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Krell HTS 7.1 for 2 channel or a new or used 2 channel pre?

I have an opportunity to purchase a used Krell HTS 7.1 for 700.00 I have Krell amps Tyler Acoustic Decade 2 speakers. I am currently using a Yamaha 3030 as a pre and it sucks. I switched to the Yamaha for ease of use with hdmi and all but I find it severely lacking in the audio department. So this brings me to the question do I get the Krell or keep searching for a 2 channel pre? Budget is 1000

We listen to cd's and stream via Spotify. I would like to eventually get into lp's

thanks
jfondell
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
That's great!  uhmm, this is totally a shameless plug, but I have my old HTS 7.1 power supply board up for sale.  It's been re-capped and upgraded.  The larger caps gave me much stronger bass and smoother resolution over all.  I put it up for sale here on Audiogon (under my name), so the forum can't get mad at me. :)  Not trying to push to sell this, but it's there if you're interested.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
Another thought.  If your using PS4 for transport and have a cheap toslink cable for digital, you could potentially significantly improve your audio by upgrading to a better toslink cable.  They aren't severely expensive.  An example would be a 3 foot Lifatec for $81 (or whatever length you need).  Alternatively, you could do a more expensive cable like the Wire World Super Nova, but I don't know that you would get any better than the Lifatec.
jfondell OP
26 posts
 
That board if nifty so you replace all of those caps? I have a monster toslink cable 10 years ago they were the top of the line ones, not sure if much has changed? I will say the speakers sound so amazing I don't have words to describe it. I've had these speakers since 2009 and I have never heard them sound the way they do now. I'll give some thought to your board once I replenish some funds
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I remember when I first got my HTS 7.1.  I was coming from a Bryston SP2 and before that a Sunfire Theater Grand.  The HTS 7.1 just blew away the other two processors in sound quality.  I remember thinking that I was just amazed on how "strong" the sound was through the Krell and the music was just so much more "there".  Best I can describe it. 

I don't know what Monster was doing 10 years ago, but I do think the Monster brand is generally overpriced for what you get.  Like I said, I don't know, but many of the lower end toslink cables are just Monofilament conductors.  This is just a single solid plastic line that the light travels through.  The higher end cables use stands of pure glass to do the light transmission.

For example, the Lifatec at 3 feet for $81 has 470 strands of Silflex Glass in it's cable.

The more expensive Wire World Super Nova 7 at $200 for a meter (3 feet) has 338 strands of Borosilicate Glass.

The cheaper Wireworld Nova at $40 for 1 meter is just an Acrylic (plastic) Monofilament.

Believe it or not, there is a sound quality difference between these cables.  The sound can be looser/messier with the cheaper monofilament cables.

jfondell OP
26 posts
 
I always thought that they were all the same, maybe I'll try a new one as cables I think will be next just not sure where to go. I made all my own power cables from Neotech wire that I really like so I'll keep those. I'm running Lat International interconnects and speaker wire but I think I want to get away from the silver. When I turn the system up to say 15 it's way to bright the highs are ear piercing 
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