2. amps-preamps
  3. 143600-3549

Krell XD gear in the House Initial Impressions

For those who were following a post we started a few weeks ago about considering bringing in Krell gear here is our follow up post after we just received the display gear.

We had 0 interest in adding Krell to our product portfolio before attending the Capitol Audio Fest we almost missed the room it was on the First floor in the back and it was VPI's room and we are not VPI dealers so it was almost a fluke that we even poked in. The huge Wilson Alex's were beckoning us in, so we decided to take a brief listen.

The sound in this room was mesmerizing, someone played Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side and there in three dimensions was Lou Reed and the three back up vocalisits, the sound was smooth, engaging, transparent, and has a sense of presence that made you take notice. 

So we started looking at the setup, VPI table $15k, Soundsmith cart $8k $110k Wilson speakers, lot of expensive Nordost Vallahalla or Odin but what was driving this insanely good sounding rig there in the bottom of the rack were two Krell 300XD amplifiers and a Krell preamp. 

Here was the best sound at this entire show, and the electronics were a fraction of the price of all of the other reference setups which were $80k monoblocs amplifers, $40k reference preamps and other such expensive gear. 

So we figured we would give the Krell a try part of the reason was logistics, powering our Paradigm Persona 9H is a $50k set of the phenominal T+A electronics from Germany, a $19.5K 300 Watt power amplifier, a $16.5 preamplifier and an optional outboard power supply at $13.5.

We have no issue with this gear it is incredible, however, we didn't have in this room a set or electronics which we thought would really give the T+A stuff a run for its money and yet be more affordable, so the Krell 300XD amp at $10,500 plus their Illusion 2 preamp/dac at $8k we thought would bring the price of doing a top notch system with the Personas down a bit in price and perhaps be a nice addition to our other electronics lines of T+A and Naim for top of the line solid state gear.

We hooked up the new Krell gear yesterday and even after only 24 hours of break in the sonic signature is very similar to what we heard at the Capital Audio Fest. 

The new Krell gear was liquid in the midrange, with nylon strings having the right type of roundness that makes acoustic guitar sound so right, tight well defined midbass, excellent rhythmic control, good top end extension with a slighly soft warm top end, and a big dimensional soundstage.

One of our questions is are there anyone on the boards who has this combo in particular the 300XD power amplifier and the illusion 2 preamp/dac we are currious to the affects of break in and how they improve. 

The sound after only 24 hours of initial plug in and break  in the gear is allready sounding ridiculous good how much better does it get and in what ways?

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ  new Krell dealers




128x128audiotroy
mrdecibel
1,244 posts
 
There is no question that the original thread was an advertisement of Krell products, as is this one. I owned original KSA products. Enjoy ! MrD.
Post removed 
dep14
139 posts
 
I rarely critique posts, but it sure does seem Troy, that your posts fall into one of two categories.

1. Pure promotion

2. The (enter products) that you (poster) own, or are considering are “ok” but this product that we sell is better. So instead of answering the question in the post, you should consider buying this from us instead...

You carry lots of good brands, no question. But maybe focus on differences between yours and others as opposed to typically always positioning yours as better.

For instance, have you done a head to head with the 300xd and another amp, say a pass labs 250.8 on the same price range? How do they sound different? Does one have fans? (yes). Well I avoid fans if I can.  Are both good amps?   I’m sure they are.  How do they sound different... 




Post removed 
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy OP
1,621 posts
 
HK Fan, wow if an end user posted this you would have no problem would you.

The fact that we are reporting that what the gear is doing and asking a valid question about burn in is that an advertisement as well?

We are not doing this with or without Walters blessing, if Walter has an issue than we will be happy to take down the post.

Dep14, where do we say in any of these posts that the Krell is superior or inferior to anything? The amps are sounding truly magical, after the electronics are burned in we will do a true head to head vs the T+A gear which is way more expensive.

The reality is we know how our Persona 9H sound with $50k worth of T+A electronics, which are rated in the uber echelon of audio gear, and right now with a bit of playing time the speakers are sounding quite fantastic, with $18k worth of Krell electronics and that is including the built in dac vs the $17-35k digital front ends we normally play with the $50k T+A stack, don’t you think that is a good indicator of how good or not good this Krell gear is?

We are happy to point out ways ours are different, in the case of Pass you may not have a fan, the Krell amplifiers fans you just don’t hear at all, the Krell amplifers have an intelligent bias scheme which gives you class A with less heat the Pass labs do not, the Krell amplifiers are less expensive the Pass 350.8 is $14,500 for 350 watts class A/B the Krell 300xd is $10,500 for 300 watts Class A the Pass labs amplifier is 125 lbs the Krell 90 lbs.

The honest fact that we don’t sell Pass makes a true side by side comparison impossible that is for people on the boards to do we would welcome a side by side comparison. Pass Labs amplifiers are very good we have had people check out the T+A gear vs the Pass Labs gear and these people have picked T+A over Pass Labs and that included a $12,500 Pass Labs integrated vs a $11,500 T+A 2500R integrated.

The fact that Pass Labs are much larger, way heavier, and their Class A amplifiers are rated by users to generate heat like a furnace do not speak to practicallity so we are not too interested in using an amplifier which has those characteristics.

As per sound quality Pass is known for being a warm sounding amplifier so is the new Krell. We have heard Pass Labs at clients homes and at shows and they are very good, there are certain qualities in the sound of these new Krell products that does seem to be unique to Krell, this glowing quality in the midrange and a very tube like sound, seems to be a hallmark of the XD circuit, the amplifers seem to be very quick as well.

DP we sell as you pointed out many excellent amplifiers right now we can compare the Krell to Parasound Halo amplifiers, T+A amplifiers, Conrad Johnson, Electrcompaniet, Anthem STR amplifier, Cary Audio, Manly Labs amplifiers and we have a BAT VK 255se are all possible comparisons as well as the Naim gear.

The point is when you have been doing this professionally for 30 years you tend to be able to judge a product fairly quickly sometimes you have to really play with a product for a while and sometimes you don’t.

The fact that we are really super excited by the Krell amplifiers is testement to how good they really are.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor new Krell dealers
More to discover