First foray into Class A amp -- recommendations

I am a fan of Class A amps, preferably tube, but solid state as well. What speakers are you driving? Do you really need 200 wpc?

I would suspect that the Krell would offer a significant upgrade in bass slam and control, and a mild upgrade in the midrange, the natural upper frequencies may not be so much of an upgrade though, as that is where Steve McCormack's amps fair so well. If you go with the Krell, or any other older Class A amp, look into whether it has already been re-capped or not.

Krell is a big name, and an undisputed bass champ, but I prefer Class A designs from other designers better, namely Nelson Pass, either of Pass Labs or Threshold. Clayton Audio, CODA, and Plinius make some very good Class A amps too.

08-28-14: Viridian
I like the classic class A amps, Bedini 10/10 and 25/25, Classe DRA25, Levinson ML2, Rappaport Amp 1, etc.

Threshold SA-1's. ;)

@Mtrot, you might look into CODA amps since you are using Legacy speakers. Bill Duddleston is a big fan of CODA, in fact, he had them design and manufacture his Legacy line of amps and preamps. CODA also designed and built amps for Innersound. CODA is an offshoot of Threshold too, started by three former Threshold engineers.

I own a CODA Model 11 amp, a 100 wpc pure Class A design that weighs in at about 85 pounds. These can be had for under $2K on the used market. Currently I am using a tube amp, but I will hold onto the CODA amp because I don't think it can be beat for the $$$, and it makes for a nice change of pace. Do a little research and check out CODA Technologies.

09-16-14: Audiolabyrinth
Mtrot, if you go and audition a krell 400cx or 700cx, they will clearly out perform the pass labs amp you listened to, espeacially with high quality cables, my depth of the sound stage to me is endless,voices and instuments are incredible!

Why would he want one of those problematic amps? I've heard they have microprocessor boards controlling the bias, and the boards are always screwing up so bad that even their own Krell technicians can't fix them.
Keep it simple!! Besides, I don't think those amps will be in his $2K-$3K price range.

Go ahead AL, get some practice using the markup tags on this reply. ;^)

Cheers,
John

09-16-14: Jmcgrogan2
Go ahead AL, get some practice using the markup tags on this reply. ;^)

See how easy that is??? LOL!!