Krell 400xi vs. BAT VK-300x vs. McIntosh MA6900

I now have the 400xi hooked up to a Musical Fidelity A5 tube CD player and Krell Resolution 2 speakers. My interconnect and speaker cables are MIT Oracle V2.1, my power cords are Transparent powerlink MM. Very dynamic and lifelike sound..neutral but engaging with great extension. Compared to my previous Evo rig the highs are so much better..sweet, clear and smooth with tremendous sparkle and no dryness or harshness. I predict a re-tooling of the krell evo amp's in the near future..maybe even the preamps as well..something is wrong with the new house sound and I think it's the fact that they are not class A anymore!!

I agree with Dave b, the Mac stuff does not matchup here...Mac is second rate compared to Krell, hands down, case closed. I had a 402 for over a week, and it sounded terrible, listened to Mac equip. again at my dealer recently while auditioning 803Ds on and I thought I was going to puke. Auto formers are single-handedly the most ass backwards engineering design, and any engineer in electronics will tell you they don't make an ounce of sense-which is one of the reasons Mac is the ONLY one using them. McIntosh is also owned and operated by a Giant conglomerate corporation who runs a few other second rate non audiophile grade brands. Speaking of Brand, this is about the most successful thing about McIntosh, the brand recognition, it's an old name, one which used to be the best. These days it does NOT compete on the level alot of the Mac owners here on AG like to think it does.

Lets not forget the "Old Blue Eyes" look of it, and the moving needles. Incredibly annoying. Even my wife, who has not a care about any HiFi equipment took one look at the 402 and said, "it better sound better than it looks".

Some of the other brands mentioned here are simply on a different level of sound and detail and smoothness. If you like the delivery of your music detailed, w/decent bass, but dry, grainy, stale and etched sounding, go for Mac. Otherwise BAT, and Krell and MF are much nicer components living in a completely different plane of musical reproduction.

Jc- As I said in your other "Krell is the Greatest" & "Mac is Crap" thread, because YOU don't like (actually HATED) the MC-402, why are you now taking any and every opportunity to flame those that do?

Jc......we get it.........It didn't work in your system, you like the Krell house sound and the 'blue meters' and 'Giant Conglomerate' are annoying to you.

In your previous thread you said you didn't want to be a Mac "ball buster"...........Dude, you're breaking them big time now!

We all have opinions, but to continue to sing this same old song is tiresome. We all hear differently and what you hear as "dry, grainy, stale and etched" others hear as "smooth vibrant, and just plain musical".

Jc.......Vanilla & Chocolate.

I hope you enjoy your new Krell as much as you like bashing Mac!

No flaming here...Bashing, maybe. Taking it personally though stupid.

Just relax, and enjoy whatever you have..I know I would if someone bashed Krell, which lots do and voice their opinion of it, I could care less. Doesn't make feel any different about the fact I bought it or love it.

I have heard the McIntosh in several systems and out of the three integrateds, I think it would be best suited for your speakers based on what you are looking for. I conisidered the McIntosh for my setup but paired with my Sonus Fabers, it was a little too much of a good thing.

The Krell's are certainly readily available used here on Audiogon. I think I see one hit the classifieds daily. That certainly has to be an indicator of something.

Cheers,

Chris