Speakers to mate with a Krell Intergrated

Hi Lush;

I'd say, if you can find a dealer, try a Perreaux 200iP integrated. To my ears, that integrated beats any integrated I've heard from Krell, in terms of musicality and tonal color, and at the very least equals the Krell in bass/midbass performance. It really takes control of the speakers' woofers and kicks some serious, tuneful, bass frequencies.

Caution though; if you do get try the Perreaux give it a thorough work out before making up your final judgement. Give it a couple of days of continuous play and then sit down for a listen.

One comment. A while ago while reviewing the Perreaux 200iP Doug Schneider of Soundstage.com went back to his original Polk LSi9 review and mentioned that in his opinion the speakers sounded at best when matched with the Perreaux integrated.

Anyway here is a link to that review:

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/perreaux_200ip.htm

Something else I thought about is that, if you're set on the Krell integrated and just want speakers that aren't as polite as the Polks, why don't you check out the Von Schweikert VR-1 stand mounted monitors(or the VR-2 if you want to try floorstanders). I've never heard them extensively(as I have the Polks) and somehow they weren't my personal favorite but they are very impressive. Fast, tight, and can fill a room with music. They were just slightly upfront for my taste. Although I have to admit I haven't heard them in my new listening room(I bought a house about a year ago) so even then my opinion could change.

Other speakers that I've heard and like that maybe you could try are the Gershman Acoustics RX-20 Avant Garde, the Dynaudio S1.4, the Dynaudio Special 25(if they are in your budget), and well you know I'm quite fond on the LSi15s.

Dynaudios are a pretty good match with Krell.

I have a Krell KAV400xi integrated with Aerial Acoustics Model 5b speakers. Very smooth and clear sound. I also heard this integrated with the Aerial Model 6 floorstander -- better bass but same smooth sound. I went with the bookshelf for space considerations.

I've got the kav 300 il driving beethovens. It replaced a b$k 4420 power and classe twenty pre. the Krell has better detail through the entire range, while it has better control in the bass, the b$k sounded louder down low.however my cd skips only when the krell is driving! btw the spec sheet on the 400 is identical to the 300 except for price, at $1000.00 less it's a steal.