ARCAM compared to Krell

I have a DV27 into Meridian 861 / Krell Showcase. I have had the Krell driving much harder loads than my Sonus Fabers (Wilson, B&W, Martin Logans). Whilst at entry level, it is not the most powerful 5 channel amp (125W), at over 30 kilos it does have a serious power supply on board to cope (if not excel). I believe in bench tests they do tend to rate higher than specified.

I have the Krell TAS in my system right now and it is driving my Paradigm Studio 100s, CC370, and my Studio 20s. Even in high reference volumes, you will have enough head room driving your speakers. The Krell also doubles down from 200 watts at 8ohms to 400 watts at 4. Although I have not auditioned any Arcam amp, based on specs alone the power of the Arcam amp will not be enough for your speakers.

Multi channel amp with similar specs to Krell TAS
Plinius Odeon
BAT VK6200
Simaudio Moon Titan
Anthem P5
Parasound A51

You may want to consider Sherbourne, Outlaw, ATI or Gemstone for very powerful amps that will not break the bank.

No one says that a powerfull amp needs to cost as much as a Krell or that you need to go to monoblocks to get more than 125W. The above are know as good values and the Outlaw and Gemstone have free demo's (plus shipping though). In particular the gemstone has some good word of mouth.

If you want power and quality with warmth and a step up from the Arcams do check out Cary amps. Their ss multi channel amps are killers.

I'll also second the Plinius and BAT. Haven't heard the Sim.

If you like the way your Arcam amp sounds, have you considered upgrading to their P1 monoblocks? At 175wpc and with a dedicated power supply for each channel, they would very likely provide all the grunt needed to drive your HTM1 and 802's with power to spare...

JZ