Orchestral brass and fanfare - analysis of system

As those above indicate, it could be a number of things. There's a lot of symphonic music that is quite dynamic even awesome.

If you are listening to decent recording labels such as Telarc, Reference Recordings, etc., then I would absatively posilutely disagree with those above who say it's probably the recordings.

By all means start by looking at your most inexpensive components first.

But in my experience and readings, I believe the culprit most likely is in the amplifier and it's designer. There are those who believe that all amps simply amplify the signal with a certain current and power rating being the only difference.

In my experience and reading, this is the furthest from the truth and can be the most corruptedly designed component in a given system. Some to many amps introduce potentially serious flaws at reproducing higher and/or lower frequencies, where higher volumes and/or complex music can lead to compression and/or congestion. Not to mention amps that roll off the highs or soften them or roll off the bottom end, etc.. Most of these ill-affects are coming from a design flaw or weakness within the amp.

I'm not a Krell fan anyway, so if it were me, I'd look first at the amp. But that would also be perhaps the most expensive remedy.

-IMO

I forgot to mention that I also have a REL stadium III sub-woofer in the system. This is an important omission since it makes a REAL BIG difference in my system's overall sound on orchestral and brass music. Sub-woofer frequencies are an intrinsic part of the spectral presentation of trumpets (e.g.), as surprising as this was for me to realize.

Judit,
Subwoofer is not enough. There probably has to be super-tweeter as well.

stenho, what i was referring to in my post regarding the CD i thought judit might be using was that this disc is HDCD encoded and i don't believe the CDP being used has HDCD playback. It's not supposed to make a difference, BUT the other day i placed a new dual layer SACD disc on one of my CDP's (not SACD) and it sounded poorly, however on another non SACD player it sounded quite nice. There is nothing wrong with the Copeland RR disc - i have it and love it. Great Brass! perhaps this is not the cd that is being used - in any event multiple CD's should be used for testing.

Judit, you are absolutely correct on the value of good bass to the spectral presentation (of most any instrument) however i'm not sure how that would affect the congestion that you hear at high levels in the upper frequence range which would be produced by the mid range/tweeter elements. are you suggesting that you could have an overload of the whole system at high levels, or that the sub cross over (i'm not familar with the REL) could be causing some problems. If so, you might try taking it out to see if you still hear the same congestion.

Judit, I'm a tad confused & much intrigued. Let's assume for a moment that the recording is not at fault (i.e. it suffers from the usual d*nm compression!). If I'm not mistaken, the fact is that you detect a compression in the fundamental upper-mids that you happened to notice with passages of brass.

Then, if "mids and lows are good, however the highs become compressed at LOUD volumes. On low volume (...) the system relaxes into my comfort zone...", the prime suspect seems to be, electronics. I just can't tell if it's the pre, the amp or a combination of the above. I'm really tempted to join Stehno's suggestion -- but that me, not Judit (although I, too, judge by classical). Let's go further.

Brass is impolite in that its harmonics can go over 50kHz it seems, & well into subwoofer areas. So, as you note, the sub has helped a lot & a super-tweet (as per Mara, above) may help some more...

This said, the above still don't address the compression issue IMO, because this comes from the main speaker, not the peripherals.
Speaker: if they're incapable to take the drive from the amp, you'd be hearing driver distortion/blowing it -- which you aren't & it isn't. Remember, we're not discussing whether it sounds "correct" - just the compression.
Likewise with the cables: if they don't like the loads on either side, you'd be complaining about more than the specified instruments and, again, the issue is not how "nice" it sounds: just the compression. The wire would make a mess of it -- but wouldn't compress (unless badly connected -- and you'd hear that across most of the the spectrum).

So, there MUST be something off with the "engine" driving the speakers; if it were the pre, I think you'd be complaining about the lower register too. That leaves us with impedance & power capability in the amp-speaker combo. If the impedance were, say, to drop inconveniently at the fundamental of the brass, & the amp were tired, it would (& will) compress. OTO, I haven't lived with a KAV250 nor with 805's (but have w/801's), and don't know WHY it would find it appropriate to compress...

But, I put forth OUR answer to your question: can you borrow an amplification power-house, ANY, and try it out? Brass is difficult but, if it's anything BUT the amp you'll know just by trying another one.
THEN we can put forth intelligent propositions.

A long way of returning to Sten's idea -- sorry. Clink!