audio reseach ref 3 or krell KTC...?

I never heard Krell KTC but I know some other Krell pre-amps. Audio Research I heard this year in London on the HiFi Show. It was a presentation of about one hour. It played in the Audio Research Ref system with Watt Puppies 8.

Audio Research Ref 3 has these "new" russian 6H30P tubes inside (BAT's Khomenko brought them to the HiFi world) and they sound really neutral. This is one of the reasons why this Audio Research pre-amp is seen as probably something the best that can be bought for money. If you have that kind of cash, you cannot go wrong with this pre-amp.

Krells are good but in slightly different way. Very precise, normally very analytical ... But again - I haven't heard KTC ...

Yes, I had both home and wen't with the Evo 202 as a replacement for my KCT. ARC is amzing and full but still has a tube signature..akin to a Monet' painting! KCT and especially evo 202 is very close but without the tube signature..i.e. slight sense of something between the music and the listener..ever so slight. Can't go wrong with either..matching the system and the cabling is everything however.

Hi Salvo,

I actually have both preamps. The KCT is difficult to beat in an all Krell system using Cast. If you use a different poweramp than Krell the KCT is still good but not as good as with Cast.

The KCT has rythem and speed and sounds open and clear. The ARC however has a liquid mid sound that the Krell does not have. Yet the bass is still good. So it depends on the music for me, for some music I prefer ARC Ref 3 (voices, Jazz) and for some music I prefer KCT (R&B, pop / rock).

With different CD players like Wadia the ARC is better.

Peter

By the way, if you think cast sounds the best...well, maybe you have had a limited experience with high end cablees and equipment...I've done extensive a/b testing with balanced vs cast(including siltech)..cast is average sounding at best. The new evo rig is for advanced musicaly that my FPB/KCT setup sounded hard and thin in comparison. I had the ref 3 as well for awhile...the 202 krell is globaly more lifelike..the ref 3 is audio surrealism!

Additionally, I believe (though I am not 100% sure) that the ARC is a full tubed preamp and does not have coupling capacitors in use for its output. Krell does recommend that if you use a full tubed preamp that you activate the coupling capacitors in your Krell amp for protection for DC signals. Of course, you are now adding these caps into the signal (the only caps in the Krell signal) so this may impact the sound as well of the amplifier.

Just out of curiosity, any krell amp owners running all tubed pre-amps (without coupling capacitors to prevent the passing of possible DC - ie. from the tubes) into their Krell amps? Have you activated the coupling capacitors in your krell amps? If not, any problems? What preamps are you running?