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Krell SACD, DVD Standard, Showcase, KAV 280CD

I recently purchased a Krell 400xi and some Focal Be Micro's. I really like the sound of the amp and speakers, but I need to replace my current source. (I'm using a Sony DVD to feed my Benchmark DAC 1, but that leaves me without a headphone system for my desk.)

I usually do about 75% music and 25% video. Ideally I would like a DVD unit, but I'm not sure how well they will reproduce audio. I have read about every review out there and am still undecided.

Since I want to stick with Krell, I'm looking at the SACD, DVD Standard, Showcase DVD, and KAV280cd. Obviously the SACD and 280 won't play DVD's, but are they worth the money to only play CD's as I don't have any SACD's? The DVD standard and showcase prices are decent, but can they play CD's as well as a dedicated cd player? Another thing is the Showcase can be upgraded to HDMI with upsampling and to the best of my knowledge, the DVD standard can't.

Any insight will be appreciated.
gherrera1
jussy1254's avatar
jussy1254
15 posts
 
well... I have mixed thoughts on this as I bought, at great expense... a full krell home theatre system in 2003

HTS 7.1
KAV 3250
DVD Standard
KAV 300il

all works well apart fro the DVD Standard which budded from the start. It was sent back twice for repair, was upgraded, twice..... and has now totally failed

you know what... it is now totally UN-REPAIRABLE

cool

this unit cost the equivailant of $15'000 new in Switzerland

back in 2003

I am one happy guy
gherrera1 OP
88 posts
 
Hi Jussy1254, this thread is a little old, but to be honest, I ended up sending the DVD Standard in for repair as well.

Turns out the DVD laser needed adjustment or something. It would play CD's just fine. They replaced the DVD ROM for free since I had them upgrade the output to HDMI. This was over a year ago and I still haven't hooked it up to a TV. It's used just as a CD transport nowadays.
mclsound
159 posts
 
Hi guys
I have recently jumped on the Krell wagon(HTS 7.1,SACD-ver2(a little noisy upon reading the disk only,but works well so far)KSA 250(in almost 9/10 condition and fully recapped a year ago,I am currently looking for a FPB 600 to replace the 250,only because I require more power...
I was also looking for a DVD Standard to match my gear and for my large DVD collection.I never knew of transport problems and all the guys are wanting $1700-$2000 for soon to be outdated format.I will look for a good DVD/BR player and put my $2000 into it unless i can find a DVD Standard cheaper.
gherrera1 OP
88 posts
 
Hi Mclsound, the DVD Standard, to me, is a great sounding unit. From all my research, not many DVD Standard units required repair. I live overseas and having it shipped may have contributed to the laser being out of whack.

Aside from having Krell update it, I haven't had any issues with it. If you have a large collection of DVD's I can highly recommend this unit. I think you'll be happy with it and it sounds great with regular CD's too.

I suggest you try and get one with the HDMI outputs. I paid quite a bit to have Krell upgade it with HDMI.
jussy1254's avatar
jussy1254
15 posts
 
Hi Again,

well I have not really moved on since June. My DVD Standard is still sitting in the Swiss Krell repair centre. Collecting dust. A sad and disgraceful end to what was a great sounding machine. I never was a great video fan and technology flies so fast, but to be honnest a 2010 cheap bluray player is so vastly better than a 8 year old analogue dvd player...

However the sound quality was so so fine. I had just upgraded my speakers to Sonus-Faber Amati Anniversarios and the system was singing and swinging... fabulous

I am currently using my old and trusted meridian 203 cd transport. 20 years old and still running. The sound is not up there but yet so reliable and trusted...

To summarize I really appreciate modern technological advancements but hate the disposable society in which we live... Quality must last... has to last... NO..?
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