May I request for your opinion on this power amp, I am planning to buy a pre-owned one to replace my NAD C272. Do you think there will be a big difference? I will use this amp with Sumo Athena II preamp driving my Dyn 52s.
Actually, my choices are classe CA100 and krell KAV 150A but I bought the krell instead. did I made the right choice? I wont be able to audition them as I am buying it online.
Thanks Jan and Nuck, maybe I made the wrong question on whether there will be differences between NAD and Krell sound, appropriate one would be, how good is this Krell KAV 150A? I read that it's the "baby" of the Krell line...does it have that famous krell bass range? How would you describe the sound from this power amp?
Thanks again Jan and Nuck for your patience.... Hopefully, it'll arrive tomorrow...getting really excited as I have not had a chance to listen to krell sound before...
Now I know what krell sound is(at least)...definite improvement over the NAD as Jan had implied...first thing I noticed is the tight and powerful bass, solid and dynamic, I'm hearing extra details in highs as well that is not there in the NAD, the mids are also very natural and clean especially the voices...Soundstage is good and wider compared to NAD...Also noticed that the sound is better after 30 minutes of playing....
I still need to do more listening sessions, these are only my first impressions/observations...
Worth the extra cash? definitely
my system:
NAD C542 CDP Krell KAV 150A power amp Sumo Athena II preamp Chord Co Chorus IC Merlin Chopin IC Chord Co Carnival Silver plus speaker cables QED Qonduit mains cable for preamp
Good to hear that u are enjoying your new Krell. There isn't too many companies out there that make a better product. You said you picked yours up used? Ebay? Private sale?
Thanks Nick, bought mine from an audio shop in Singapore who sell pre-owned gears....I actually had some problems with the custom taxes, had to call fedex several times and argue but anyway, it's here and it's worth all those hassles....
And my Dynaudio Audience 52s really reveals the improvement brought by the krell power amp...I recall that Frank once said that any improvement in the associated equipment will be clearly revealed by dyn 52s...
Thanks J. Jarvis, we all know that it's not as easy as it seems to reach satisfaction in this hobby of ours, I went through a lot of mistakes with a lot of money involve plus the countless times of trying to get wife's precious approval, it's not easy really...but now I can say that i'm through with the wild goose chase for now and am determined to concentrate on listening....
Arien, what other kind(s) of power amps have you used other then the Krell and NAD, and which amp, other then the Krell did you like the best? Just curious.
first time, I bought a china made hybrid tube amp called soundstage 1.5 together with china made speakers(pyramid), the amp put out 30 watts, was happy and then the itch struck I sold it cheap and traded the speaker with Kef cresta 10 and bought NAD C352, was happy for a few months then read that C352 match well with PSB speakers so I traded my kef with PSB Image B25s, it was good match indeed but one day, saw a dynaudio Audience 52s on second hand market, tempted and bought it, later on I felt that the C352 is not doing justice to the dyn 52s, I borrowed a NAD C272 power amp and used my C352 as pre, it was okay but i thought i need a dedicated preamp so borrowed a friend's sumo athena II and he also let me test his Arcam 290P, I like the arcam, it was very dynamic compared to NAD C272 but fatiguing sometimes, still prefer the warm sound of the C272 and the power, the tight powerful bass and the almost perfect mids, so i realized that I need to find another power amp with the power like the C272 and the dynamics of the Arcam and now the krell gives me that...
Also had a chance to listen to NAD C270 with EAR 834L preamp, the densen beat-110 was really good as well but quite expensive...
along with these experiences is the hardship of selling old gears, negotiating with audio shops for a reasonable trade-in price plus tons of efforts convincing the wife...
and oh the cables/ICs, mains, isonodes is another storyall these happened in less than a year!
LOL right on. Sounds like a blast. Im happy with my NAD gear for now. Once I buy the new home and get moved in I will probably get the upgrade bug as well.
Hi, just wanted to update, I've used the balanced connection from the athena II preamp to KAV 150a and I'm surprised at the improvement, of course, there's the 6db gain as expected, I also used the direct mode of the athena II, it somewhat made the sound more detailed, precise...the dyn 52s continues to deliver...
btw, is there any disadvantage in using XLR over the single-ended RCA? I've attended the KL international AV show and noticed that majority are using RCA....and majority are selling RCA...
If the Krell employs a true differential circuit there is no disadvantage to using balanced operation. You can try the single ended inputs but I suspect you'll prefer the balanced lines.
Place "differential circuit" in a search engine, it will be far faster than me explaining it. The alternative is a transformer coupled circuit. The disadvantage to a transformer is the circuit is not truly balanced but reverts to single ended internal to the equipment. This is a cheap way to go about the balanced/unbalanced situation and should be regarded as a "semi-balanced" circuit at best. You will likely hear no difference or a slight improvement with the unbalanced connection when the manufacturer uses transformer coupled balancing. You want to stick with differential circuits whenever possible.
