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Krell XD gear in the House Initial Impressions

For those who were following a post we started a few weeks ago about considering bringing in Krell gear here is our follow up post after we just received the display gear.

We had 0 interest in adding Krell to our product portfolio before attending the Capitol Audio Fest we almost missed the room it was on the First floor in the back and it was VPI's room and we are not VPI dealers so it was almost a fluke that we even poked in. The huge Wilson Alex's were beckoning us in, so we decided to take a brief listen.

The sound in this room was mesmerizing, someone played Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side and there in three dimensions was Lou Reed and the three back up vocalisits, the sound was smooth, engaging, transparent, and has a sense of presence that made you take notice. 

So we started looking at the setup, VPI table $15k, Soundsmith cart $8k $110k Wilson speakers, lot of expensive Nordost Vallahalla or Odin but what was driving this insanely good sounding rig there in the bottom of the rack were two Krell 300XD amplifiers and a Krell preamp. 

Here was the best sound at this entire show, and the electronics were a fraction of the price of all of the other reference setups which were $80k monoblocs amplifers, $40k reference preamps and other such expensive gear. 

So we figured we would give the Krell a try part of the reason was logistics, powering our Paradigm Persona 9H is a $50k set of the phenominal T+A electronics from Germany, a $19.5K 300 Watt power amplifier, a $16.5 preamplifier and an optional outboard power supply at $13.5.

We have no issue with this gear it is incredible, however, we didn't have in this room a set or electronics which we thought would really give the T+A stuff a run for its money and yet be more affordable, so the Krell 300XD amp at $10,500 plus their Illusion 2 preamp/dac at $8k we thought would bring the price of doing a top notch system with the Personas down a bit in price and perhaps be a nice addition to our other electronics lines of T+A and Naim for top of the line solid state gear.

We hooked up the new Krell gear yesterday and even after only 24 hours of break in the sonic signature is very similar to what we heard at the Capital Audio Fest. 

The new Krell gear was liquid in the midrange, with nylon strings having the right type of roundness that makes acoustic guitar sound so right, tight well defined midbass, excellent rhythmic control, good top end extension with a slighly soft warm top end, and a big dimensional soundstage.

One of our questions is are there anyone on the boards who has this combo in particular the 300XD power amplifier and the illusion 2 preamp/dac we are currious to the affects of break in and how they improve. 

The sound after only 24 hours of initial plug in and break  in the gear is allready sounding ridiculous good how much better does it get and in what ways?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ  new Krell dealers




128x128audiotroy
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cleeds
5,644 posts
 
timlub
... as an ex manufacturer from one company, a manufactures ref for several others and a retailer myself,   I really don't blame you for pushing the envelope. Just don't take offense when you offend others. 
I'm confounded that anyone here is "offended" by audiotroy's posts. There is nothing in Audiogon's terms of use that forbids such posts. A reader should always consider the source, just as he should with the hobbyists here who opine on equipment they've never heard, or quote technical information that they don't understand.
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy OP
3,588 posts
 
Timlub everything you say is fairly accurate. The reality of our first post was less of a promotional piece but to actually gain some persepective from end users who purchased the new XD amplifiers. 

We did hear from a few owners who had gotten the XD upgrade and was pleased with the overall sound quality. As a dealer we usually get samples to play with without having to commit to the line in the case of Krell they could not honor that request, as they had no samples that were not in the field at reviewers. 

So we were pretty sure we were going to get the line, but not 100% more like a 70-90% certainty we were going to try the products because of the fantastic demo at the Capitol Audio Fest and as stated above and a desire to have another line of electronics that would be less expensive then the T+A gear. 

The post then became a spirl of people like HK and Oddifyl. 

The fact is we all need to be less sensitive about what constitutes "promotion." One person's promotion is anyother person's discovery.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy OP
3,588 posts
 
Cleeds and Jafant, thank you. Cleeds you have an excellent grasp of the issues at hand.

The fact that a dealer is just an end user who buys their products at wholesale, the issue or promotion vs non promotion should be left to the users and readers of these forums to make up their own minds and if the fact that we write a post praising or recomending another prouduct it is up to the individual to determine for themselves if we are believing this honestly or just promoting our brand.

The fact that most dealers believe in the quality of their products or they wouldn’t be selling them in the first place, however there are dealers that represent products that they sell because they believe the brand is easy to sell or recommend, we would site B&W and Mcintosh as good examples of this, wether or not a B&W 800 Diamond is better than a Wilson or a Rockport is a moot point, is the dealer recommending the brand because it is the best in the price range or the best in terms of name recognition?

One can also question the veracity of some of these posts made by end users who may be affiliated with, or friends with a particular dealer or manufactuer, unless they state friends of company X or cousin of or whatever you might also question their motives as well, there are also a lot of dealers and reps and others who don’t announce that they are so, we didn’t do that either until we were chastisted that is was wrong and now all of our posts state Audio Doctor dealer.

If you want to be totally paranoid you can also view Stereophile, Absolute Sound the Audiophilic, and many of the on line reviews and reviewers also have hidden agendas.

The fact that we have many fans who read our posts and we get calls about that many people find our posts beneficial and balanced.

For those that say we haven’t tested every other amp vs the Krell that is a fact, the other fact is our reference gear the T+A products out of Germany are considered to be among the best of the best brands such as Gryphon and D’agastino makes a very well established benchmark.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
mofojo
2,170 posts
 
"If you want to be totally paranoid you can also view Stereophile, Absolute Sound the Audiophilic, and many of the on line reviews and reviewers also have hidden agendas. "

The word "also" is key here. 


dep14
333 posts
 
I'd like to hear/read some head to head listening impressions of the Krell vs other amps you carry, with everything else being the same.

I have zero issues if the "new" krell stuff sounds good, AND is reliable.  

I was offered a killer deal on the most recent Krell AV pre-pro, and amp a few years back.  It was really tempting.  But, there were huge issues people had with the AV pre-amp (tough to compete with the asian high volume MFG there in fairness), and some were reporting on the amps (plus I avoid fan cooled anything when I can).

But it would be great if it's good stuff, though I will pass on it due to the fans.

That said, would love head to heads on how it differs in sound from your other lines.  For instance why buy the T+A over the krell given cost differences etc.

I tend to take the view that above a certain price point, unless something is a POS, most of it is good stuff with slightly different flavors.

But even some of the XD impressions, particularly about the midrange, frankly make it sound like how I view Pass labs.  Slightly warm, a bit tube-like in the midrange. 

Heck, I really like a lot of what they are doing in their new integrated.
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