Krell Amps and Pre-amps

aball: interesting...i have never considered mcintosh to be "highly revealing." in my experience, they are more "musical" than detailed. are you referring to their tube or SS products? i've only listened to the former, which i liked but just not enough to purchase. part of the reason i wasn't thrilled with mac tubes was that they seemed to lack some of the inner detail and spatial information that i heard through other components. maybe their SS stuff is more detailed? just curious.

For Krell1: I am not trying to trash Krell, they obviously are an expensive and heavy amp and use good-sized transformers. BUT that is not nearly the whole story in power supplies. As I mentioned, Ayre is one of the few companies I am aware of that goes to the trouble and expense of a choke-input power supply (i.e., a giant series inductor nearly as expensive as the transformer itself). This makes a gigantic difference in the quality of the power delivered by the power supply, and Krell and most others don't bother. And my ears tell me that it makes a huge difference in sound quality, on the same order of magnitude as adding a really good power conditioner (as you would expect...).
There are many other factors that come into play as well, including capacitor quality and sizing, rectifier types, and so on. In addition, there are other potential solutions that can deliver excellent results, including the excellent new switch-mode supplies on the Linn Klimax and Rowland 10/12. A good source of info on this is Pass's website www.passlabs.com. I am not saying that any designer can make a great power supply easily or for free, but that it certainly can be done if they are willing to put out the effort, and most (including Krell) haven't bothered to take it to this level. That is why some products benefit so significantly from power conditioners, and others either don't seem to care or, if they have really good power supplies, can actually sound worse with conditioners.

i,m new to posting on this board but do have experience with high-end amplifiers, as a consumer. i owned a cj mf 2300 as my first amp, and then traded for a krell ksa200's. the krell amps build, sound, and quality were second to none. i then got the single-ended bug and traded the amp for cary 805's. i have since owned ml 20.6's and am now using fpb 250's. the krell build quality is superior to all these amps in my opinion. as for the sound every amp has its sonic signature and they were all good. i still miss my ksa 200's because of the build, the machined front panel, the brass binding posts and the overall sound quality was right up there with the rest of the amps. on the used market for less than $3000. you can get a ksa 200's which is an outright steal. just wanted to add my input to all who are interested.

s2k_dude: I am referring to their SS only - not very familiar with their tubes. The first time I heard McIntosh was on Thiel 2.2 speakers (I think that was the model) and XLO cables and I was less than impressed. It was an old amp (MC2205 from the 70s) but rather highly regarded by most Mc people but I thought it was vague and definately not detailed. I then heard a MC352 and was floored. I can not afford one yet but found a good deal on the little 7100 I mentioned and with my McIntosh C712, Paradigm Reference 100s, and MIT T2 cables, it is more detailed than either Krell I had (although to be honest I used the Krell mostly on B&W Nautilus 804s if that makes a difference). The layering in the music and the space is amazing, nuances abound, and continuity is impressive with this setup.

Audio equipment works as a system and if they don't agree to it, the sound will not sound up to par no matter what it is or how much it cost. Impedance, capcitance, inductance, bias, etc. all play a role and must work together for great sound. I just lucked out I guess....