amp or preamp to extend upper end

Disclaimer:
I freelance at BMW repair shops on weekends at $50/hour. I'd normally finish job twice faster than AllData estimates so factually earn near $100 hourly. There's no other car or truck I want or interested to professionally maintain in this part of my career.
Many challenged me as I can't troubleshoot BMW without super-fancy professional scan tool, but I proved I could do that with just a test light just to impress shops right in front of manager's eyes during the interview.

"Many challenged me as I can't troubleshoot BMW without super-fancy professional scan tool, but I proved I could do that with just a test light just to impress shops right in front of manager's eyes during the interview."

What exactly did you do? You know I was kidding a bit before, but I'm really interested.

BMW has lost its way. They used to indeed live up to their slogan Ultimate Driving Machine. What used to be true of BMW is no longer the case, as they have eschewed their performance engineering roots that was a "driver's car" and have now become rolling electronics gadgets. The new ones don't even have dipsticks! You have to rely on an electronic light to tell you whether the oil level is low or not.

On the other hand, my 1992 525i was the finest car I've ever owned. I wish I'd never sold it. It would still be going strong and would be in better shape then my 2005 Bimmer. Don't get me started on my girlfriend's new X5.

I didn't leave BMW. BMW left me. They've changed.

Evolving: in my experience the preamp has more influence on the upper frequencies than does the amplifier. At least when you get to a certain level of performance. I don't have any experience with Musical Fidelity components so I can't talk about their sonic signature. But yes, going from a Krell to just about anything, you better not rely on anything but your own ears, because Krells do have the reputation of NOT being soft or rolled off in the top end. Good luck.

06-02-15: Zd542
Try turning the high frequency contour adjustment on your 3's up 1db.

+1 (meaning that I agree with ZD's suggestion, as opposed to suggesting that another db be added to the 1 db he suggested :-)). I took a look at John Atkinson's review of the Vandersteen 3 in the March 1993 issue of Stereophile. He states:

Although I found that the tone-control settings that gave the flattest measured response were HF -2dB, and MF, + 1dB, this sounded consistently too dull. I ended up setting the HF control either at 0dB or +1dB for most of my listening.

He also mentioned that the woofer and mid-range needed to be worked hard over the course of a very extended break-in period before they sounded good. If by any chance your speakers weren't used a great deal around the time of the transition between amplifiers, perhaps some re-breakin is necessary, possibly contributed to by age-related stiffening of the surrounds, or some other comparable effect. Keep in mind that the crossover between mid-range and tweeter, nominally at 5 kHz, is first-order, meaning that the mid-range driver will be receiving frequencies at significant amplitudes well into the top octave.

Regarding the other subject that has been addressed in the thread, FWIW my perception in recent years is that in initial quality surveys and long-term user satisfaction surveys, while most of the big-name German manufacturers seem to place not much better than the middle of the pack among all manufacturers, Porsche is just about always at or very close to the top, even though recent models are loaded with all kinds of high-tech electronics and other such things. Also FWIW, my 2014 Cayman S has been all that my wife and I had hoped for when we purchased it about a year and a half ago, although for many people its two seats, very limited cargo capacity, and stock high performance tires that can't be driven on snow or ice would rule it out as a practical choice. And no doubt any repairs that may be necessary after its 4 year warranty expires will not be cheap.

Regards,
-- Al