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

@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).

@olfac87

I would prioritize room treatments before you spend a dime on anything else. GIK acoustics is a great resource to research and seek advise. They are great to work with and provides customize room solutions.

@lalitk Ha! That’s exactly what a responder said on my sub thread. I reached out to GIK yesterday with their cool online tool. 

Interesting post.  The one thing I don't love about my Luxman is this same idea....1) specifically that there are BIG jumps when you use the remote and 2) I have no visual indicator on the volume knob where i'm at when seated and lights are dimmed.  I think something like the Anthem with big numerical volume indicators would help me as I get older, LOL.  

Krell is good gear for sure, so it would have to REALLY bother me to move on from it.