Vintage Krell


Recently I asked one of the very most informed Krell individuals on the planet which vintage Krell amp would he personally buy. Out of a universe of potential candidates he picked the KSA 200s. Do any of you members own or have owned this unit? I will say that in those days no expense was spared on the metalwork. The damn thing today would cost 3 times it’s original price. Any Krell guys out there with hands(ears) knowledge of this unit?
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I owned a pair of MDA-300 monoblocks in the late 80's, early 90's. They generated a lot of heat, but I loved the sound. My wife convinced me to sell them because of the heat and high power bills. Selling these (and my Cello Audio Palette) are my biggest regrets in my audiophile journey. 

I bought an FPB-300 in the late 90's and owned it until one channel started distorting last year. Given it's age, I decided to sell it as-is instead of getting it repaired. This was another great sounding amp, although I think I liked the MDA-300 better (different system, different room, so direct comparisons aren't possible). 

The obvious issue with these older amps is that they will need service at some point (more likely sooner than later) and some of the parts are no longer available so re-engineering can get expensive. 
I had KMA 100's, same vintage and design as the KSA 200's. They were fabulous sounding amps. After twenty carefree years one of the output stages let go. It is what happens to full bore Class A amps. Semiconductors may be more tolerant of heat now but they were not back then. Just like an incandescent bulb you can only turn them on and off so many times. So my advise is stay away. Even having it rebuilt will not guarantee either longevity or sound quality. 

I just picked up a Krell KSA-200S to run my Magnepan 1.7i’s and am simply blown away by this combination. I have been listening to High Efficiency Speakers with Dual McIntosh MC240’s running in Mono, which have been terrific and very musical, but this combination for a Solid State is a keeper!! The AMP is a BEAST!