Compared to seperates up to $6000. The music sounded...."quicker" on the Krell. I finally understood what reviewers met by "timing" and "rythym." Needless to say I bought one, along with the Krell CD player, and have constantly been amazed at what emerges from my system. One word of advice; I used to use MIT cables, and thought it was a good match. It was. But I switched to Transparent Cables, and it was simply a superior set-up to my ears. Wish there was a 6-star rating option!

I have owned the 300i for more than a year and have been extremely happy with the unit. I have been watching dvds in stereo instead of surround sound, and felt I was missing something. I upgraded my Spica Angelus speakers to B & W Nautilus 804s and purchased the HTM2 center channel speaker. I moved the Spicas to cover the rear channels. I then bought a Yamaha Dolby Digital/DTS receiver with pre-outs for the main speakers, and took advantage of the Krell's Theater Throughput feature. When using the Theater Throughput, the Krell powers the 2 main speakers, and the Yamaha powers the center channel and the rear speakers. I now can enjoy Dolby Digital on dvds, and still be able to use the Krell alone for music. I almost bought the Vantas unit to upgrade to Dolby Digital, but DTS is still not available with the Vantas. With the Yamaha receiver, in addition to Dolby Digital/DTS, I have a tuner and a phono input. Also, Yamaha has a great track record for reliability, and Vantas is still an unproven product.
Dolby Digital on dvds sound great. The Yamaha does not have to work too hard, with the Krell powering the 804 speakers.

GREAT SOUNDSTAGING,NEUTRAL SOUND AND POWERFUL BASS.

JUST TOO GOOD!!

FIRST TO ALL DISSATISFIED REVIEWERS GET A TOP NOTCH HI-END STUFF TO RUN WITH THIS 'MINI' KRELL.AFTERWHICH, ALL OF YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH IT.THIS KRELL COULD KNOCK-OFF ANY EXPENSIVE SEPARATES ANYTIME.YBA WAS VERY CLOSED TO KRELL BUT ONLY LOST IN TERM OF THE BASS.A SUPERTEST WINNER INDEED!!

PS:NICE TO HAVE MALE FRELL TO CONNECT TO IT.

Similar Products Used:

YBA INTEGRE DT

Superb soundstaging, clarity, bass

None

Excellent amplifier. Really comes to life if coupled with KAV150 to control the bass even better. This amplifier is very cable dependant. If in UK try Ecosse.
Audio enthusiast in Hong Kong uses an 'offset killer'. What is this? No-one knows at any audio stores and I have E-mailed Krell who also have never heard of such a thing.

Similar Products Used:

Exposure

great bass,3-d effect soundstaging,neutral

need equally good cabling to match.

I THOUGHT MY SEPARATES SYSTEM WAS GOOD ENOUGH UNTIL I LISTEN TO KAV300I AT ADEALER IN SINGAPORE.LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT IS A BETTER WORD TO DESCRIBE IT.THIS AMP. IS BETTER THAN THE TWO I MENTIONED ABOVE IN TERM OF BASS AND POWER OUTPUT,WHILE THE REST IS COMPARABLE.AND JUST FOR INFO.IDRIVE IT WITH A GERMAN SPEAKER CALL'HECO MYTHOS 700'AND A SONY CD PLAYER MODEL:CDP3000ES.OVERALL,I WOULD GIVE KRELL A FIVE STAR.
....ANYWAY IT IS KIND OF SURPRISED TO READ THAT ,THERE'S A FEMALE REVIEWER AND SHES' FROM SINGAPORE!!!!!!!!WELL,WELCOME TO THE CLUB.

Similar Products Used:

yba integre dt & jadis orchestra

Power, detail, speed and absolute neutrality.

Can be difficult to get right in your system if you partially (even unknowingly) have destabilised your existing system sound.

Everyone is getting in a 'tizzy' about this one! From the reviews it seems either you love it or you hate it. IT IS NOT THAT STRAIGHT FORWARD.

