Pre-AMP to Match a KRELL KSA-250s

Halo there, I have Krell KSA-150 with Krell KBL Preamp. I use DENON DCD-3500RG CD Player. All with ballance XLR support. I connected them with full ballance (XLR) for 1 full day, the sound stage is not as good as single ended (RCA) connection. I also have a Spectral MS One (old) preamp, I connected the Spectral preamp with Krell KSA-150, wow.. a lot of improvement. My sugestion is find a Spectral preamp, it sounds very good & your Krell will be more powerful. Just FYI Krell KSA-150 & KSA-250 is not fully balanced power amplifier. That's why Krell produced MDA-500, which is KSA-250 fully balance Power Amplifier. For full balance (XLR) connection KSA-250 will be a mono amplifier. If you have just one Krell KSA-250, single ended (RCA) connection will sound better, more focus, more resolution.

Heriman, I disagree. I owned a Krell KSA 250 for many years using balanced interconnects. The sound was much fuller and louder through the balanced compared to the RCA. Perhaps your cables were not fully balanced.

Using a Krell preamp from the same vintage as the KSA 250 makes sense to me. They were probably voiced together at that time.

I agree Ozzy. Sounds like his interconnects were not the same when he compared RCA to XLR. Balanced should sound better or be quieter. Something doesn't add up???

"...I am considering a AR LS-26 or less expensive AYRE K-3 or K-1 but don’t want to lose any punchy bass"

The best bass belongs to Jouole-Elctra LA-150 preamplifier. Go to their web site and read Harry Pearson review.
Plus - long life tubes : 5-10 years.

Most interesting: at CES 2009, they deputed $15k flagship LA-300ME but a few weeks ago they introduced LA-150 Signature which has a lot of LA-300 technology but only about three times cheaper. Propably the best performance/value preamplifier today.

Disclaimer: I got recently LA-300ME and I think its the best in the world preamp - do search for owners review - and I owned and/or auditioned CAT, BAT (REX), ARC (Ref3) etc

All The Best
Rafael

FYI-
A direct quote from page 3 in the KSA-150/250 owners manual.
http://www.krellonline.com/archive_pdfs/KSA150-250/KSA150250_MAN.pdf

"Krell is committed to balanced operation in all products. Balanced systems have
long been standard in professional audio applications and the same advantages
apply to home audio equipment. There is a 6dB increase in gain without an
increase in noise and there is a decrease in overall system noise caused by stray
AC and RF fields. Sonic performance is drastically improved, particularly in
dynamic and soundstage presentation."

That being said, my two most favorite pre's with these amps where the KSP-7b (sorry I sold it) and the KBL but neither fit your criteria as they did not have remote. The next best and similar performer was the KRC-3....ahh, with remote now.