Powerful,Build Quality,Flexible set-up

Needs to be broken in a long time

When I first hooked this amp up to my system I was afraid I had made an expensive mistake. It sounded harsh and extremly analytical. I was hoping the sound would improve with use(I never really believed the myth of breaking in components). After about a week it just transformed itself into a terrific amp. The harshness is gone and the details have been smoothed out. One has to break this amp in before you can appreciate how great this amp really sounds. It's a totally different sound than when I first heard it at home. I dont regret my choice and I expect to pick up the 2 channel version in order to enjoy Krell 5 Channel.
Highly recommended!!!! (must be broken in to appreciate).

Equpt.
Krell HTS
Martin Logan SL3,Martin Logan Logos
B&W sub
Defintive Tech. BP10x surrounds
Outlaw 750 amp
Krell 250a/3

Similar Products Used:

BAT solid state, ATI 1505, Outlaw 750

Excellent control (in my implementation). Very linear power delivery. Good power deliver into varying load. High current.

none observed in my implementation

In my implementation, utilizing the 250A as power for the subwoofer section of Apogee studioGrands, I am extremely pleased with its performance. The sub-bass is tight, full, accurate and well-controlled which is important to me given the 'fast' nature of the ribbon drivers as matched against the cone subs.
I have yet to try the amp driving the top section (and probably won't) so I cannot comment as to detail in highs/mids, etc.

Similar Products Used:

Krell, SAE, Adcom, Threshold, etc.

Huge soundstage, warm and passionate, power to spare

Distintive Color added to music, not necessarily a negative for some.

Checked out a lot of revies on both amps. I will leave the technical albeit useful revies to the mags.

I gave in to all the Krell hype and it's rave reviews and auditioned the Krell first. It sounded good, clean and clinical. Good punch. Very tight. Compact soundstage. Not worth $3200

Now the Mc352. Same reference CD's(started with Kind of Blue). I was shocked. The music came alive. The horns jumped out at me. Wide and deeper soundstage. Warm and passionate. I did not care anymore about the whole concept of faithfully reproducing the source with clinical precision, a la Krell. Each CD is as useless as a solitary word unless used in some kind of context. The Mac does just that. Creates an environment to give music life and character.
Do not take my word, go and listen and compare!!!

Similar Products Used:

KAV 250a

Very cool look, Brand Reputation

Overprice, Amp gets really warm( somehow quite hot) fast

I'd bought this amp with the Krell's KRC-3 preamp about 5 months ago, and since then I've been regret my decision. The Krell's 250a and KRC-3 is not sound as good as I first auditioned at the store( not even close). I have the same setup similar to my dealer: the Krell's amp and pre-amp, B&W 802 S3, Meridian 508.24, and Cardas interconnect; however, the only thing that is different is speaker cable: I used Kimble 8TC but the dealer used Yamamura. Bottom-Line about this amp: I will trade-in

Good image and control sound

a bit over price, Mucsical fidelity is $1000 cheaper and better sound in some ways.

Before buying this model i suggest to try xa-200 first. It got better focus midband and slightly warmer sound but krell has little more detail and clearler on high, However, for me it cheaper and it better to spend $1000 on others. After listen krell about 2 weeks, I realise that XA-200 has much better value compare to krell. And better news musical fidelity got a new model A3cr which alittle less power but even better sound than xa-200 and the price still at $1500.

Similar Products Used:

Musical fidelity xa-200

I auditioned the Krell 250 along with an Ayre V-3 and found that going from the Krell to the Ayre was like going from black and white to color. The Ayre imaged musc better and had a jump factor and musicality that the Krell lacked. I like the V-3 so much, I bought it. 4 stars for the Krell 250, 5 for the Ayre V-3!

Power, deep bass

Imaging, detail

I auditioned this im my home, along with the Proceed and the Bel Canto to replace my Acurus. Although it gave more bass and slam than the other amps, its imaging and resolution were closer to my Acurus at 1/3 the price than to the others which were similar in price. The BelCAnto and especially the Proceed blew the Krell away. I just didn't find the Krell musical in the least with my system- Proceed front end and Talon Khorus speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Proceed HPA-2, Bel Canto Evo2, Acurus 200

None

Bright and edgy, over priced, unreliable, over priced again

I had been running an Aragon 4004MKII on Apogee Stages. I then added the matching subwoofers and DAX. This required a an additional amp so I pulled a NAD 2200 PE out of the closet and ran this way for a while. Wanting to upgrade I purchased the Krell and moved the Aragon to the subs. The Krell bested the Aragon by only a little in each area but cost a lot more. (Aragon was $1875 new). After 3.5 years the Krell broke and is now at the factory for warranty repair. I was told the turn around time is 4-5 weeks at the shop. It also took 11 days for FedEx to deliver it even though they told me five working days when I took it directly to FedEx. If the shipment back to me takes that long I will be without the amp for two months. That is not why I paid extra for Krell. The amp does not sound anything special and was not reliable. Warranty service is too slow. Guess there are a lot of broken Krells out there. I will never buy another over priced Krell product.

Similar Products Used:

Aragon 4004MKII

AMP DISAPPEARS INTO THE BACKGROUND. GREAT CLARITY. TRUE TYPE "A" POWER AND IT SHOWS.

NONE

AMP DISAPPEARS INTO THE BACKGROUND. GREAT CLARITY. TRUE TYPE "A" POWER AND IT SHOWS.

Similar Products Used:

ADCOM 5503

Ability to play transients, bass slam

? Dependibility; heat production

Got my Krell KAV-250a as a close-out special thru the internet. I had been out of the audiophile world since college and waiting for my kids to get older as to not destroy any new additions. Using an ancient set of Polk Audio speakers, the Krell made a unbelievable difference. Unfortunately the power handling capacity of the old speakers was too low and the Krell fried one of the tweeters. No problem. New B&W Nautilus 802's. The system now plays audiophile quality CDs in a startling real fashion, especially vocals. Power and bass to burn. The problem is with more typical CD's, older or pop material.
The B&W's become shrill and fatiguing and at low or moderate volume levels, the bass is thin. I am looking at changing wires/connects first. More worrisome is that this 3 month old amp has started making an intermittent, very audible hum. This occurs shortly after powering on and can last for several hours. Have been leaving the amp on all the time, which has so far stopped the hum, but heats the audio cabinet too much. I suspect amp failure may be down the road. Will post an update.

Adcom GFP-565 pre-amp
Rotel RCD-975 cd player
B&W Nautilus 802 speakers
Tara labs interconnects
Monster cable Z-1 speaker wire (yeah, I know, I know)

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Proton 1200