What speakers would be best for Krell KAV2250 w/28

After auditioning pretty much the whole showroom at Sound by Singer in NYC, I settled on Krell amplification with Focal speakers.

It seems to me that the low end grunt of a Krell amp mates well with the top end of Focal speakers.

I've never heard Krell on B&W, but I have heard B&W with other amplification and those speakers sound great as well.

It would be in your best interest to find a dealer where you can demo them.

Gherrera1,

Thanks for the advise. I will experience the system with the Focal speakers.

BQ

I have sold many many Krell amp & B&W speaker combinations when I was an audio salesman. B&Ws sound great with B&Ws. If you could get a pair of 803 Nautilus used here on audiogon for $2500.00. That would be a very good combo and would have a good synergy. I sold many B&W 803Ns with KAV 400XI or KAV 300IL. So the pre-amp and power amp would for surely work even better. Be sure to get good cabling. I would look at Cardas, Audience AU24 or AU24E, Silkworms, Purist Audio. The cables on Krells with B&Ws can change your systems tonal balance, soundstage. Try many cables to fine tune your system.

TheSoundhouse,

Thanks for advice. You sound like Thesoundhouse to me. I tried the set with the B&W703 with MIT cables, and Sony E777EX (old CD player) and it sounds very good. I like the CD player by Sony. I ordered the SOny XA5400ES CD player and will try to hook them up with the Focal speakers this weekend and i will let everyone know if there is any sound improvement.

BQ

Thesoundhouse has good advice on cabling as well. My set up is Krell 400xi, Krell DVD Standard, and a Benchmark DAC1. Speakers are Focal Micro Utopia Be's. I ended up using Nordost all the way around. Shiva cords, Quattro Fil XLR, and Red Dawn rev II Speaker cables.

Hi All:

So I have a little get together on Friday night with friends, nothing special just chicken wings and a few beers. Anyway, so I first experienced Krell system; KAV2250 and KAV208P with Monster XLR cables. This system connected with B&W 703 and Focal Chorus V, 836 V throgh Adcom speaker switch box. The Focal sounds bright and sweet at 30 vol. while the B&W was not too musical flavor, lack of mid-range. I then cranked up the vol. to 55 the B&W gets better with lively music and very sweet sound while the Focal sounds very lound and hash.

The similar results yielded for the same speakers when listened with Aragon 205 with Stage One Pre-Amp and Anthem MCA20 with AVM40 Pre-Amp systems.

So there you have it. B&W known as tight bass, sweet sound and it shown (as the right vol). Focal has a better mid-range but has no bass when compare with B&W. (just my opinion, no offense guys)

Music: Jah by Chris Smith
Sony SACD XA5400ES Brand new
Sony CDP X777ES (18 yrs old)

Note: XA5400ES sounds very very good as they all agree but... the drive mechanism is noisy when compare with 18 yrs old technology made by the same Sony company. I wonder the same...anyway, the 18 yrs old technology is a lot heavier (about 60lbs vs 22lbs) but sounds very good too(i give it a 9/10). You would not trade this old folk if you have one.

Your comments are invited.

BQ

Not sure if you still want input on this topic - I have a 400x1 SACD combo - I am told that it is similar sounding to the Kav separates - First if you have the amp in a conditioner like Monster - That is the biggest mistake you can make with krell - Can not use current limiting conditioners !!! I have used Vienna Acoustic Baby Beethoven's & Sonus Faber grand Piano Domus - and both are excellent matches - The Sonus are a little easier to drive and are more accurate - The Vienna are more laid back and is a great match with my Krell - Also used the Balanced connection I use Nordost Frey between source and integrated and Cardas Golden Cross speaker cable - The Cardas products will also tame brightness - Also very big improvement in sound really night and day was adding a Shunyata Hydra with any of the 20 amp Helix Cords - makes the Krell way more musical and forgiving - If you already have speakers and want to try something - Try Shunyata0 - hope that helps