Vacuum Tube preamp with my KRELL KAV 250a, a no no......WHY?


I have an older Krell KAV amp that has been recapped and refreshed.  A technician that I respect very much said do NOT use a vacuum tube preamp with my KAV 250, or any other Krell amp for that matter.  Can someone with more technical knowledge than myself tell me why I should not be using a vacuum tube preamp with my Krell?  Are there some technical specs that I should be aware of when pairing?

Thanks

judsauce

Showing 1 response by gs5556

Krell does not use coupling caps at the input which can result in problems if DC is leaked in from the preamp (both for the amp and speakers). The upside is better transient response as the signal is not impeded a constant charging and discharging capacitor.

Even though the amp will have some sort of DC protection, it may not be enough to overcome a tube preamp DC spike per lynn_olson’s post above. You should contact that tech again and ask if the amplifier has coupling caps that can be activated in order to use a tube amp.