Krell KSA 100 vs KST 100

As between the two amps you mention,the KSA is a superior amp by far--my recollection is that the KST was the inexpensive Claa AB amp they came out with to be more user friendly, but not in the same league as their KSA Class A biased amps. The KSA was a fine amp, but was criticised as a bit "cold" and "hi-fi" in some ways, not as sweet or musical as its little KSA 50 brother; its prime asset is that it can drive virtually any speaker made. The newer Krells will sound closer to your valve amplifiers and are probably a better bet. If you do still want the KSA, keep in mind that the unit will probably need some new capacitors (it's 20 years old), and the fan that cools it is prone to breakdowns (one reason their next model, the KSA 80/200, had huge heat sinks to replace the fan). It also will double as a space heater--it throws off a lot of heat, though you're probably used to that with your Mcs.

I owned a KSA 100 and replaced it with an Audio Research D400MKII back in the mid-'90s. The ARC showed me just how bad the Krell was. The Krell sounded congested and lacked the musicality of the Audio Research. The Krell did, however, have a lot of slam and was beautiful to look at, but overall it wasn't a very good amp. I heard the KST amp several times and, for the money, I thought it was pretty good. For the right price, that may be the way to go. Good luck.

You need to be aware of the age of the amps you're looking at, the capacitors have a twenty year lifespan at the most. Many do not last that long. A KSA amp could be almost 25 years old. If you need to recap and amp, that could get very expensive. There are a lot of newer amps that you could look at so you would not have to worry about cap failure...

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Thanks for your ideas, even if slightly contradictory. I have been told the KSA 100 was 'serviced' November 2007 so should be in good condition.