Krell Moves to new location
Here is the old location https://sentrycommercial.com/industrial-building-sold-for-2-2m-in-orange/
Krell was on top of the hifi world in the 80s and 90s. Heck, it was the top of the hifi world, bar none. Back then it made proud, world-class, unrivalled, unparalleled even today, gear. Now, in 2025, it is as dead as a doornail as a manufacturing concern. It operates a small repair shop and - wait for it - it has a phone number! What can possibly be next? A fax? We can’t wait.
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@devinplombier Nah it’s a bit more than a phone number.Let’s have an honest discussion. 1.They have the Krell servers back up with a “real” website and all the current and legacy technical data and owners manuals. 2. Ownership has been legally settled and clearly defined. Kris owns the company. 3. The ORIGINAL phone number is the one in use. Krell is certainly not “back,”’ and a shell of the former entity it was, but there’s no need to portray this as if they only got a phone number. The issue of “clear” ownership was one of the topics most discussed on this thread. You do have the outline for a new beginning I hope they can fully restart. I would like to see the technology of the new amps expanded to a multi-channel amplifier , that prototype finished. When I was discussing the KSA-i400 with the previous owner of the amp, he told me that some of the previous stuff I had owned like Bryston, Parasound, Pass Labs were “mid-fi.” I did not accept that. I believed those are some of the best amps made. 5 minitues into connecting the KSA-i400 all the decades of beliefs changed. |
At the time I write this, if you google Krell, the first result is https://krellelectronics.com/, and I doubt that’s the site you meant because it actually speaks of Krell in the past tense. I am not saying that the site you mention does not exist, just that google hasn’t noticed yet. Does the "current and legacy technical data" you speak of include schematics and service manuals? Did the reincarnated Krell do a 180 to acknowledge Right to Repair? Now that would be a stunner!
I would just have to laugh in the face of someone who calls Nelson Pass’s designs "mid-fi" 😂 About the KSA-i400, I have not had the opportunity to audition it and until I do, I respect your opinion of it. But I will say this. In their golden years, Krell made not only the best-sounding gear a person could buy but also some of the most beautiful to look at. I’m not talking about casework, which was fine but not particularly exceptional; I’m talking about the internal architecture, the finely choreographed armies of discrete components marching across crisply laid-out circuit boards, the circuit design (or at least what a person could make of it in the absence of schematics). If one believes there can be poetry in electronics, Krell had it. I was able to find a few internal pics of the KSA-i400, and my first thought was that it looks like a high-end AVR. I don’t question that there is magic to the sound, but I would argue that it is gone from what is visible under the cover. If that's the sort of thing that matters to you, that is. Storied brands like Krell or Levinson or Infinity may still be alive in some fashion, but they have become either zombie brands or caricatures of their former selves (Infinity makes car speakers for Harman!). None of these brands will ever recapture the magic of their glory days. Nor should they try, honestly; their best days are behind them, but their now-legendary products live with us, under our care, and we have that to be thankful for. Now if only they posted those damn service manuals! |
I don't understand how you can say the i400 circuit layout looks like an AVR, the design and layout is still similar to some of the old ksa series amplifiers. The only difference I see is a bank of many small capacitors instead of a few giant ones, and a circuit board on top of the power transformers instead of in front of them. These amps were designed by the same designer as the ksa 250 and anything after that. |