This amp has it's strengths above. However, this amp is so precise that ANY CHANGE is any other part of your system is going to be notcieable in a major way - not the subtle way you would normally encounter. So if you've got a bright source and a warm pair of speakers (overall a fake imbalanced neutral sound), the Krell is probably not going to sound right. Similarly it is very finiky about cables and interconnects. I have auditioned the Krell with many different cables and have never heard it sound the same. This would explain the contrast seen in these reviews. At least more people are getting it right, which should mean most people who buy the Krell have fairly similar source and speaker tonality and have made a good choice in cables.

The Krell does not have finesse in it's own right. It will just deliver what your source chucks out. Finesse is easily lost down the wrong interconnect and in this scenario the Krell will be likely to sound brash with a slighly bright cable or very dark and muddled with a slighly warm cable. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, make sure you audition with lots of cables. This amp can deliver heaven in the right setup.

Best bets for interconnects are Transparent, Mandrake and Kimber while speaker cable from these companies generally goes down well as does Nordost.

I do believe somebody claiming to be a sound engineer said the Krell is terrible. Well, I know a lot of sound engineers and they aren't too fussed by the cables they use usually! I would not be surprised if attempting to get the Krell to deliver was a simple case of just suck it and see without trying different cables.

Alot of sound engineers actually use the Krells with B&W Nautlus soeakers. I personally find this not to be the epitome of musicality, but a sure-fire way of checking production quality on recordings, as the separtion and soundstage become mammoth at a slight expense in musicality.

I have Wilson Benesch speakers which I would say stomp over anything in the equivalent price point throughout the range.

The Krell and the Wilson Benesh work well with Transparent cables and a very good source (I would opt for Meridian 508.24, any Wadia player or the Helios Stargate, there are quite a few other good sources too).

Due to the nature of the Krell's predisposition to magnify the scale of any system change, and it's difficulty to get to sound 'just right', I can only award it four stars. I also need to audition some Chord amps with the Wilson Benesch range before I can call it the king of detail and transparency. There are other amps that are amazingly better in the 'just-slot-it-in' respect, but they do not have the sheer control and detail level associated with the KAV300i. However, if you can fiddle with it till you get it just right, it will take some beating and leave you blissfully happy.

The important thing to take away from this review, is that it may be arduous to get the musicalty just right, but when it is it is worth it.

Could be cheaper in th UK as well!

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 502 pre with 557 power, or x2 505 monoblocks

Overall sound quality, bass

Unstable volume control

I must admit that I am very,very upset at this, my second Krell KAV-300i amplifier. I love the sound quality and the general build quality of the unit which in my opinion is better than my previous Naim Audio NAC 102 pre-amp,High-Cap power supply and NAP 250. The problem that I have had with the KAV-300i is that the volume control is totally unstable. When another item of electrical equipment is switched on, the volume on the Krell jumps to almost full and the remote control is "locked out" so I have to dash over to the unit to reduce the volume!!! The funny thing is that the LED display for the volume does not move from it`s original setting and when you touch the button to reduce the volume, it jumps to the original setting. When my first amplifier did this I assumed that it was a fault on that particular unit. Unfortunately the replacement unit is exactly the same.
Krell have blamed a problem with the AC supply in my home, but I have never had a problem with any other equipment. My wife uses a £200 micro system in our kitchen and that has no problems. Also my hi-fi system is fed by its own AC circuit from the consumer unit. I also think that some of the interference is possibly caused by air-born signals because at the recommendation of my dealer I placed a piece of tape over the I.R. window on the amp. and the problem was greatly reduced.
I am now trying to get a refund of my money on this product. I know that this may sound silly but if anyone is thinking of purchasing one of these otherwise excellent amplifiers, please try it at home and try switching various other electrical equipment on and off when the amp is on. But PLEASE be ready to catch your loudspeaker drive units!!!
By the way, electric kettles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and food blenders seem to have the most effect on the amp.
I think that this is an appalling state of affairs for a company that has the reputation of Krell and they have certainly lost my business. If anyone wishes to see copies of the replies that I have had, please email me on r.osborne.1@cableinet.co.uk

