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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
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audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy OP
3,854 posts
 
Thanks Joe,  one of the reasons we write on these forums is to give people good advice, if we can or to draw attention to some new and exciting products.

The 300XD and the Illusion 2 with dac board have been burning in for over a week know and they sound fantastic.

For $18k you get a powerfull 300 watt monster amplifier and a very good preamp with a very listenable dac board. We have been listening exclusively through the built in dac later  on the weekend we will play the much more expensive digital front end through the Krell to get a better idea of the electronics true capabilities.

One of the nice things is that the digital board gives people a starter way of getting a system up and runnning just add a streamer and you got tunes. 

The electronics have a very organic quality that remind us a lot of tube gear, super smooth, big soundstage, these electronics sound way more expensive then what they are priced at.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Krell dealers


thezaks
712 posts
 
I have a Theater 7, which is supposed to sound better than the Chorus amps, even though it is less wattage.  However, it's supposed to have close to as much current as the Chorus line.  Anyway, it sounds really good, and I've had a lot of 7 channel amps come through my system.  I'm no longer looking for 7 channel amps, I'm just considering the XD upgrade now.   I'll be curious to hear from folks who get this upgrade.
Dave
pokey77
1,269 posts
 
@audiotroy 

Will be very interested to read about your impressions of the XD gear with an upgraded DAC.

Hoping the trolling is over in this thread.
thezaks
712 posts
 
I am interested too, however, I’ve heard from one person who said it was a slight improvement that might/might not be noticed and another that said it was not worth the money. This was specific to the Theater 7, so I’m not feeling too excited about doing the upgrade.
Dave
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