All other active preamps put an edge on sound. They made the bass sound tighter, a good thing since this is the weak part of my system, but the overall sound was not nearly as good as the Adcom Passive Controller or my home-built unit.- Driveway Gates

None so far.

I was reluctant to spend the $2000 just for a preamp, but the name Krell had a reputation, so I bought it from a company going out of business. I hauled it over to my audio buddy's house to compare it to his state of the art equipment. We compared it to all of his high end equipment. It was much better than his Pass Labs and his Conrad Johnson: much clearer, dynamic, and warm. It did sound a little similar to his German super dynamic tube preamp. Sounds dynamic rich, clear and yet realistic. I have had the chance to upgrade several times, but after comparing several prospective new preamps to this old Krell, I have kept the Krell KSL.

After a few years, I have had the preamp's bias adjusted by my local technician which did add extra purity to the sound

Does anyone know a preamp that might better it? I am kind of tired of the black case and would enjoy silver to match the rest of my system.

This thing has no life to it what so ever. It has plenty of detail but how could anyone ever release this and think it was ok? I feel bad for a lot of people who have been let down by this thinking "Its less than a grand and its a krell, Its gotta be awesome"

Its dead quiet and works perfect at 20 years old, But the Hafler 100 I am running that needs to be fixed smokes this thing, Forget about all the other preamps in the house.

Check out older threshold's and the OLD (80's) Krells.

It's warm up with properly standard sound range, not need to think of an adjustment idea for the unit. 2 XRL Inputs when balanced digital source is needed! Krell KSL the way build to last!

None, just to find smt grey for matched system!

Class A preamplifier, solid state sound, pretty cool look. I suppose this unit is best defined to make it a pop-rock preamplifier, tight bass, mid & high range are detailed and mixed in harmonious relations_ Easy to coorporate, suggest some kind of Solid State Amps that produce soft power like tube, & dynamic speaker; Should bring open and smooth transparentness as well as more pas' thru;

Similar Products Used:

Bryston, Classe, Pass Labs, B&W

Very close sounding to a passive controler. Top optional (standard) Phono-Amp.

Remote would be nice.

All other active preamps put an edge on sound. They made the bass sound tighter, a good thing since this is the weak part of my system, but the overall sound was not nearly as good as the Adcom Passive Controller or my home built unit. My unit is the KST-2 with a phono board I purchased used on the net. The best of the other pre-amps was a Conrad Johnson tube unit, but imaging was not as good as the Krell.

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Conrad Johnson, Adcom active and passive, home built passive