Initial public exposure of the Krell phenomenon in the 80's was often in the context of driving early design Wilson loudspeakers at trade shows. This unfortunately led some to believe that Krell was "all about bass yet hard sounding".
This is pure fallacy. Case point is my second hand FPB 300 driving 801 s2's. Best setup I've had and equally the best I've heard. Purity, air, holographic images, and a low level reverb and image height in some recordings that makes it sound like you're in some massive cathedral. No other amp I've owned comes close. Dan D'Agostino is the way to go.

My system consists of a Wadia 16 cd player, a Krell FPB 300 and B&W 801 speakers.
I just recently bought the B@W speakers on the second hand market, I had a set years ago (in a somewhat different configuration), but replaced them to improve overall performance.
This appeared a mistake I began to miss the attack and the deep bass of the 801's.
The 801's are often critizied because of its uncontrolled and over emphazid bass. However I discovered that this is not a problem of the speakers but is a recording problem. For instance playing cd's recorded by Cheszky there is no problem at all.
The FPB 300 is a great amplifier and when I once in a while organize listening sessions for audiophile friends they are honestly impressed.
What I like about the configuration is also the fact that volume control is in the digital domain, where "you" are in complete control. Critics are mainly analogue freeks who don't understand the digital domain.
I think you can buy the complete set second hand for around € 7.500,- maybe a little more.
And I challenge anyone to come up with a new system under € 40.000,- that outperformances this configuration.

less character now.It just give you music.Opening it, shows the best of krell in modular design.Component circuit implementation is clean and the design of power-amp final stage is over-kill,reliable in nature!

weight and unsubstantial power supply capacitor filter design.

Hi,
I've been using this FPB300 amp,then day came it needs a repair.Opening my amplifier(not recommended),those filter capacitors in the power supply section makes its due,also affecting some particular integrated circuits inside.Looking for capacitor replacement made me re-reading all my hifi magazine about Krell amplifier which leads me to FPB600 using Panasonic brand electrolytic capacitors.Luckily,its big but has the same capacitance value also with higher voltage rating and still has space(they got the same control board based on FPB600 written on it) to use it for my FPB300 for which i did.After the first note..c'mon..after the song ends...those common comment of having dark sound has banished and swear to all Krell user,the power presentation is now better in terms of effortless in nature.Unlike before where you can still feel that it tries to breathe and its just can't make it.Now i got the FPB600 character somehow after the capacitor modifications. Warning:this comment is all about my experience with the sound after the capacitor modifications and not to encourage you to do it.

Customer Service

Superb help from Mr. Patrick Bresnahan(Thanks.)

Similar Products Used:

kav300i
fpb600

Power, open smooth...

????

I bought this amp. a year ago. For me it is the best i ever heard. The combination with the Ml 390s and Vienna Acoustic Mahler is a good one !

Similar Products Used:

Duson, Jeff Rowland, Mark Levinson

This amp is slightly expensive but very wonderful sounding. High is smooth, midrange is very faithful, and bass is tight and thick, above all it's soundstage is very good. I have compared it with another amp for a long time, Levison, Cello, Bat, Pass Labs, etc. Levinson is rigid in high, Collo is not warm, Bat is inferior in resolution, and Pass Labs fail to be dynamic. After all, I give it 5 stars, but anothers 4 stars.

At last! One Amplifier that matches the Apogee Major! Coupled with the Krell 20I CD player and a Krell KRC-3 pre-amp, hot damn, I can actually 'see' the sounds'. Enough said.

Never seems to run out of power, dynamic, very deeeep and well defined bass, smooth mids, open, but somewhat laid back sounding, good detail and control across the spectrum

Compared to ML336 doesn't image/soundstage as well, gets the big picture right, but comes up a little short on inner detail, at 10K price is high, runs very hot, balanced or CAST connection almost mandatory to achieve potential

I recently auditioned the FPB300 at home, driving my Thiel CS7.2s. In terms of control, bass, power, detail, and full bodied sound the FPB300 is superior to my current Bryston 7Bs, as it should be for 10K. However, the soundstage was just above average, slightly better then my 7Bs, but I could still sense some sounds comming directly from the big Thiels, unlike the total separation of the soundstage that the ML 336 gave me. I also thought that the FPB300 favored the larger events in a recording, more of the big picture. By comparison the ML 336 is a champion at portraying layers of inner detail (possibly at the expense of being a little less open sounding then the Krell). The bass of the Krell with my 7.2s, while very deep, was a little over damped. Both are very good SS amps, and it will come down to sound preferences, system matching, and price. There are other amps I would like to audition (Classe CAM 350/CA 401, MC602, etc.), but if I had to choose now, it would be the ML 336.