Similar Products Used:

Naim Audio

Good Back Up Integrated amp for small speakers or for speakers with mid-size tweeters & woofers

Rather Hard sounding with Martin Logan speakers or other type of Electrastats

Update that can be removed, or just for everyones information: Bought the Krell 300i Integrated amp about a week ago which took 2 to 3 days to sound good on NHT VT2 speakers that I have in my bedroom. Me & a couple other people have this un-offical Martin Logan Speaker owner club via the internet where we discuss what to buy. A friend ask, "Bottom Line, how do you feel about the Krell 300i integrated amp compared to your Audio Research LS-16 pre-amp via Aragon 8008BB amp running your Martin Logan SL3's?" I wrote back that it was like comparing apples & oranges, & that I would connect the Krell 300i integrated amp to the Martin Logan SL3's & let him know. Therefore I disconnected the bedroom's NHT VT2 speakers from the Krell 300i integrated amp & placed the amp in the front room. The set-up is as follows: a Sony XA7ES CD player via Harmonic Technology balance Silway 1 metered interconnect to the balance input of the Krell 300i integrated amp via 10 feet of Monster Cable 2.4 Bi-Wire to Martin Logan SL3's. Result: 1st CD play through was very hard with clear mid-range, it was unlistenable to me (it hurt my ears). By the 3rd CD the sound opened up with lesser hardness, less bass but nice, sound stage fair, clear mid range with more intellegent sounding vocals (I could hear the words with some Rock-N-Roll songs), more of a bite than the Audio Research/Aragon combo. I have been burning in the Krell 24 hours a day now, hoping that the "Hard Edge" will go away, but it hasn't. I didn't hear this "Hard Edge" with the NHT VT speakers, but this is again unfair, the Audio Research LS-16 pre-amp is around $3000 & is tubed, the Aragon 8008BB amp is around $2500 & is a dual mono amp with dual transformers (its about twice the size of the Krell 300i). That's $5500 compared to $2250, I better get a better sound at that price. Conclusion: The Krell 300i is a good back up amp that should ran speakers at its own or below its price, especially tweeters & woofers. But not for electrastats like Martin Logan's or Maggies, which require alot of smooth power. I think that a few of the past reviewers that gave this Krell 300i integrated amp a poor review were playing too good of speakers thinking that the Krell name in itself would power them. I have a theory: The price of the speaker should match the price of the amp. So far this theory has worked for me & the Krell 300i integrated amp is a good buy for NHT VT2 speakers. This Saturday I will disconnect the Krell from the Martin Logan's when my friend will be over to judge the Krell. I will give a lower "4" rating this time to fit the Martin Logan speakers, but the "5" rating is still good for the NHT VT2's.

soundstaging, bass speed and definition, vocal imaging
soundstaging, bass speed and definition, vocal imaging
soundstaging, bass speed and definition, vocal imaging

requires external phono stage pre-amp

I purchased this wonderful integrated amp several years ago,
as the first step towards my current high end system. At the time it was driving a pair of Vandersteen 2C's with a modest CD player. It sounded great: the Vandersteen's gained significantly in soundstaging and bass speed/definition. Several years later I traded up to Revel Ultima Studio
speakers: the Krell is now working a bit harder (it got just modestly warm with the Vandersteens, whereas it gets real warm with the Revels at high volumes!), but it still more than does the job. Wonderful imaging, great bass definition, speed, and slam, and the balanced interconnect option is
nice, as I recently upgraded to the Krell KAV300 CD player. This has been a wonderfully versatile and flexible amplifier for me, and continues to sound fantastic in a system in which it is now arguably the "weak link."

Associated equipment:
Revel Ultima Studio Loudspeakers
Krell KAV300 CD player
Transparent Audio speaker cable
Audio Truth balanced interconnects