Krell 400xi or Musical Fidelity A5 for ML Summit?

Joeyboynj either your post is stupid, or your are stupid. You decide... I have owned more and better Krell gear than you have and I have not bashed it. Read the reviews I wrote of several pieces.

Krell makes some great gear, but the 400xi is not a good piece. I don't know what Mr D was thinking when they decided this was good enough for the market. Maybe they figured that if people want HT gear they don't care about sound quality.

You are entitled to your opinion, but don't delude yourself into thinking that the 400 is good, or that you know what I have owned or heard...

Bring on your flame thrower!!!

:o

Nrchy, maybe the Krell integrated that you've listened to was the KAV-300i and I can agree it's harsh. The 400XI is a different machine altogether and does not possess that similiar character.

jlevine, I would suggest that you reconsider your options. As others have pointed out, the MF doesn't have balanced connections and may not be a better integrated than the Krell. Personally I am a Krell fan and I would suggest looking at the source too as your MF A5 may be the culprit here. You can look at a used KPS-20i(someone selling here at a great price and nope it's not me). I own the KPS-30i and it's a lovely piece of equipment.

I owned the 300i and hear the new piece is better sounding and a better value.But really different sound.It's up to you.I think MF will be more fogiving and still have resolution .The Krell will have grip on bass that the MF can't touch but it is (as is all thier AB gear) a bit "etched" and metallic.Not sure if your open to other suggestions but why not the Sim integrated?More expensive is Ayre which is what I would want with the summits.The Krell in fact might not match with ML's.Krell sounds TERRIBLE with Maggies and your dealing with a (simmilar) very resolving speaker.So I'd go MF.But see iff used Sim and Ayre are arounf in shops to audition.Hear fantastic things about Edge gear but iut's nose bleed stuff price wise.But Sim Moon might be alternative to MF you'd like and if you could pony up for Ayre (knowing those who have had all Sim and went to Ayre and never looked back) if you hook up the Ayre stuff you'll find the budget and never look back.But each to his own.I know folks who loved Krell with Thiel when that for me is an ear splitting combo from hell.The Krell might be your ticket.I knoiw it's hard to A/B them or get the gear in same room with speakers but that is trully the best way because your tastes are your own.
Cheers
Chazz

I recently purchased the Krell SACD Standard+400xi combo. over the MF A5 combo. The Krell pieces sounded far more dynamic with deeper bass through a number of different Speakers. I agree with others that these Components must be run in balanced mode to sound their best. The 400xi is good on it's own, but really comes to life when paired with the Standard. Plus, in Black look far more impressive than the silver MF Components, plus you get the best Customer Support in the industry through Krell (CT).
No complaints here.

Hoo boy! Thanks everybody for your input, but there seems to be equal eloquence from both sides of the aisle. Hard to draw much of a clear conclusion. Just in case anybody is moved to chime in further, I use MIT cables--I forget which model but a pretty pricey one. I listen to just about everything, but a lot of big orchestral classical music as well as much solo piano and chamber music, plus a fair amount of small-group jazz. The set-up always seemed weakest on the symphonic stuff--somehow missing oomph.