Should I Upgrade My Krells


Here are the details. I have a Krell 150A Amplifier, Krell 250P Pre-Amplifier, Cary 303/200 CD Player, Vienna Acoustic Bachs, AudioQuest Viper XLRs throughout. Some Very Thick Monster Cable speaker wire (M100 series I think). I bought the Krells off of E-Bay in ABSOLUTE pristine condition 1 1/2 years ago. I will say that my Bachs are HERE TO STAY as I'm a silk dome tweeter fan as well as a Vienna fan! IMHO, nothing sounds better than Vienna. . . again MY personal opinion. Also, the Cary is quite phenominal!!!

When I purchased the Krells on E-Bay, I paid $2,150.00. When new, both units went for $4,800.00.

It has been said that sometimes Krell can be a bit too agressive and that may be true (I don't know with authority). If this is in fact the case, I believe that since the Bachs and Cary are very much laid back, this offsets the brashness of the Krells. I think the Krells do well in producing bass on my Bachs especially since they have no bass driver, but rather are ported on the back. IMHO, I feel as thought the midrage is positively intoxication and the high end can be likened to mercury. If I had one complaint, it would be imaging. I wished that my system was able to do this more effectively!!!

I went to audition the Mozarts side by side to the Bachs at my local Tweeter store. To my amazement, I truly believe the Bachs sounded better! Further, the set up I heard at the store which included B&K electronics and a no name cd player sounded better than my home system???? In short, I experienced far better imaging than my home system???? Can B&K be on the same level as Krell in this aspect?? I know my Cary is not in question as it's about as good as it gets at the price point I paid.

This all being said, should I replace the Krells? I don't want to sacrifice what I already have in Bass, Midrange, and Treble. I want to improve the imaging as I know that can be done and have heard it demonstrated!!

Any advice would be welcomed!

Itch
itch

Showing 1 response by michaela

We own similar equipment. I have Beethovens with a Cary 303/100. Although I run a tube amp and preamp, I've found that placement and room interaction is critical. Don't spend money on changing amps yet before doing some homework in placement. Different cables will indeed make a difference but I think the major improvement will be with proper placement. In my 18 x 14 room the Beethovens are about 4' front the back wall and 3' from the side walls, with just a slight toe-in. In addition, using the supplied spikes, tilt them up about 5 degrees or so.

Good luck, Mike.