It would be interesting to hear how the Krell compares to my L-590AXII. After going through a dozen integrated amps in the last 4 years, I have not heard better.
Best integrated/power amplifier under $6000
Looking for either a power amp or integrated amplifier with at least 150 watts in 8 ohms for under $6000- new or slightly used. What would you recommend? I would be using my own DAC with volume control - so just need either a power amp or intergrated without a DAC. Please share your recommendations for the best amp you have heard which meets the above requirements.
Thank you
Thank you
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The latest Krell integrated is probably the best balanced sounding integrated under $10 k out there, their recently discontinued Vanguard is similar is many ways ,the Vangaurd has 50 more wpc, the same class A amplifier section the sliding Ibias that goes up to around 80wpc into pure class A then transitions in part to class AB I was told ,the new integrated over 90 wpc into pure class A and has a preamp out ,the Vanguard does not .i run subs ,Crutchfield makes a great little adapter board where you can plug your rca into sub and just run 4 wires to adapter, then spade or bananas to speaker terminals then run your subs for $50 and no down side. The Vangard was $6k ,$7200 with the digital board and hdmi,inputs and out ,plus spdif and optical , I picked one up loaded 2 years old like new for $2k delivered ,it sounds excellent ,and I have had many excellent $$ amps as good or better then any $10 k amp preampIn my system. |
I haven’t heard the Krell, but it got soundly beaten in a head to head shootout against a Hegel 390 and I think a Levinson in a recent review. The Hegel won. This despite the Krell and Levinson costing thousands more. I don’t have an opinion on it. I will say the Krell inbuilt fans would give me pause, perhaps. Annoying enough when my laptop fan kicks in .... sorry I don’t remember where I read the shootout article. What I remember tho was the reviewer saying Hegel wins on sound quality regardless of price. That it costs much less was an added bonus. Take such reviews with as many grains of salt as you prefer I suppose. As I recall it didn’t go into a ton of depth with the comparisons. edit: found it, here it is - HiFiCritic mag https://www.hegel.com/images/reviews/H390hificriticuk.pdf |