You will wan the Ksa250. Very powerful lowend but tubelike mids and highs. the dynamics are sort of recessed on mids and highs and this amp will match a speaker that has more HF output rather then a warm system. Noe the MDA 300 is completely diffrent sound. more Hf energy. suggest a nice ksa200or300S. More balanced sound. ive owned 7 krell amps. Just my 2cents. Ever try tubes? |
ive owned 3 krell ksa 150 amps & they were great,im not sure i'd say they have tube like mids & highs but they are great.
these amps do bass better than anything i have ever heard & do it effortlessly,the big draw back for me owning these types of amps was the massive amounts of heat they put out,these things get roasting hot when driven.
before you buy one of these amps open the hood & check out the guts,the life span of the ksa's is fairly short & if they have seen heavy use the caps will usually show it & even though krell recaps these amps at just about cost you still have to deal with shipping & 150 pound monster to & from krell & add that to the cost of recapping the amp.
mike. |
I have never tried tubes and do not know anything about tube amps or even heard one.
My budget is set at $1500 or under, so i have to make do with the used market and buy something that will resell for the same amount or even a few bucks higher......that's the kind of deal i am after, only because i have a hard enough time making ends meet without buying stereo equipment.
I think the KSA 250 would be great, but do not have the bread for one at this time, unless by fluke i find one for under $1500 which i highly dought very much.
Thanks for the input. |
The KSA 150 is similar to the 250, a little less power but a similar sonic signature (and more than enough power for almost all applications), a good buy if you can find one. The older Krell models, save for the KSA 50Mk II, might sound a little more "hi-fi" than the later models, and will be subject to more potential problems because they use cooling fans instead of heat sinks. All should ultimately be checked, as at their current age there may be some capacitors to be replaced. Keep in mind these beasts run hot, even the KSA 150 and 250, which were not totally Class A designs like the earlier ones. And while I agree with the above poster that the "S" series were perhaps better balanced, they always seemed to be sterile-sounding to me; I guess I liked the colorations and character of the earlier models. |
I found one of the KSA 150 amps but the person will not ship to Canada.
Anyways a local here has a KSA 100 for sale that it looks like i will buy.
What do you think of the KSA100?
I will be dissapointed to lay out the bucks and it does not blow away my Bryston 4B original series. |
I personally would not get the KSA 100 unless it was a mark II, which I recall was a worthwhile improvement over the original, both sonically and I believe in operational stability as well; even then, I always felt the 100, as opposed to the 50 (which was very sweet in the highs), was just a tad cool like the Brystons I have heard, more brute power than sonic finesse. Others may feel differently. I would wait for a 150, or else perhaps a KSA 80. I always seemed to like the lower-powered of Krell's earlier amps; quite the opposite of their later ones, which always sounded better to me in their higher power versions. No way you could hear this amp, is there? |
Yes i am going to listen to it tonight.
Not sure what to expect, would be nice to hear it in my set up....but that will probably only happen if i buy it.
There is also a 50s available locally, but the reviews were not to great on that model. |
Maybe you can bring your Bryston as well and put it into the syetm in place of the Krell, that could at least give you a benchmark. The Krell is superb at controlling a speaker, that was its greatest strength in its day (and why it was shown with Apogee speakers all the time), but your Bryston is no slouch there, so I'm not sure how much of a difference you'll hear. Of course, it has been a long time since I heard the old Krell. I would not recommend the 50s, though, it's a nice amp but, unlike the KSA 50 Mk II, is not far more powerful than its rating. But then again, what speakers are you driving? Do you really need all that control or power? |
Hi Mike (Bigjoe),
How can you tell by looking at the cap and know if it is time to replace them? Thanks.
Ken. |
Buy an amp made by Nelson Pass and forget this Krell nonsense. More musical, more reliable, more for your money. |
I would look at the KSA 80b instead of the KSA 100. It is a newer design and has heatsinks instead of a fan. It can also be converted at the factory to mono if later on you wanted more power then it would become a KSA 160. |
hi ken,you can see visable cracks in the caps & discoloration on the tops of them,you may even notice one of them starting to leak a little,just looking wont tell the whole story but if the amp has seen extreme use you will notice. |
Art Dudley made a list of his favorite amps of all time a year or so back and mentioned venerables products like the EAR 509 and a diverisfied line up that people ussually mention like the advatages (and some di adavtages)of SET where he listed his Fi 2A3 amp high on his list.But the only Krell product was the little KSA 50 where he said he still thought that was the best SOUNDING Krell of all.I know that Krell get's kudos for SOME speakers.But when I thought of it for high current and watts to match wioth my buddies Maggie 3.6's I was told "don't do it" by more than one source.This is only if your speakers can go wioth it but you'll also save m,oney wioth a KSA 50.It is so important to match them with speakers and the impedance values of your other stuff.If my buddy could go deep and would put up with tubes it would be better than the Bryston we finally decided was the best bet.But Judy could also have soemthing there with the Pass option and old Threshold or a newer Pass job (Byrston get's a nod as does the Aragon line for value for buck but latter you would match with only a "WARMER" system).You have to ask many sources and list what you've got to go with it.Sources are sam,e but there I go witrh what sounds good and relates the music the way I like first.Then speakers.Wrap it up with your amplification.My problem is I like so many speakers it holds up my options wantiing a "universal solution" but it dosen't exist.Maybe those new B&W 803 Diamonds are worth it (that would go well with Krell) but then maybe the revamped Quads are where I want to end up.BTW right now I use a push pull EL34 based E.A.R Integrated feeding a pair of Odeon Tosca semi Horns.But I want a new main sustem and have been thinking about a flea powered system with a very efficient pair of say Omega speakers which for a grand can use a flea powed 3 watt SET amp (build myown with Bottleneck kits?Nah have abuddy do it) for me or get a a pair of Cain and Cain speakers which can use very little power.But my main system I want Quads ,Audio Physic,Gerhsman,B&W,Joseph,etc so without making a decision about it I can't get main poiwer thing worked out.So let everyone know what your front and back ends are going to look like and we can bettter help you out.Lasty if you WERE sold on Krell KSA I'd mention one I have in closet (would pop my Tosca's go well with the B&W's if I got them) a KSA300S my buddy had hooked to a pair of Wilson Watt Puppy's.I should sell it for $or a bit less but again since I am going to swap out my semi horns I am doing it with trepidation it will be like that awesom tube amp theMesa Barron that I could switch "On The Fly" from 1/3 to 2/3 to full SET and get threew different power levels up to 120 tuybe wats (plnety of power for most speakers).Problem is I miss almost everything I have sold.Have fun don't gocrazy like some of us.Now wasnt that helpful and made things definitive and clear?
Reagrds
Chazz
Best of luck
Chazzbo |
Well i listened to the KSA 100 and it seemed not too bad.
I bought it and have it home now.
I have a question, my pre amp was off the last 24 hrs and the Krell cold from the drive home.
How long does it take to warm up to optimum sound?
Should i leave the power amp on all the time?
It has fans, so i think maybe i should not leave it on all the time.
The pre amp when in use i do leave on all the time.
Thanks.
Oh and by the way, its a big mother for a 100 wpc amp! |
I would leave the preamp on all the time, not the amp. Don't want to wear out the fans, and you would notice the heat too (it would increase your electric bill substantially!). It does take the amp a while to warm up and sound its best--with my KSA 50 it was about 45 minutes it started sounding really good, and that kept improving for the next hour or two. |
