I applaud your honesty. A lot of people would have claimed their brilliance in such a purchase and then quietly sold the offending piece off in a few weeks. I have never owned a Krell integrated but back in the day when I had my Apogee speakers, and all the pundits told me that Krell was the best way to power those speakers (a notorious 2 ohm load but at least a flat 2 ohm load) so I got a Krell amp. Ouch! Not only pricey but hard on the ears. I never could tame it. I tried cables, a tube preamp, and while yes, it could power the Apogees, I did not want to turn the amp on and listen as it was like fingernails on a chalkboard. There are a lot of Krell followers out there so perhaps they have better suggestions than mine, but my amp was just awful sounding. I sold it and as it was Krell it went rather quickly. Perhaps you might consider the same and go back to something like you had. Too often we do not realize how good our system is until we have taken it apart for something "better".
Good luck to you.
Good luck to you.