Krell, Classe or Bryston?

Cornfedboy is right about the stinging depreciation that you will experience buying a new high end amp. Krell's propensity to add new models has to hurt the resale value of the older models. This can be a plus if you are a buyer. You should be able to find a good deal on one of the KSA series if that is what you decide to get. You might want to go to a few dealers to demo the different amps suggested by the members. Buying makes a lot of sense from a value standpoint, but you are stuck with what you buy.

Clarification: I meant to say buying used in my previous post.

Thanks for all the advice. I have had the Classe Monoblocks at home and they sounded real nice, very musical but it sounded like the Bryston 4B has more slam. I'm puzzled about the Krell though, are they really that cable sensitive? A friend has a KSA -250 and it sounds great. I'm budgeting about $5000. toward an amp and cannot afford expensive cables for quite a while. Also I'm using the Adcom GFP-750 preamp. Has anyone heard the Marsh amps with Maggies? Thanks for all your input.

Give the Sim Audio Moon W5 a listen.

All of the amps you mention are great. Classe is definately smooth, but is a tad laid back. Bryston is super strong, but lacks the rythm and can seem hard edged by comparison. As for Krell you pay a lot for an amp that has neither the refinement of the Classe nor the value of the Bryston. To add to the comments made by others I would deffinately try Sim's W-5. I have found the W-5 to be every bit as good as the Classe in finess, but not as laid back. When compared head to head with Bryston Sim has much better rythm and is more involving. Also, If you like the Sim sound and want more grunt you can always have it converted to a W-10 and purchase a second W-10. While the W-5's and 10's are basically the same amp (bridged) the 10's offer significantly more current 35amps continuous (20 in the W5).