I am always amazed at how everyone on this site loves to trash Krell. I have owned the KSA-250 which is a good amp, but very lean sounding and a heater for the room it is in. I auditioned the Rowland 350 watt mono 7's at the time I had the Krell 250 because I had the Consummate preamp and I was disappointed in the sound and bass control. Rowland ran out of gas on anything played loud. I bought the 300FPB and it sounded more musical than the KSA250 and to me, just as detailed and controlled in the bass. In my mind, nothing comes close to the FPB600 in terms of sound and effortless power when it is compared to the past Krell stereo amps and other solid state for that matter. I recently upgraded to the Krell 650mc's connected to the KPS-25sc playback system with the CAST cable from Transparent (kills my Transparent Reference interconnects and only cost $300) driving the Wilson MAXX. The mono's are incredible. I will be honest..Krell is not forgiving of a recording. If it is a good recording it sounds unbelievable, a bad recording sounds bad. Sorry, that's the way it is. If you want to hear what's on the recording you will hear it. Most people don't balance the equipment to the level of Krell quality and will never hear what it can do. It is only bright sounding because of poor cabling, poor front end or bad source recording. I was in the Analog Room in San Jose, CA listening to the Nagra tubes stuff driving the Avalon Eidelons. The front end was a VPI turntable with great cartridge etc. and frankly, that sounded brighter and harder than the Krell. It drove me from the room. So my only recommendation is to bring it home and listen for a week. I could have bought anything and I bought Krell because they build great stuff.
Anybody happy with high power Krell?
I've been strongly considering a higher power upgrade to my JRDG 9Ti's. One amp I haven't cosidered has been Krell. I once heard a Krell 600 fbp with a Krell CD player and Wilson Maxx speakers and it drove me from the room. Yet, I'm really intrigued by the thought of all that Class A power. There seem to be some decent used Krells around, and although I take reviews with a grai (or a bushel) of salt, 650 M monos are now "in" at TAS. I'd like to hear from people who are happy with Krell. As an aside, I'm also going to audition the Clayton M200-, another Class A power amp.
Thanks,
David
Thanks,
David