Krell KSA-250 Amplifiers
Krell KSA-250 Amplifiers
USER REVIEWS
[Mar 29, 2003]
Igor
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Bass control, soundstage, dynamic range, effortless musicality, build quality.
Weakness:
none musically, weight, heat, I leave mine on all the time Have been running this amp now for four years bought it used in 1999 for $3100, great control of bass, sweet midrange, smooth highs, and rock solid soundstage, feels like this amp has unlimited dynamic range. I am powering a new pair of B&W N805's with this amp, and a CJ tube preamp. Before the B&W's it was powering an old pair of Snell's I bought new in 1990. I have played both the Snell's and my new B&W's with my friends ML amp and we both agreed the Krell does a better job on both of the speakers. Krell makes awesome amps, with excellent build quality, I will never sell this amp!! Similar Products Used: Up until I bought this in 1999 I used a old B&K EX442 dual mono amp I bought new in 1990 (a great amp, but not a Krell!!) |
[Jun 23, 2000]
Jean Pascal
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
transparency, beautiful bass, handles the speakers
Weakness:
weight (70 kg) and heat I bought a second hand KSA250 balanced last year. |
[Jul 24, 2000]
Joe Kovacs
Audiophile
Strength:
contolling of speaker, power, dynamic range, authenticity at all levels and frequencies
Weakness:
none I have never listened to an amplifier that is able to reproduce music with such an authenticity and give the listener a live feeling of the performance. All this at any sound level. Me myself I own a Steinway concert piano and therefore I know how a realistic music reproduction should sound like. I can recommend this Amplifier |
[Jan 30, 2000]
Nick
Audiophile
Strength:
Built Quality,Sound Quality,Drives any speakerload
Weakness:
huge heat dissipation I am using my KSA-250 for over 5 years now alongside several other high-end power amp's. It sounds very much in the Krell tradition with top to bottem coherence, extremely deep, tight, clean, punchy and organized bass, natural, clean and coherent midrange, very lush, open and detailed high's.The soundstage is extremely big with pin point imaging and is in this respect more like the best tube power amp you can imagine.It takes the KSA-250 about an hour after power up to sound optimal.The heat dissipation is enormous and must really been taken into account in smaller rooms.The KSA-150 creats much less of a problem in this respect, really a big difference, much more than you would expect from the power ratings. Because of the very neutral character of the KSA-250 you can steer the sound any way you like with your front-end stuff.With the Krell KBL it sounds very quick, transparant, dynamic and honest.With the Cello Encore the sonic signature is slightly more coloured but still very neutral, transparant and spacious.With a Jeff Rowland Consummate the presentation is softened and a bit euphonic.Because of the enormous transparancy of Krell amplifiers, and the KSA-250 is no exception, system matching is very critical.The coloration in particulairy the higher bass octaves of a Sony ES player, overipe bass of a Mark Levinson 38S or the poor resolution of the lower high's in many Audio Research preamplifiers is easily displayed by the KSA-250.I have tried many cables, if not all, on the Krell and can give the following reconmendations:LS Cable:Try Kimber Black Pearl, Transparant Music Wave Ultra/ Reference/Reference XL, Fadel Art The Stream - IC CD/pre-power amp Try Siltech FTM-G3 (not the older Siltech's!), Fadel Art Reference One, Audioquest, NBS King Serpent - Powercable Try standard Belden cable, MAS |
[Jun 23, 2000]
Sam Sneed
Audiophile
Strength:
Rock solid Bass, sweet tube like mids and highs.
Weakness:
Its so powerfull i'm afraid it may shatter every window in the house! I almost wasted a lot of money on A Krell FPB 300 before my local dealer suggested I listen to a KSA-250 he had taken in on trade. Side by side the KSA 250 sounded more musical to my ears. The bass was a little tighted and the highs were to die for. Plus for only $4300 it was a steal and nearly half the price of the FPB300. I have now had the KSA 250 in my system for over a year and have no intensions of ever replacing it(why mess with perfection). My Martin Logans have never sounded so good. I Highly recommend any one looking for a FPB300 to check this one out first, you will be glad you did. Similar Products Used: Krell FPB 300 and 600 |