Have power to drive Martin Logan Quest z. Fast,dynamics ,deep... bass and power,power,power for the price. Breathtaking midrange.

Cheap speaker terminal :-(

This is an honest amplifier. System: Martin Logan Quest z Krell KAV-300i Silk and Audioquest(dragon).

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None

Strings, vocals come to life.... better overall sound .... have heard many pre power , they could not sound better.

At this price, no compliants

I underestimated this amp. I have always owned a pre power setup (VTL 2.5 Tube Pre with a KSA 100s Krell) Boy when I tried this integrated amp on my system, it sings..... Greater clarity and better timing pace etc etc. I need not say more. If youcan find it used.... JUST BUY IT.

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KRELL KSA100s, Aragon 4004/8008, Jadis Orchestra, many others..... lost count.

Dynamics, Detail, Soundstage, Musicality, Transparency, True to life reproduction of music

Size: Width makes it dificult to fit into standar stands.

The KAV 300i is a tremendous product. I also have the KAV 250 cd player. I auditioned it more as a lark, and it blew away my Creek 5350se and Creek cd 53 combo. The trick is to run a KRELL CD player to achieve the correct synergy. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT KRELL IS HYPERSENSITIVE TO MATCHING COMPONENTS. With the Creek cd53 it sounde like absolute crap, but with the KRELL cd player, WOWEEWEEWOWOW. Very detailed yet smooth, great pinpoint soundstage and depth. Crystal clean and honest highs. I have always maintained that British gear is the best in the world. KRELL single mindedly changed that perception. This KRELL is a tremendous product. I HAVE TO FIGHT MYSELF AWAY FROM MY SYSTEM LATE AT NIGHT, REMINDING MYSELF THAT I'VE GOT TO GET UP FOR WORK THE NEXT DAY. I HAVE BEEN UP UNTIL 4:OO A.M. LISTENING WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BED, KNOWING THAT I HAD TO GET UP IN 2 HOURS. Now that's what it's all about.

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NAIM Audio- I have had many Naim Systems, CREEK, ARCAM

Fast, transparent, detail, and awesome soundstage. Have power to drive any speaker on earth.

Need good equipment matching to sound its best.

I always have reservation about the infamous Krell sound. For $965, I think I could make a profit by reselling it, so I just got myself one. I think the people who chewed up this great integrated amp definitely needs a cold shower. It has earned the Stereophile Class A recommended component honor. This amp, deceivingly small and light, produces some of the fastest and most detail sound that I have ever heard. It has enough juicies to drive my Alon IV shotgun tri-wire without any single problem. The soundstage and imaging are breathtaking. BUT..... Let's go to the taste part. I absolutely hate the sound of this amp. It is so cold and analytical, I don't know how I could keep this integrated amp for long. And I didn't - I only keep it less than 10 days. For example, this amp sound absolutely bright and forward with my Tyler Taylo Reference Monitor. The female vocal sounds like somebody slapped on my face. The Mahlerian trumpets are screaming. SO..... To get the best from this amp, you will need careful equipment matching. Krell will sound great in some setup, just like Mark Levinson will suck (in comparison) in certain setup. Thus my review scores.

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Classe, Mark Levinson, Antique Soundlabs, Accuphase, Kora, etc.

Agility, dynamics, strength, clarity, looks

Incorrect matching can cause unrealistic sounds.

Questing, last for two months, for an amplifier that fits my preferences and my budget is a very exciting stage of building a stereo system. Having attending real life performances and being a semi-professional musician, as well as an accountant make the search became exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. I always want to hear how those very expensive systems sound. Buying them is, of course, impossible. Therefore, I did some pretending that I was going to buy them. By dressing and grooming yourself well take you a long way. Make sure you read a lot of reviews before going to those high end stores, otherwise, the conversation will not be exciting, or you can pretend to be a rich ignorant man, however this one is harder to do. When the salesmen ask how big is your listening room, makes sure you tell them at least 20x20. They are too polite to ask your budget. By knowing the size of your listening room, they are actually assessing how big your house is. If live in Manhattan, Los Angeles or other cities that have high living costs, and you have room that big just to be used for listening music, you must have a pretty big bank account. After listening to an expensive system, you will kind of know what the expensive system can deliver. At one of the place that I went, I auditioned Mark Levinson CD (4K), preamp(4K), and amplifier 334(5K) as well as Thiel1.6 speakers (2K), total 15K, not including all the connections. The sound that those equipments produce is smooth, silky, and transparent. The piano sound is very realistic. I could here the sound of the wood. Overall, the sound produced was very pleasant. However, from my perspective, I did not feel that I was attending a life performance. The sound stage was very far deep in the back. It seems as if I bought the cheapest ticket so that I was to sit way far in the back. I personally never sat in that position at any concerts that I attended. I believe that nobody really eager to be sat that far away. The salesmen kept saying, that the system was effortless in playing the music. For me, the system was too timid and did not have enough punch. It maybe what a real Audiophiles like. To me, that was not a real musical event. Then, I went to different stores that carries Krell. From the moment you stepped into the store, your have to choose one product, to make sure that they do not think that you are j

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Scary deep bass, but not boomy. Balance of spectrum is what you would expect from this brand and pricerange, at least. Good buy at the used market prices, compared to anything like it, new. Mine is mint.

