Levinson 436 Versus Krell FPB 350 MCX?

Hi, Did hear those amps thru Watt/Puppy,ARC REF 2.Get these Krells,much better amps than latest ML(being cheap down!) Kdwatt

I would disagree. I bought a pair of 436's a couple of months ago and they dropped my jaw when I put them in my system. The soundstage on the 436s is W-I-D-E, W--I--D--E and the warm, open midrange is goose bump inducing - very much like some of the high end tube equipment I've heard. The highs are silky smooth without the loss of detail, as you would expect with Levinson. I'm told the newer Krell amps are a big improvement over the old in terms of harshness, but they're still on the bright side. On vocals and piano recordings I've played recently on the 436's, well, let's just say I saw God.

Just about all of the recent reviews of Krell amps say they are a bit on the warm/dark side--NOT bright. See e.g. Martin Colloms in Hi Fi News, or Wes Phillips at onhifi.com.

Wouldn't it be nice if people actually put the new Krells into their systems and listened to the unit before they shoot it down? The Krell FPB line sounds fantasic, end of story.

Ditto Coasternut. After listening to both tube and solid state pres and amps over the past year IN MY HOME SYSTEM, (cj, AR, Krell and ML), the Krell KCT and FPB via CAST combination has been the most pleasurable to my ear. Notice how the ML website now doesn't even spec the latest 430 series amps as doubling output into 4 and 2 Ohm loads. In my opinion, this is a major deficiency on the part of a manufacturer, that at one time, really held court with the very best. It was one of the main reasons why I did not purchase an ML pre and amp over the past year. Shame on Harmon International for degrading an otherwise fine line of components.

Sevencham, I looked at the 436's user manual and it does spec it as 350W into 8 ohms, 700W into 4 ohms and 1400W into 2 ohms.

Cpatbay: you are correct, as they have since "corrected" that detail on their website since my 10-28-03 post.

Well gents, I have a Krell FPB350MCX monos and not optimised to bring out the best of them with my system..the Krells are close to bright,,,a bit edgy, dependant on CD..I'm looking to get the 436 to run the top end and my Krells to run the bass..Speaker upgrade after my 436 purchase.. Nola vipers to replace my B&W 801'sD.

In my opinion, 2 totally different sounding amps.

The Krell will give you bass slam like you never heard it before. Its all about Grip. Pedal to the metal and let it rip. It can be a little fatiguing on the ears with long listening sessions.

The Levinson are more effortless with a nice midrange. You will not get the slam and the high frequencies tend to be a little soft. To some, they may find this amp to polite.

Just my 2 cents.

Some folks like Krell , some like Levinson . I like both , but prefer Levinson by a bit . You won't be disappointed with either .
Happy Hunting .