I have had a really positve experience with the Krell. It takes forever to burn in and needs to be left on standby always. Do you have siver cables? They are bright> |
I am a Krell user since their inception, however; did not buy their SACD, because of the build quality ie. the transport draw. That said, at least two of my audiophile friends own the unit and love it. As noted in the above posts, the krell must be run in (at least 200 hours), you must experiment with several interconnects and power cords and leave the unit on for at least an hour before listening to it. Also try software that originated in DSD stream, rather than the 40 year old remastered crap. |
You could run a radio signal through at low level and not put unecessary mileage on the transport. Also I leave my main amps on all the time. If they are not in an enclosed area or have good ventilation. This really works for me. |
If someone hasnt said it already, i would suggest putting a cd or sacd disc in it and putting it on repeat for a few days. You dont have to have the system playing, just have it hooked up to a preamp. I did this with a Krell 280 cd a couple of years ago. Right out of the box, it sounded much much worse (hard and grating) than the inexpensive Denon dvd player i was using before. After letting it run on repeat for a few days, it was sounding much better.
RB |
Even after the player is well broken in, be SURE you warm it up before each session, or just leave it on. Somebody above already mentioned this but its very important. The player will not operate optimally until the temperature of all working parts is stable.
If you still dont like it then its time to look into other options. |
Has anyone compared the Krell SACD Standard with the Meridian 508.24 for playback of regular redbook CDs? |
I would love to see a journal of 500 hours of listening/breakin.
I'm sorry--if I spent 4k, it better sound good out of the box. It may get better, but if it doesn't sound good now, don't keep it.
The Cary 306/200 uses the same transport as the Krell as I recall (Philips) which most cdps in that price range use. I personally prefer the Wadia transports (Pioneer, Teac).
Keith |
Quite different sonic signatures between the tubed Cary 308 and the Krell, I would imagine. |
I second the recommendation that "break-in" is REAL. To be fair you should give the player time to do what it can do. If after several hundred hours of break-in you are still displeased, atleast you will be confident that you just don't like the sound of this player, and those other players will still be out there. |
I gather that "good things come to those who wait"
so I will hold off on switching the Krell for the Tri-vista
as I was planning to do , or even aother from Cary - 306/200. Thanks,
Dr John |
Drjohn,
Being the owner of an SCD-1,I can tell you that break-in is very real. It was my first decent player so I liked the sound right out of the box. At about 200 hrs it started to really open up, but it did'nt get great until about 400 hrs or so. I could'nt believe the day to day differences I was hearing. So give it a little time and enjoy. Gary. |
SoGood 51 - Dave, thanks, I will go there and take a look.
Drubin - Cary 308
Krelldog - I agree it could be made a bit better but sound quality is paramount here.
Theo - Sunfire TGIII, Sunfire Cinema Grand Sig, PSB Stratus Gold
Tony007 - Thanks, I will take a look
Raquel - I do not see how it can make a huge difference but I will try to give it time.
J1a - My pre-pro does not have balanced input, so I used an adapter since I did not have much choice. |
Krell seems to have a certain brightness to it. I agree with one person who said to wait until it is broken in to judge. I would also suggest you express the problem to your dealer and see if they will let try one that is broken in. Typically I noticed a more muddy sound in unbroken in equipment but I am no expert on that topic. |
I have one and I use a orpheus sennheiser with a dac in, the Krell is less open but more natural, I guess that he must to be open in a few hours of play time. But I love this analytic sound, a little cold but real.
Niconico |
I have owned a Krell SACD Standard for over 3 months and it does need at the VERY LEAST 100 hours to break in. Although the Krell may fall short on the build quality when compared to my Wadia 860x, it does however sound incredibly natural and open, never harsh or bright. Also, make sure you are running it balanced and not single ended. I believe the Martin Colloms ran the Krell single-ended for his review. Watch for the Krell SACD on the cover of the December Stereophile. |
I never have liked the sound of any Krell equipment, but for goodness sakes, put 200-300 hours on it with a break-in track before coming to any conclusions. Most equipment is still opening up at 500 hours play time. And of course, keep it powered up 24/7. |
Martin Colloms just reviewed it in the Nov 03' HiFi News magazine. He stated that he was basically displeased with the overall sound quality and said he was expecting much more. If I'm recalling the review correctly, he awarded the player 29 points for sound quality on his grading scale. |
You may try experimenting with cables. I would not use any silver cables try to find a neutral sound. I am not a krell fan but for what you paid it should satisfy. What is the rest of the system? |
What did the Krell replace in your system? |
I was checking one out at my local dealer. I opened the drawer to check out the title of the disc being played,and I couldn't believe how flimsy/crappy the drawer operated. It was very comparable to a cheap Pioneer. Maybe I'm spoiled but I'm used to old Phillips players(cd-80/cd-880/cd-960)and my current player 963 SA- I know thats not the final line in CD performance,but it at least makes it seam alot better made. |
I have read that many owners think the build quality of this unit is not up to price level. Your bright sound does not fit in with any owner reviews I have read at Audio Asylum forum, you may want to do a search on that forum.
Dave |
