Krell SACD Standard question....

Krell is not the only company to fall prey to Bad Phillips Drive Syndrome. Or BPDS.

The only Philips transport based cd player I would purchase is one that uses the CD PRO mechanism. Otherwise, your better off with Pioneer or Sony based players. This is based upon my own personal experience.

The turn-around time with Krell is usually 2-weeks. I have owned both Ver.1 and Ver.2 Players, and sonically, both are excellent on CD & SACD, and in my System, compared very favorably to top-of-the-line Esoteric and Wadia machines. Krell, Musical Fidelity, Marantz-reference and others have used this current version Philips CD-ROM Transport since 2005, yes it is prone to failure, but if you buy the SACD Standard new, you'll have a great source component at a great price with no worries for the next 5-years. After that, Krell, as with all of their past components will continue to support this machine (at your expense). The current Evolution and Showcase Players use DVD-ROM Transports. The new Standard will be out in 2008 and will also use a DVD-ROM Transport.

Suit yourself, but I'd sure stay away from players that have a well-documented history of problems, especially since the warranty won't apply. Do a search on Audio Asylum. You may change your mind...

Krell SACD Standared is fine sounding player but what I didn't like very much about it was the CD read-in time. When you put CD in this player it needs about 10-15 seconds to be able to begin playing ... I do not know whether Krell improved it meanwhile, but that was rather annoying thing for player in that price league ...