Hey John.
I got curious upon first getting it. But due to the weight, and lack of help I had my local tech near me check it out. He gave it a clean bill of health so it was good to try out. It replaced 200 wpc monoblock OTL's. I had planned to use it for a period, and if I liked it to have it overhauled for the long run. The honeymoon with it became extended and its prime winter time listening for me right now. The Tech mentioned on this thread ended up with my other amp instead. Sorry for the confusion. When that amp returns from him, and good outside weather also returns, I will again attempt to bring it (with help) down to him to do his work on it. As mentioned here one of the speakers Dan D'A'gostino designed it around was the B&W 800 Matrix series. So I don't want to mess with synergies in play. Hearing is believing. The tech will therefore keep the design intact and change out capacitors and whatever else he feels will benefit.
An observation on running it and I would be interested in others experiences.
When I listen with digital it gets kind of warm only. Digital has a loudness factor. When I get serious and crank it with a low level vinyl signal it gets hot, but not so hot that I cannot keep my hand on it. I believe how hot it can get is based on the source type (digital versus vinyl), your listening habits, the speakers you use, and most important, the room volume in play. I haven't tried it yet, but I am pretty sure if I was using it with less friendly speakers like my Acoustat ESL's at 81db sensitivity and their 40 ohm bass requirements, versus the 800's 93db sensitivity and 4 ohms it would get much much hotter. So if anyone is looking at buying one of these Krell's I would be trying if possible to find out about the above factors. Gives you an indicator of how hard it was run.
Also. We always hear about doubling down for Solid State - well what about halving up above the 8 ohms ? If my amp does 600 wpc at 8 ohms and 2400 wpc at 2 ohms that's all fine and good. But how much power does it make at 32 or 64 ohms that Acoustat speakers need for the bass (which sucks the most power). Does the power curve go the other way, halving up based on 16, 32 ohms ? So at 16 ohms it would make half at 300 wpc, and again 150wpc at 32 ohms. I don't know the answer. Would have been a good question for Dan D'Agostino. I know the Acoustat are 40 ohms and up for their bass because my previous OTL's were designed by their manufacturer around them, and for their requirements. We had many conversations about it.
I got curious upon first getting it. But due to the weight, and lack of help I had my local tech near me check it out. He gave it a clean bill of health so it was good to try out. It replaced 200 wpc monoblock OTL's. I had planned to use it for a period, and if I liked it to have it overhauled for the long run. The honeymoon with it became extended and its prime winter time listening for me right now. The Tech mentioned on this thread ended up with my other amp instead. Sorry for the confusion. When that amp returns from him, and good outside weather also returns, I will again attempt to bring it (with help) down to him to do his work on it. As mentioned here one of the speakers Dan D'A'gostino designed it around was the B&W 800 Matrix series. So I don't want to mess with synergies in play. Hearing is believing. The tech will therefore keep the design intact and change out capacitors and whatever else he feels will benefit.
An observation on running it and I would be interested in others experiences.
When I listen with digital it gets kind of warm only. Digital has a loudness factor. When I get serious and crank it with a low level vinyl signal it gets hot, but not so hot that I cannot keep my hand on it. I believe how hot it can get is based on the source type (digital versus vinyl), your listening habits, the speakers you use, and most important, the room volume in play. I haven't tried it yet, but I am pretty sure if I was using it with less friendly speakers like my Acoustat ESL's at 81db sensitivity and their 40 ohm bass requirements, versus the 800's 93db sensitivity and 4 ohms it would get much much hotter. So if anyone is looking at buying one of these Krell's I would be trying if possible to find out about the above factors. Gives you an indicator of how hard it was run.
Also. We always hear about doubling down for Solid State - well what about halving up above the 8 ohms ? If my amp does 600 wpc at 8 ohms and 2400 wpc at 2 ohms that's all fine and good. But how much power does it make at 32 or 64 ohms that Acoustat speakers need for the bass (which sucks the most power). Does the power curve go the other way, halving up based on 16, 32 ohms ? So at 16 ohms it would make half at 300 wpc, and again 150wpc at 32 ohms. I don't know the answer. Would have been a good question for Dan D'Agostino. I know the Acoustat are 40 ohms and up for their bass because my previous OTL's were designed by their manufacturer around them, and for their requirements. We had many conversations about it.