KR-Enterprise amps

Hi Merle! Welborne isn't to blame. He actually makes some great stuff. Like many small hi end manufacturers, he is a cottage industry. Early KR amps are unreliable. I owned the VT6000. A tube went bad, and I had to send it to Prague to get it replaced. They are not user replacable. They also had to modify a circuit for tube life. Interestingly though, Kron's wife was very good at answering e-mails, and the servicing of the amp didn't take any longer than any other foreign manufacturer. Goldmund was much worse. The shipping and import duties cost me $1000. Lesson to be learned: don't buy foreign unless there is good US representation for servicing. Welborne hadn't been tapped as a service guy for them when I had my problems. I wish he had. A basement anywhere in the US beats a $1000. plane fare for my amplifiers to a place that I can't even afford to visit. By the way, I didn't care for the sound, which was very hard and analytical. Good luck!

I would like to be clear about HiFi Farm. Steve is one of the best guys in the business, very good man. I did not mean to be critical about my dealings with HiFi Farm, in fact I highly reccomend Steve and his business.

When dealing with KR you instantly learn the lesson of "problem versus passion" because the problems with these amps are greater than the passion they portray in their playback. The KR8000 may be one of the finest amplifiers made in respect to classic tube sound with incredible bass detail and three dimensionality that is the best I've heard. However, the amplifiers broke down more than three times in one calendar year, and had to be shipped back to Prague, then on the second occasion were picked up by the former rep at Osiris, some guy named Michau. He ripped the Kron's off then attempted to charge me $1200 for a replacement board! I told him thank you, called a reputable tweaker and he and I both fixed the amp before it went out finally for the last time a few months ago. They retail for about $21,500 which is a huge ripoff. I sold them as is for $2,500 to a dealer in the Frisco area. I bet you a dime to a dollar he's got them up and running and smiling....or burnt his house down tryin'!

Ah yes! Michau promised me new tubes after mine went out, but never came through. He eventually quit answering his phone, or was "never in" when his secretary answered. Would not return calls either. I don't know how the VT 6000s sounded after they were fixed because I traded them off (also for a big loss), but they didn't have any of the characteristics you describe of the 8000s before that. They were powerful, though. Incredible bass control.