I had this amp for many years and I finally had it recapped by Krell.I played 150watt legacy speakers with this amp at least 600 watts into 4ohm speaker.It was breathtaking and did not clip.these are180lbs with alot of circuity .I now have whisper speakers that I'm trying out soon just wanted to justify buying this amp.The highs and mids and the butt kicking base.I have it in a dedicated home theater trying to use a 5.1 channel and a 2.1 in the same room.Or 2.0

I'd like to start off by saying that at this time, high end stereo shops are going the way of the dinosaurs. Let alone quality second-hand shops that used to be available to go and try out the past greats. Which leaves us to forums like this that hopefully help to give us a little help to find what we are looking for.
No, my search actually started out with me blowing my speakers(Avalon's) because of an unruly tube preamp whose mute switch crossed paths with a few beers. I normally would use my ARC vtm100's, but was trying an older solid state unit, which was not as forgiving with the DC voltage sent by the preamp. So, I started looking for a new set of speakers to match my system. Which I'm still working on after two years, and four sets of speakers!
I've grown to realize that I cannot live without a three way design with a large dome midrange driver. I'm completely unimpressed with the slew of modern cone midranges that end up sounding dry and woody(like b&w, wilson, vienna, etc.). I like the liquidity and dispersion that only domes can attain. Makes a Steinway sound like a Steinway. But there is a big problem with this type of speaker. They are horribly inefficient and require lots of power to get them going. Sure, my vtm's can make them sound good, but after hearing the same set of Avalons with a massive Boulder amplifier, I had to rethink my philosophy on amplifiers. This type of speaker will not show its potential until the whip gets cracked. It's like my ARC's were fighting to control the speakers, and were not winning the battle. Of course I wanted to find a high powered tube amp, but my yearly budget for retubeing was already strained past imagination. The VTM600's will have to wait for a lottery win.
So, I was looking for speakers, reading lots of reviews on the type of speaker I was looking for. My new room size making it a little tougher, downsized a bit. The reviews usually make note of how this tube amp is great, and this ones even better, and my reference amp is- bla bla bla. But there seemed to be a theme that kept coming up. It usually started off by saying something like "we then took our reference amplifier out and brought in the big Krell to see how they would match up", and then it would usually end with "but these speakers really sounded the best with the Krell".
I have had a lot of pricey amplifiers( twenty or so..), and even more inexpensive ones, but the only Krell I've had was a KSA-100 way back when. And it was replaced with a Classe 15 that blew it away. In fact the Classe was in one of my systems for almost 15 years! And always sounded great. But then I got the tube bug again.....So, I started looking at Krell's again. Only one requirement. Had to have single-ended inputs from my absolutely fabulous preamp. No, that's a problem with Krell and Levinson. Who like to make their own inputs now, so people would buy their mediocre preamps. Nothing pisses me off more than proprietary designs like camac and cast. Stick to what you are good at and let us decide.
So, the latest power amps that had rca's were the fpb's. Started looking, tried out a few in my house. from the 200's to even a set 0f 650mc's with single-ended adapters. Now that big pair really woke up the room. Still mighty expensive for an old pair of amps(12K), but the smaller krells weren't much of an upgrade from my ARC's. The 300 was available and good, and I was seriously pondering one for around 3k, which I thought should have been closer to 2500 to make it a good deal fro an amp that old. Then I came across a 600 on the net across the country for 4k(much better deal), and the guy worked for a shipping company that crated and shipped it for another 200. even better!
As to the sound, I was dumbfounded! I was impressed with the 650's but, I actually think the 600 disappears much better. My new Silverlines(not for much longer) aren't happy, they thought they would be in charge of the sound. They were so proud until the big Krell took over. No they just flat out deliver, they aren't allowed to make excuses. Kind of like going from a little league football coach to a marine drill sargeant . Imaging to die for. Best purchase I have ever made(except for the preamp)! It might be a piece that you will never be able to upgrade from without dropping 30k. Cheers

If you like rock I don't know a better amp then this one. I love this amp. I use it for my main speakers which are legacy signiture 2's. You do need a 30amp fuse and 10 gauge wire .Your electrician will tell you that you don't need it.Believe me you do. Great sounding in high or low volume. It sounds like the band is in the room with you.You can get one on ebay for about 5000 which is more then half off. The original price was (12000.00) Great for movies sound like the room is blowing up terminator true lies etc. Buy this amp unbelievable bas

Everything !

Weight and looks ( not the most modern design )

Even taking the age of this amp in to consideration, I am truley amased about what it can do. Power with out limit, but still a very suttle and smoth soundstage. Now I am looking for a set of speakers that will match.

I have tried othe high end amps, but newer one that pleases me in so many ways as the 600. Again the suttlenes is amasing. You stop listening to your system and instead you let yourself float in to the music. And that is what a nice amp is supposed to deliver in my oppinion.

So all in all................. go get one !

Similar Products Used:

Krell KSA 100S, Krell KSA 200S, ML 333 ( arghhh !!!! ) Never again.....

EVERYTHING!

