I agree competely with Luther. I'm currently using Aerial Acoustic 5's and the midrange is to die for. Warm and forward sounding. I think in a year or two after people are done buying and selling the Krell 400xi, people might consider it a classic. John Wright of Museatex suggested the Krell might be a good fit with my digital front end because it allows everything to pass thru and is very neutral. Oddly enough the Krell 400xi has a love/hate following among people in this forum. I'm firmly rooted in the love camp.
It's been said many times, but is worth repeating "The Krell 400xi sounds best when run in balanced mode", Krell KAV components are fully balanced by design, the single-ended RCAs are an after-thought. Treat yourself to a good balanced CD Player and quality XLR ICs, and you will hear a very noticable leep forward in performance, equal to a component upgrade. Many people buy this Integrated because it's cheap and make the mistake of pairing it up with a cheap source and ICs, and end-up disappointed with its performance. I recently heard a 400xi hooked-up (balanced)to the new Krell Evo. 505 CD Player ($10K) and a pair of Wilson W/P-8s ($28K) and it blew my mind. Unbelievable, what an inexpensive but well-built Int. Amp. can do when paired with a state-of-the-art Source and reference-grade Speakers. It was by far the best system that I have heard out of 2 simple, modest sized boxes and a pair of generic ICs.
Infofuma, I own 400xi and I love it as much as my SP16/ 4Bsst combo even though the 400Xi is not quite as detail and open as the above combo. A $2500.00 intergrated holds itself pretty good against $5,500.00 combo that is impressive. If it is in perfect condition and you want to get rid of it at a loss, you know how to contact me. I am an audio junkie who loves the baby Krell more than some separates and I may have the use another 400Xi.
I have compared the 400xi and the combo Sp16 pre with 4 Bsst amp and I have to say the 400xi comes very closed. Open, clean, sweet and warm. The 400xi mid-range is not quite open and rich as the Sp16/ 4 Bsst combo but very close. I did hear more detail background from the Sp16/ 4 Bsst. In the All for you cd, with the Sp16/ 4 Bsst I can hear clearly the drum brush on the background but only faint sound with 400xi.A $2500.00 intergrated hold itself against $5,500.00 combo with its own decency. Not bad Krell !
I have a 400xi (with probably less than 200 hrs on it). I've also got a Conrad-Johnson PF2 preamp and Hafler 9500 and Odyssey Stratos power amps. Of the three combos (400xi, PF2/9500, PF2/Stratos), the 400xi sounds sweetest on top; the PF2/Stratos has the largest soundstage, and the PF2/9500 images best. Soundstage size is about the same between the PF2/9500 and 400xi (perhaps slightly smaller for the 400xi). The 400xi and PF2/Stratos have slightly smoother midbass than the PF2/9500.
It's funny how different people have such different experiences with gear. I wish there was a $700 integrated that could outperform my 400xi (Indofunka - What integrated was that?). I'd put $1K in my pocket. Of course, my speakers are Magnepan 1.6s, so they do require the power which narrows the amplifier possibilites down a bit. In my system, the 400xi was an improvement over a quicksilver pre and Sunfire amp (and a Perreaux pre as well).
"The manufacturer rates it a 200wpc/8ohms. How can it be rated higher by someone else?"
Easily, if the manufacturer really underrates the 8 ohm power specs far below what it actually measures. For example, it looks better to have an integrated amp that is rated at 200W per channel into 8 ohms and 400W per channel into 4 ohms than one that puts out 290W per channel into 8 and 400 into 4. If they lower the rating on 8 ohm to 200W (far less than it actually puts out), it makes the amp look like it doubles down into 4 ohms which is a quality highly valued by a lot of audiophiles. No one will really get upset at them either since they are underrating their 8 ohm figure. It's not like this is the first time that a manufacturer has done a rating like this. But, it can be a little misleading.
Just bought a brand new 400xi after reading reviews and discussions. Dont know how long is the break-in period, but out of the box it doesnt sound better than my integrated amp which only cost $700. When pairing with the Oppo 981 and when eq is activated, the eq made the normal mode sounds muted, lifeless, lack of dynamic... While using the brand X integrated amp, the eq made the pre sounds artificial and eq'ed, so it sounds perfect and natral without the eq. These AB were done using Klipsch RB75. Dont know if Magnepan 1.6, 3.6, Gallo Ref 3.1 or Zu Druid mk4 could make the 400xi sounds right. So far, unimpressed! I hate to cough out $3-4K for any of these speakers and get disappointed.
I am looking for a new amp. I now have a Jungson JA88, chinese yes but amazing value for less than 1.000 Euros...I was wondering if a Mc MA6800 second hadn would be something but reading these comments on Krell make me doubt. Over here Krell is often assosiated with little refinement... Regards, Bert
How's about the re-sale value? Currently, 400xi listed for 1600.00 uo to 1700.00 with 1 year or less of usage. The discontinued, vintaged 300i listed average 1100.00 with average 6 to 8 years of usage. It's the question of re-sale value and the marketability of the current unit vesus vintage unit. Don't we have the upgrade desire every once a while?
I have had both and plenty of other amps, my question is has anyone made direct comparisons between the 300i and the 400xi? They are both terrific units but other than the 50w difference which is not really vital for me based on my secondary system driving high performance monitors...difference between 300i and 400xi side by side listening anyone? :) thanks
I've owned the 400xi and SACD Standard for the past 2-years, very happy with this combo. I didn't hear much of a difference (if any) over the Krell KAV seperates. @ $2,750-new, the 400xi has got to be the best deal right now in HI-End Amplification. It deservedly, has a "Class A" rating in Sterophile magazine, and measured 290 wpc into 8-ohms.
I owned the 400Xi and I cannot be happier to match it with the Krell CDP kav 280. Love to have the SACD Standard but don't want to cough up 4000.00 for a new unit and not used to with used market. Nothing wrong with used market, but I prefer buying new. Anyway, I have sold one of my 400xi to another Audiogon member and He just e-mailed to tell me how wonderful it sounded. Evidently, he must be very happy with it. I am trying to go separated and trying to sell my second 400Xi but he convinced me enough to take my sale ad. for the second 400xi off the market. Aahmed, thank you for being a good audiophile and your advise is well-taken.
I owned the 400Xi and I cannot be happier to match it with the Krell CDP kav 280. Love to have the SACD Standard but don't want to cough up 4000.00 for a new unit and not used to with used market. Nothing wrong with used market, but I prefer buying new. Anyway, I have sold one of my 400xi to another Audiogon member month ago and He just e-mailed to tell me how wonderful it sounded. Evidently, he must be very happy with it. I am trying to go separated and trying to sell my second 400Xi but he convinced me enough to take my sale ad. for the second 400xi off the market. Aahmed, thank you for being a good audiophile and your advise is well-taken.
"Wont go wrong with either, just dont go for the 300i. The newer Krells are wonderful, smooth too. If anyone were to tell you the Krells are bright, email me please. Either they got a wrong match or poorly set up system somewhere. Wonderful sounding amplifier for sure, The 400xi has a bigger transformer so.....if you want the best of that family go the new version.
Look at my other threads on the best integrated, I tried many and shopped around for a year and bought the Krell 300il, even over the Jeff Rowland Concentra, althought the build quality is superb in the Krell 300il the Concentras built was a notch above like you wont get any better I mean . Thats it! I prefered the slam of the Krell, I even had the 300i and it was good, very solid state sound but the 300il is just totally different. Very very nice and will drive anything."
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