@gano Krell were first to introduce beauty in the form of blue power-on LEDs. My KSA-80 with its massive external fins protruding way beyond the facia must be the ugliest of all! While it is rated at only 80-Watts into eight Ohms, this doubles for 4 Ohms and again for 2 Ohms where it is rated 320 Watts RMS per channel. For decades I used it to power Quad ESL-63 and ESL-2509 electrostatics which protect themselves from over-high input voltages by presenting as a short-circuit to the amplifier. I tried powering them with a Luxman valve amp, but it put out high voltage spikes when switching on, which caused the speakers to clamp. Could never get the amp and the speakers to be powered up at the same time! No such issue with the Krell.
Pass labs krell parasound amps
Hello, Looking for feedback on the best sound and reliability of these amps, how do they compare to one another. Looking to spend 5-6k on used amp from these choices: Pass Labs x250.8, Krell Duo 300xd, Parasound jc5 or Mcintosh Mc312.
I have Mark Levinson no526 preamp and Revel 228be speakers and like a very open, transparent sound with deep soundstage.
Thanks for your response.
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@richardbrand I bet they are good! And i also bet some people find them beautiful. |
@richardbrand I'll bet it's more than 80 watts into 8ohm, most manufacturers that claim this doubling underrate the 8ohm measurement, still the krell ksa amps are as close as you can get to a perfect voltage source. |
@invalid Yep. They were ranked as one of the ten most influential amplifier designs of all time. I don't really compare mine to anything else - I am just deliriously happy.with it. I also use it to drive KEF Reference 1 speakers. My Krell replaced a Quad 100-Watt 405-2 which uses a very clever design where a small class A amplifier "tops up" a beefier amplifier. This idea was later used by Devaliet. Peter Walker of Quad defined a perfect amplifier as "a straight wire with gain". |
- 39 posts total