or "Warmth" in sound the mcintosh normally tilts that way.

Unfortunatley without playing them both in your system and seeing which way you tilt, it will not matter. so in the end no answer will be satisfying let the accusations fly!!

As for facts on ownership they are both huge names in the business, both will have equal fans and foes, however in a general "Used" market mcintosh has one of the highest holding values still for electronics, and does not have as high of depreciation that most gear carries.

Undertow has hit it on the mark..Personally I never liked Krell until the release of the new Evolution series..I own a Mac 402 and like it alot but again there are too many factors to just pick one..

I have had many McIntosh and Krell units over time. I trully respect both; McIntosh stuff is pretty and has looked the same forever, however my happist listening over time is with a Krell KRC-3 preamp, Krell FPB-300 amp and Krell Standard SACD player. The speakers are Dynaudio C-4's. I think Krell & Dynaudio are a marriage made in heaven.

Thanks for the input gents ,I'm using my Adcom GFP 750 preamp/with the pre 20/20 Legacy Focus spks. My CD player is almost 20 years old and i wont be able upgrade my pre amp for a while.I listen to everything. Smooth Jazz mostly,but I have every thing from Confunkshun to Pink Floyd, wes montgomery ,beach boys etc etc.still like my randy travis Beegees,Olivia,Carpenters Chicago.Let me know please I'll be amp shopping soon.

Honestly with those speakers considering the pricing of what you are looking to spend on a used amp, I would now highly suggest just looking at the Mcintosh integrated amps which will get you the full spectrum of sound for the type of music and warmth you probably seek, and get a much better synergy due to having the built in preamp, also if you need them "Tone" controls, Legacys are pretty easy to drive from what I remember and the kevlar mids with ribbon tweeters would really be more at home with the mcintosh sound in my opinion...

Again I would shoot for a integrated, this difference due to your adcom preamp would be more bang for the buck I think, as a matter of fact your preamp alone might be more effective to replace than the amp all together. I would look at a used like mcintosh 6900, it will be the swiss army knife all in one that should give you almost all you will get from those speakers, and its better than adcom gear honestly, you could even go local and find many mcintosh and krell dealers to try at home on your speakers first, then buy.

Great thanks UTow I'll check into it I was looking at the
MC 501 monos if I could swing it.