Advice for integrated amps

I have owned the Krell for six months. It is a great amp. With proper system matching, the right cables and speaker placement, it is a steal at $2500. I believe it is difficult to know the qualities of a component unless you have lived with it for awhile and played around with the variables. When I first purchased the Krell, I had an Adcom gcd750 and was looking for new speakers. I auditioned a number of speakers in my home and ended up with Aerial Acoustic 6s. I then played with cables and interconnects. The results varied a great deal, and at times it was frustrating. I settled on cardas cables and jenalabs interconnects. I cannot speak for the other amps you mentioned based on my statement about living with a component, but I can tell you that when it comes together, it is very rewarding and I enjoy my setup everyday. My guess would be that if you take your time and match components carefully, you won't go wrong with any of the amps. If you don't, none of them will sound right.

I completely agree with the need to live with a component for a few months to really 'hear' it. Your ears do need time to aclimate. Just buy good quality.

The joule-electra VAMP is incrediable. It now gives you a 150 watts per channel and the first 25 are pure class A Triode. The mail things it gives you is incredible sound. It gives you according to Jud about 90% of the big OTLs and His best line stage. I couldn't justify the price difference. It can be bought for under 3000.

I listened to the krell, bryston, and Anthem Integrated 2 I picked the Anthem. 90 watts @ 8 ohms, great build quality, and a wonderful sound (at least to my ears) The Anthem is a hybrid unit that uses two 6922 in the output stage. I have replaced the tubes and the results have been better than I could have expected. The Anthem is less expensive than the krell and to me just sounds better. I do not think you can go wrong with any of the great integrateds out there. You must listen to them in your own listening room with your system. Try to do your own A/B testing and just follow your ears. My ears said Anthem. Your might as well. Just do not listen only to a dealer (they make a living selling their equipment) I hope you can spend the time to make the best choice for yourself. (my system: Sonic frontiers SFCD-1, Anthem Integrated 2, Near 50mkII, MIT 750II bi-wire, MIT Z-cord, Yellow vipers) GOOD LUCK!

Hi. I auditioned both the Krell integrated and the Classe CAP-151 integrated at home. I was disappointed with the Krell: sound and soundstage TOO FORWARD (in your face),volume level TOO TIGHT (even minor adjustments in volume too, too loud), and a disappointing upper end. I will say this about the Krell: really good upper and lower bass response. The Krell is great if you listen to rock. Forget it if you like classical or jazz. The Krell is not bad, it's just disappointing - and too expensive for what you're getting. Now, the Classe CAP-151: Good bass (not as good as the Krell, but still very good). VERY musical midrange: not perfect but...well, musical! Sweet upper range. Good for classical and jazz, but should be ok for rock (remember: 150 watts/channel will definitely pump out volume and bass). Best news: the Classe is built like a tank - heavy, solid, well constructed. And because it's made in Canada, you're getting more bang for the buck due to the very favorable exchange rate. It's $600 or $700 cheaper than the Krell. The Classe is designed so you can shut off the built in pre-amp section (with a push button) and connect a separate pre-amp if you decide to upgrade your system later.