Pass Labs X350.5 and Krell FPB200

Thanks to all for replies.

@audiotroy the FPB series was released around 1996-1997. Roughly 26 years ago. Dave Goodman has been a lead designer at Krell for the last 20 years you said. If I’m wrong, I stand corrected. But this isn’t even the point of my post above, be it right, wrong or different about who designed these amps. The point is the available parts and support. That’s what I suggested the OP to look into. 

audiophile completely incorrect dan never designed anything at krell other then the ksa50through250 and kblera products dave Goodman has been krells lead engineer for the last 20 years

the new xd series are the best sounding krell amplifiers and are more organic sounding sounding the new krelos are much richer

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect nj

long time Krell dealer

I had N803 paired with ARC Ref1 and X250.5 and they sounded great. Never heard the FPB200 in my system but heard it bunch of times in different systems.

There are two reasons why I’d recommend Pass -

1. Great sound with B&Ws and ARC Ref1

2. One of the industry standards when it comes to customer support and service

On the other hand with the FPB200, which was a D’Agostino design and Krell being a pretty much different company now, you might want to look into the support possibilities in case it 💩 the bed. Other than that, it’s a fantastic amp.

I have the B&W 801 S3 and the Audio Research Reference 1 preamp.
Thanks for the replys.

Ozzy,

I prefer the .5 over the .8 also.  I have the 600.5 and had the 350.5. 

I owned the Krell KSA-250 amp, (I know not the same) and I replaced it with a Pass Labs X350.5. The Krell was good for its time and did provide some brute power, but the Pass sounded livelier. I actually preferred the X350.5 over the newer X350.8. To me it sounded more open.

ozzy

I’ve owed/own both albeit not the FPB 200 but its bigger brother.

It depends on your speaker and associted gear.

To provide a straight answer, without knowing those details, I woiuld take the X350.5 and call it a day. Tough to beat especially at its used price.