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
Good job of removing all the past negative comments about Krell..... are you an authorized dealer yet?  Or in a probationary period?
Jafant thank you and Technk thank you will be posting some more pics.

Oddiofyl, yes at this stage we are, do you honestly thiink we would be promoting a product that we didn't own or have not directly tested?

We are praising the new Krell products because they are really, really, good and are very competitive with more expensive products.

There never was a probationary period, we had to purchase three pieces of gear without hearing it hence our first post seeking advice from owners. A couple of people with the Krell XD series wrote back and loved the new gear so we went ahead with it.

After having listned to the 300XD the Illusion 2 preamp with dac board and the K300i we can report this is a very musical line of solid state gear.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Krell dealers
Seems unfair to other authorized Krell dealers in the NJ / NY area that you undermine the dealer network by pimping Krell on a forum....   a forum also where new hobbiests rely on unbiased views of equipment's performance and value .   
The following are listed as authorized Krell dealers:

Tansen Audio in Bridgewater

Audio Video Synergy in Clinton

Intra Home   Garfield

Home Entertainment Systems in Marlboro

Woodbridge in Woodbridge

There is no listing for Audio Doctor...    

Oddiofyl first of all people on this forum can purchase from whomever they wish, which includes both us and other Krell dealers.

Most of the dealers who sell Krell would welcome any assistance in promoting the line, they are coming back from a dark point in their recent history it is with the new XD series and the K300i that Krell is restoring the luster to this once proud brand.

Also many people would want to hear the products, which means that those local people might just check out Krell because of us, at their local dealer, works both ways doesn’t it?

As per the website Krell will be launching a new website which is why we are not currently listed do you honestly think we would be talking about a product we haven’t heard nor display with this degree of certainty?

And per websites this is what many people find when searching for us

www.audiodoctor.com

this is our new website which should be launching in Feb it is still in beta and not finished yet. Product pages are missing, etc.  Go to about us and look under products to see for yourself what we represent, Krell included.

www.audiodoctor.com/wp

and lastly Walter liked our testamonial about the new K300i he posted it on twitter

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/First-Partner-impression-of-the-brand-new-Krell-K-300i-Integrate...

I guess if we weren’t an authorized Krell dealer the COO wouldn’t be sending out a twitter feed which ends with Audio Doctor.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Krell Dealers