Krell EVO 302 or 302e

Your Pass is a pure Class A amplifier and the Krell is not. Since your speakers are not so power hungry, I would think your pass would be hard to beat. I have heard the Krell 402e and it is a very, very good amplifier. I just bought the smaller, and much less expensive, Krell S-275 because it sounded similar to the 402e. My dealer, who carries the Krells has said that the 302e is a fantastic amp. Based on what I have heard of the Evo series, I would have to say that the 302e would be a great amp in any system.

Again, the fact is that your pure Class A Pass may be really tough act to follow….Hopefully you can do some auditioning.

Let us know what you find out.

_Ben

I own the XA160.5's and was considering the Krell 402 before choosing the Pass. I agree that the Krells are quite good. Not as warm as the Pass, but very transparent and with vibrant color in the midrange. I have only heard them with Focal beryllium models, and this seems like a good pairing IMO. You shouldn't have to travel too far to hear one.

More power is an advantage even with un-power hungry speakers.

I have heard the Krell Evo 402 directly A-B'd to the 402e and the improvement with the 'e' model was immediately evident to all in the room, more open and cleaner, smoother and more natural top end, a significant improvement. FWIW from several long conversations with Dan and Brett D'Agostino the more power the amps have in the Evo line the better they sound, before leaving/getting kicked out of Krell, Dan was working on a two chassis 1,800 Watt Evo amp....

When you buy Krell, go big!