Source 2 input button on front panel has gotten a little intermittent-dirty switch? but the remote makes that moot for me. Can fix later. Only button I use on front, is power. NOt designed for real low impedences but a reasonable comprimise for an integrated amp. Requires big shelf, at least 19x19"

Wow! Cannot yet duplicate some of the complaints of others. Useing with Krell KAV 300CD and Vandersteen 2Ce's. Wanted to upgrade the electronics ahead of the admittedly economical Vandy's. Was really worth it. Not as much a change in sound as was the KRell CD, but what I noticed was deeper bass than the Hafler amplification I had before. Heard stuff I had not heard since I got rid of the subwoofer in the system. Good match with the Vandy's. SOme have claimed it runs hot. The vandys do give a nice stable load to amps. So far it just gets puppy warm to the touch after extended listening, not HOT. Wonder what abuse is heaped on it by those that get it fry hot. It is NOT designed for impedances below 4 ohms. That is the comprimise to get Krell sound and 150 watts in such a small case. YOu need a big Krell if you need to drive weird loads really super loud. Use the balanced lines with the KRell CD! THe unbalanced inputs seem to roll off highs a bit with it(hi input Z). Does what I ask and more. Sweet amp.

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Hafler. Crown. Fisher tube.

Reliable. Solid performer. Great aesthetics. A Krell.

None glaring for me here.

I've been very pleased with this amp -- great bass, great dynamics and produced a wonderfully layered (side x side, front to back) soundstage with my Martin Logan Aerius'. As noted in another review, high WAF (I had mated it with the matching KAV250 CD player). This component is pretty revealing -- I started off wish some harshness but ended up happy when I upgraded to better cabling (Harmonic Technology worked well for me).

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Adcom and Golden Tube amps

Power, rhythmic ease,detail

a little "electronic", poor build quality and reliability.

This amp has been in and out of the shop so many times that it's been difficult to say how it sounds. But, after all it's problems seem to be fixed, I'd say it's a pretty good sounding amp. First, a word about the repair problems. After a few months, the ground sleeves began to pull out and I sent it back to Krell to have them replaced. It came back with new, tight sleeves, but there was a nut rolling around inside, so I took it to Magnolia in Bellevue, WA, and they took the nut out. The amp sound had changed--bass was mushy and the sibilants were harsh. After about a year,it began to emit a static sound through the left channel only. Took it back to Magnolia, who said it was fixed but, after about 6 months, the static came back and the sound went south again. I took it back again, and this time the static has stayed away, after replacement of a total of 5 IC's. For the past several months, it has sounded pretty good for the first time since I bought it. I'm wondering if the wide disparity among reviewers might relate to quality control or parts problems at Krell, particularly for some of these older units. I know mine has sounded like about three different amps over the years, depending on what was broken at the time. I've auditioned other integrateds and some separates, and stuck with the Krell, but would have dumped it had it not been (I hope) finally fixed. (I have Thiel CS 1.5 speakers and Rega Planar 3 turntable with Benz Micro cartridge, plus a Denon CD player). The Krell just seems more "together" in terms of rythm, and is actually quite musical. Transparent interconnects helped a lot. Based on my experience with reliability, however, I couldn't recommend this amp. Also feel that it's probably overpriced relative to what else is out there in the ever-improving world of mid-priced integrateds. Just curious, but is there any info on why Stereophile took it off the recommended components list so quickly? Has anyone else had repair problems?

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Rotel separates,Rotel, Acurus integrateds, Classe integrated and separates.

Bass is incredible Vocals can make your heart melt

lousy remote horribly sharp edges - do not buy this amp if you have kids

This is definitely one of the best amps for the money. But be careful - it can sound horrendous with the wrong equipment - especially wrong speakers - they cannot be too bright. I have mine hooked up to an Arcam CD72 Cd player and Aerial Acoustics Model 6 speakers, cardas cross speaker cables and interconnects. The only integrated I would probably upgrade to would be the Mark Levinson. If you like this amp - also check out the Brystons and Sim Audio.

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bryston classe arcam sim audio

Great sound Strong tight bass Solid midrange True highs that are not harsh or tiring Simple controls Strong heavy design and build quality

Remote is cheap compared to unit Only one set of balanced inputs

Wanted to go with seperates but had too much to upgrade. Know several others that have Krell and decided to try for myself. Listened to NAD, ADCOM, ATI, ARCAM, ROTEL, etc. Liked the ARCAM A23 a lot, but got a great deal on this used Krell for a little less then a new ARCAM. Great sound, true to the music (jazz, opera, country, mild-rock, easy listening).

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