2. amps-preamps
  3. 172955-95977

Krell KAV-250p - time for change?

My preamp is a Krell KAV-250p, bought primarily for 2-channel listening but also because it has home theater bypass (HTB) when I switch to my Marantz receiver for movie watching. Other equipment: B&W 801s circa 1980, Oppo Blu-Ray, Bryston 9B-SST five channel. I just inherited the 801s from my recently departed father, replacing a set of PSB Synchrony 1s (which I also love).

Anyway, I am not fond of the Krell for the babyish reason that I don't like the volume control. I wish it had a knob as it is too difficult to dial-in the volume I want with the graduated segments. I also wonder, since it is my first preamp, if I might upgrade. The Parasound Halo P6 caught my eye as it has the HTB and decent feedback from owners/reviewers.

I searched this forum and no one had anything bad to say about the Krell. I just thought I would inquire since it's always been my least favorite piece.

olfac87
ebm
9,311 posts
 

Dump it asap!

fiesta75
1,378 posts
 

I would love to own some big Magico speakers, but at $150k + a pair, just not happening for me.

olfac87 OP
24 posts
 

@ebm Sounds like you are not a Krell fan? Any suggestions I can look into?

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,104 posts
 

@olfac87

Keep the Krell as long as you love the way it sounds! And don’t pay any attention to what ebm says, his contributions to Audiogon community can be summed up between ‘jump’ and ‘dump’ ….he reminds me of my garbage man who jump on and on off his garbage truck to dump garbage 😂

 

olfac87 OP
24 posts
 

@lalitk Thanks for the insider baseball. And no one is giving me a good reason to give up the Krell. :-) I guess that was good advice all those years ago when I bought it. I think this thread has convinced me to keep the Krell and continue to put energy into other avenues, such as room treatments or making a subwoofer decision (my other recent post on Audiogon).

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