Krell KSA 50 vs. todays ss amps?

Some reading and a picture:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/55376.html

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/57052.html

Dave

Dave,

A well designed amp is a well designed amp - regardless of
its age.

Amplifier technology is pretty mature - that is it isn't
like computer CPU technology where every year the processors
get better because Intel can put more, smaller, hence faster
transistors on a chip.

Amplifiers don't bump up into that limit. So just because an
amp is "new" - doesn't mean it's better.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

Not sure if you're talking about the original KSA50 (and 50Mk II, which I owned for a while) or the 50S, which Dave sent the links about. I must say the old KSA 50 was a very nice amp, quite sweet sounding for a solid state design, with far more power, bass control and clarity than any solid state amp I was hearing at the time. If I still owned it today I might recognize that today's designs, at the top end, might have better quality parts available to them now (higher speed diodes, maybe some better power supply regulation, etc.) that might make them objectively better, but I'd probably still be happy with the sound of the Krell. Going purely from my memory, I don't think it has the refinement of the best solid state designs available today, but it is a well-engineered design that has a lot of strong points. John Atkinson a few years back did a comparison of a Krell KSA 50 Mk II (he always seemed to like that amp) against a new Krell design, likely one of the FPB series, in Stereophile; his comments at the time were interesting, and did not find the KSA hopelessly outdated, if I recall correctly. Worth tracking down, if you can find it.

Perhaps, the sweetest sounding amplifier in Krell line up at that time along with the KSA 80. To be candid here, I haven't listened to any of their current series of amplifiers although at that particular time, the more powerful krells couldn't match the musical integrity, nuance and articulation of their lower powered siblings. That said: I would still choose the little 25 watt/ch class-A Bedini over the baby Krell for exactly same reason.