Similar Products Used:

ML 336, Bryston 7Bs, other good, but less expensive amps

Referring to review given by Mr. Francesco Donnarumma dated 1/29/99, I have exactly the same problem with FPB300c on reliability issue. FPB300c has the best sound which i'm really happy with, especially when mixing with Levinson front end and Martin Logan SL3.

However, I keep having problem with this 300C unit. On the first one, during the burn-in period, it suddenly stop with some smoke coming out of the unit... I was totally shock! I have strictly practice what the maual has instructed but it just shut down and burned.

My dealer has been very helpfull in replacing the new one but being in Thailand doesn't help much... I have to wait several one before the new one arrived. Again during the burn-in period, the right side of Martin SL3 fail. After the repair by dealer by changing the microprocessor, i have a chance to listen to it just within a day. The RHS of Martin SL3 again went soundless. The problem keep persisting, it doesn't stop!!!! I really love how my system sound with Krell driving it but this is too annoying!!!

It is like a performance car always sitting in the garage getting fixed instead of you being able to enjoy it! period!!!
system :
Mark Levinson No. 39
Mark Levinson 380
Krell FPB 300C
Martin Logan SL3
Nordost SPM, Quartro Fill, MIT 750 Biwire

to many to list but you get the piture right its a work of art!

ha ha ha ha ha ,ho ho ho ho i havent found any yet , oh it,s a heavey pig that heats up my room when i play music loud, thats it!

Its a very strong,strong,strong amp there are many words to describe it but the are all along the lines of strong powerful and so on and so forth ,but it just sounds so great if it was a person, it would be that person that you can get enough of ,a real lover, it holds my attention for hours, it is a god, amoung men ,it is one of the true great bench mark amp it shall be so for many years or until they can use some exotic new power source,
That will make the krell look like a old steam engine
wheres my spade?

Similar Products Used:

i use 5 NAD silverlines S200 for my av set up they are also great sounding amps

stereo focus, power, soundstage, bass drive, price per kilogram.

weight.... don't try to lift one on your own. The metal remote is a bit tacky and over-engineered.

I have a stable set-up of:
Meridian 506 CD player,
Krell KRC III pre amp,
FBP 300 power amp
Wilson Benesch Act 1 Loudspeakers
Transparent Music Wave interconnects & speaker cables.

The whole system sounds just great, looks just great, keeps the room fairly warm (but the amp does not run "hot" considering it is class A), works well together, and I ain't heard any better combination. I won't even be looking for anything else or walk into a hifi shop for around another year or two.... no constant stream of upgrades for me.

Some would criticise the CD player as being too "cheap" but hey, I like it. Meridian is often described as "musical" and I listened to an aweful lot of comparable systems such as Linn, Naim, Audiolab, Wadia etc. before buying it 5 years ago. I've never looked back since.

The pre-amp doesn't seem to do much at all, which is fine by me. Just like a piece of cable with a volume control and a remote really.

The power amp has just bags of power to spare, and everything is just so much more involving after listening to alternatives when I was looking to buy. Can't believe anyone gave this a one out of five (but then again they didn't live with it for several weeks at home did they?)

I tried several other big amps at home before buying.

Nothing else even came close to being able to fully drive the Wilson Benesch Act ones. I guess they are a difficult 6 ohm load due to the lack of any significant crossover, carbon fiber cones, carbon fiber cabinet without any damping, and silver wiring.

Nothing this expensive can be worth a five out of five for value. Value in hi-fi stops at around five hundred dollars.... IMHO invite your normal friends round one evening and play "guess the hi-fi price" with some of this esoteric stuff. Then you'll see what I mean.

So in summary I don't get all moist about components, but the system gives me great listening pleasure, which is what it is all about at the end of the day. So I can thoroughly recommend this for like minded folks who like to listen to music. It probably isn't for real audiophile folks who wouldn't be satisifed even if the band turned up and played acoustic sets in their living room every evening, because there aren't any knobs or upgrades or adjustments to make. Coem to think of it I can't recommend this to those on any sort of a budget either.