Classic Integrated Question: Krell or Classe?

the original post asked if a krell integrated is worth twice the price of a comparable classe

that is an easy one, already answered hell no

depends as usual on what a buyer values... krells are extremely overbuilt, classe’s are less so - sq differential is much more of a mixed bag

krell over the years have made some wonderful pieces (particularly their ksa class a series) but also some truly bad sounding true dogs (esp. when they tried to do home theater type amps)

classe used be one of the sweetest sounding solid state brands, always beautifully voiced, imminently listenable for long stretches... classe as a company has also changed it focus in more recent years - both companies have changed ownership at least once since their heydays

so research and care need to be exercised in either case, make sure you get one that is truly worth owning

Thanks for your responses. Given the info here, and what I have read regarding these two pieces, I’m leaning towards the Classe for its described sweeter, more musical sound character. I did have a krell kav-300i once, but it was bright, harsh and bass was overbearing—in my system anyway. 
Question on xlr. Are all xlr connections louder than rca? 

@jsbach

i didn’t know you had owned a bad sounding krell before... now you know what they say about life and making the same mistake twice, right??? :)

on the q about xlr’s... it is a bit complicated... normally, with properly implemented balanced outputs and circuitty, the voltage swing will be double of a single ended one ...

...however ... many pieces and manufacturers will provide an xlr connection on their gear -- but only as a convenience... the circuitry is not balanced, and thus only one of the two hot pins are powered relative to the ground center pin... so you have in this case a single ended voltage swing carried in a balanced connector

so bottom line is it depends on the gear... hope this helps

Update: picked up a classe cap-150 and it sounded really good—when it worked. It kept cutting out on the r channel and after some research, found out this is a common problem with this particular model. Didn’t want to fool with it, so it was returned for a refund. 
Just recently picked up a creek destiny integrated and so far it sounds very nice. I prefer the preamp in passive mode as I feel it provides an even more open and wider sound. I sold my Rotel 991 and have an Arcam irdac on the way to use with both my iPhone (Amazon music) and to use with a Cambridge cxc transport for cd playback. 
The only other integrated I’m curious about is the Ayre ax7e. I’m curious how that would compare to the destiny? 
As for cabling, I’m using mogami speaker cable and interconnects via jerry at 10 audio. What are others using with this combo that compliment the destiny’s neutral sound and the Vandersteen’s well-mannered sound? 

@jsbach1685 

try a belles aria or a hegel

they are very very good