Best sounding Krell ?

My favorite Krell's were/are the KMA 160's and the KMA 400's. They may be considered old by some, but IMHO they are the epitome of classic Krell's and are still competitive. With all due respect to Mr. D'agostino, I don't believe the intergrateds and KAV series deserve to wear the Krell logo.

To respectfully counter Unsound's assertion, and as a happy owner of both FPB and KAV series components, I do believe, no, correct that, I am certain that the KAV series deserves to wear the Krell logo. The KAV series underscores how Krell HAS kept apace with current trends in the industry while maintaining integrity and audible "vision" to the current and future needs of its customers.

And I know an op-amp when I see one, and I don't see them here.

So Audiogabby: how are you doing with all this discussion? Are you any closer to the answers you seek?

The KAV series is extremely deserving when utilized properly. I am getting some of the best sound I've ever had from my 400xi and SACD std V3 and I've even owned the Evo kit! The problem is that entry level components are rarely cabled properly or given appropriate PC's. I'd put the krell 400xi up against just about anything out there. I love the little bastard.

((Jeez, if the Pentagon was to design power amps I think they would look just like Krell.))

High praise indeed. Although never much of a fan of Krell's cosmetics, I love what their amps can do.

But if someone dislikes a product so much why would they even contribute to a thread asking which model sounds the best?

The Krell sound is not for everyone but I do know one thing - they are built like tanks. I saw a dealer literally drop a 400Xi from about waist level onto solid concrete. The Krell chipped the concrete and there was barely a scratch on the corner of the Krell. They dealer obviously thought it wouldn't work but we plugged it in and it sounded fine. You could barely tell that it had even been dropped when examining the corner it fell on. Just a small smudge was all there was. I owned one (not that one!) for a while and could really appreciate what Krell does well. It makes your best recordings sound fantastic. My best recordings were about 10~20% of my collection. OTOH hand Whoa Nellie it made bad or mediocre recordings just unlistenable. Anything with compression or boosted highs sent me right out of the room. I eventually went with McIntosh and at least 80~90% of my collection sounds great. I can live with that for now. Also adding a tube preamp helped things along nicely.