You have it all wrong--Krell sounds very hi-fi, as opposed to musical, and that's exactly the problem. It sounds surgical, precise, analytical, call it what you will, but it does not sound musical. You can mask its annoying high frequency shrillness with filters diguised as IC's, and that will at least make it listenable. The lows are solid, but very electronic with no sense of timbre or space, just pure slam. If that's what you enjoy, Krell is perfect. It is a stable company with LOTS of different models from which to choose, and there are LOTS of used ones available. Take that as an indicator of what happens to most Krell owners after they live with the stuff for a while, after that showroom glow, the Krell mystique, has worn thin.
Why Is Krell Not Considered Hifi?
No one seems to think that Krell sounds hifi, but just hifi price. They say it sounds hifi in that context that it doesn't sound real. I have to admit their products do have a metallic like cast to their tone, but aside from that I think that they are very smooth and detailed, far from the best in detail, like a CJ Premier preamp but they do make decent stuff. And just from looking at their products it makes you believe they sound as they look. Obviously its not true, but Krell makes decent stuff that has a good rep and is easy to resell (as long as its a current model, which is hard cuz they have so many new models) but its no way the sound of a Rotel or NAD that many people say.