Come on, Weak? There is NOTHING weak about this amplifier. LOL

I am going to make this a short and sweet review. This amplifier is the BEST amplifier hands down. To get the best sound possible out of this puppy you will need a dedicated 30 to 50 amp circuit breaker using 10 gauge wiring along with proper grounding. Forget about using an outlet that is shared with half the house. This puppy needs power to give power! You will hear what this amplifier can do if wired to a dedicated outlet. Thanks to Krell and my electrician for hooking me up with great power and sound! You will never catch upgrade fever if you own one of these.

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McIntosh Mono block 1201's

Transparency, clarity, power.

None found yet.

First of all, it would be nice to eliminate the reviews that are obviously not valid, those who have a chip on their shoulder. These reviews just detract from the purpose of this site, but then they are also easily ignored by those who are knowledgeable and have real information to share.

About the Krell FPB-600c, for me and my system there is nothing sweeter. Some of the amplifiers I auditioned did not begin to sound good until they were driven others did not have the imaging or clarity I was looking for. Not so with this Krell. At low, medium and high levels it produced life like music, excellent imaging and clarity for a wide range of music. One note, it did take several weeks to break in, something even my wife notice a big change in after the second week. I have to agree with the other reviews, the Krell is very musical, clear and detailed with a sound stage that immerses you in the music. I am discovering my music collection all over in a way I have only dreamed of up till now! :-)

I auditioned many other amplifiers in this price/performance range, some above and some below. I was lucky enough to be able to listen to these in my system and in my room and spent about 1-week listening to each amplifier I auditioned. In this price range, this is one component that should be seriously considered, provided the rest of your system is up to it, not to mention your back!

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson, Conrad Johnson, Balanced Auduio Tech, Classe'

Smooth, detailed, deep bass

Serious two man lift

I have always listened to a tube amp, but wanted more bass. I auditioned numerous solid state amps (Levinson, Krell FPB 300, Pass and others) and they sounded great with loads of bass. However, they were not as smooth and liquid as tubes, which is what I like. I finally auditioned the FPB 600 and bought one. I have been listening to it for a year and haven't missed my tube amp since. It is detailed, smooth, enjoyable, and has unbelievable bass.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Research

Laid back, effortless, powerful, extremely low distortion, extremely quick transients, dynamic

protection cct is not very good....it doesn't stop the amp from destroying itself. It is coloured this amp has its own sonic signature...i don't feel that this is a bad thing however.

Very, very clean amp with tons of power. Due to the power the music is not strained and seems like its just there. effortless is the word to describe this amp. It has a laid back presentation but has an extended clean treble....This is very unusual due to the fact that most amps that are laid-back actually lack treble but for the fpb600 this isn't the case. while being laid-back the transient attack is incredible it can get dynamic and loud extremely quickly. Control is another key word that is excellent to describe the fpb600. Not only does it control the bass and mid/bass but seems to also control the whole audio spectrum.
Also the amps sounds extremely good at low, medium and loud volumes this has not been the case with other amps i have tried they usually fail the low level and high listening level tests.

Similar Products Used:

bat500 however not very similar because the bat sounded one dimensional, distorted, noisey, harsh, up front, limited soundstage width and depth.
As far as tubes amps the KR VT6000 has slightly better depth and width more layering and bloom...but has no treble extension, is highly distorted, has no bass, is not clean and is extremely coloured compared to the Krell.

great bass

laid back yet analytical-not as bad as Levinson

Well this is one of Sig. D'Agostinos (bella) better amps, but it's still too high priced for what it does. You wanna a real high-price amp that is musical and accurate? FM Acoustics! Sorry, nothing comes close (and it should at those Swiss Miss prices). But the Krell is pretty solid, it's just doesn't allow you to "break on through to the other side" like I want it too. But if you want a lot of bass and not much else, this is the one for you. If only D'Agostino would swallow his Paisano pride and offer this at under $1,000, it would sell like hotcakes to the bass-crazy American public. I would recommend this as a subwoofer amp and see if you can set off the Richter scale; you just might. This Krell is also very well built, but why so big and heavy? It also must be said that if you are going to choose between Krell and the high-priced mid-fi from Madrigal, please go with the Krell. Compared with Levinson it is DYN-O-MIIITE!!!

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none

Sound quality,immense power,suberb built quality.Simply efortless power amp that will drive any speakers in the world with ease.

Not the cheapest two channel amp,"reviewers" like Bob who should throw themselves out the window.How about it Bob?

For anyone who is looking seriously to get an amp of this caliber dont listen to frustrated peeps who dont have a clue what they are barking about(Bob is a perfect example).

This glorious power amp will provide years of pure muisc if matched with proper preamps and speakers.Even interconects play a role in the final result here.

I use this amp with the Audio Research LS25, and Dynaudio Contour 3.3 speakers.The result is PURE MUSIC.

I will not sell the amp anytime soon,I would only go for a larger Krell.The larger Krells are out of my range,even the FPB600 I had to stretch my budget way over the original limit.Still I am very pleased with the sound and built quality.I recomend this amp with no reservations,PRICE and WEIGHT may be two.

TheEAR(s) Now theears

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Celsete MOON W5,Classe 400,Krell KAS200,ATI 2505(much cheaper 5 channel amp),PassAleph(various) and more