Krell Power Consumption


Hi,

I'm a bit new to ultra high end. I'm considering a Krell Evolution 402. One thing that jumps out at me is the power consumption in standby. The manual says it draws over 300 watts in stand by and recommends that you leave it on all the time. 300 watts 24/7. Good grief. Is this bogus or just the price you pay for a serious amplifier?

thanks for any advise.
Ag insider logo xs@2xwrf
Dob,
Into which camp do you place the ASP modules from B&O?
I've lost track of all the players using these modules....from Bel Canto on down.
My PSAudio is a fine piece of goods but has the dread SMPS.
Magfan,

I believe Jeff Rowland did fine job with ASP modules but his main achievment was development of very high quality of switching power supplies with Power factor Correction, PFC - making this power supplies highly regulated. It was done in his "312" amp. Interestingly, Spectron uses switching power supplies with PFC in their pro audio amps but in their hi-fi amp, Musiican III they use traditional transformer based power supplies

The rest just (IMO) grabbed ASP, placed into their chassis, put their label (the best added their midor mods) and sold.

Bel Canto Ref 100 MkII has added battery of electrolitic capacitors improving power supply.
H2O uses (like Spectron) traditional power supply with B&O which improve sound.

However, my post was specific for this thread dedicated to the titans of 1980's - Krell and Mark Levinson - now 30 years later new geberation of class A and class D (and others) amplifier are available. not cheaper, as a rule, but...better in sound.
The Krell 402 and 402e both draw "only" 260 watts in standby. The initial manual stated 370, but it was a typo. They changed the manual when I pointed it out to them.

The 402e has a low power standby that only draws a few watts, but does not keep the amp warmed up.
Even the lower consumption is 4x what my refrigerator draws.
The new number is about 6.5 kwh/day.

Does anyone have a kill-a-watt meter to actually measure this?
Now, the ASP modules COME with an on-board SMPS. There will need to be some modifications made for these additional power supply components. Bel Canto adds a board in the top monos.
B&O warranty considerations will apply, but as long as the modifier covers it, I'm ok.

I'm just curious what the supposed effect of PFC is on your amp or sound? Making your power supply look more like a resistor to the power company? I don't get it.
Also, what is the measured PF of any amp? Does anyone have any data? I may measure my amp using test tones to get some idea.