Krell Full Power Balanced FPB X vs. Rowland

the 302 is rather lean sounding while the big krells are very full bodied. I just finished a review of the Karan Acoustics 450. Of all the amps I have reviewed and owned, the Karan is by no small margin, the best. Fast, powerfull, warm and organic yet in credibly transparant and open. I reviewed the Res 1 with the Encore and krell 700. Each had there charms but are not even close over all to the Karan. The Karan is 22K, so the price may be prohibative

FPB X amps were my favorite of all the Krell amps I owned from '93. The 750's I had were dynamic, never sounded strained; had fantastic bass control and the improvement Krell made in this amp over the earlier versions was a more refined midrange and high end. Try them! I brought home an earlier Rowland 7 that was rated at 350 watts/ch and it had trouble controlling my B&W801's woofers. Granted Jeff has improved his amps, but based on the above comments, it sounds like not enough.

My best friend own same Krell Resolution 1 speakers as you do. At the dealers advice he tried Jeff Rowland Model 501/Concerto pre combo... We listen to Pink Floyd's 'Pulse' live album at high level when amps went off. We looked each other, disconnect amps, checked everything and connect them again-and same story again. Apparently Jeff Rowland 501 can not drive punishing load like Resolution 1( minimum impendance 1.9ohms in mid bass!). Will Rowland Model 302 be up to the job? In-home auditioning is a must with Rowland(or any other amp)! Then he tried Krell FPB400cx/KCT combo and it drive the speaker without any problems-sound was also very good, in cast mode excellent. With FPB450Mcx you can not go wrong, especially if you use KCT preamp and cast connection. Other amps that are able to drive Resolution 1s are Boulder's(every model-1060 or 1050 are quite nice) and Mark Levinson No.33H(almost heretic choice). Big tubes from Audio Research and VTL will probably work, too.
Gryphon Encore is little bit dark sounding-maybe not the best choice with Resolution 1s... Lamm M1.2 or M2.2 are excellent amps and they should be able to drive them, only how this combo will sound? If you will be able to audition either of Lamm's with you Resolution 1s please, report your findings. Resolution 1s are IMO excellent speakers and they will hold against any speakers till $30K, again IMO. BTW, I own Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario and are waiting to receive Krell LAT-1000 in few weeks for my second system...