AXPONA 2010

YG & Krell

By John Atkinson • Posted: Mar 10, 2010

"That's a familiar sound," I thought as I entered the 5th-floor suite shared by YG Acoustics and Krell. It was the classic Show dem record from the early 1980s, James Newton Howard & Friends on Sheffield Lab. The speakers were the YG Anat Reference II Studios ($70,000/system), which differ from the Anat Reference II Professional reviewed by Wes Phillips a year ago in not having the powered subwoofer modules. The room was problematic at low frequencies—either there was an upper-bass suckout or there was too much upper bass—and YG's Dick Diamond had spent long hours optimizing the sound on set-up day, but the effort was obviously worth it.

Krell's VP of Sales and Marketing Bill McKiegan brought me up to date on what had been happening at the Connecticut company since the forced departure last fall of founders Dan and Rondi D'Agostino. Engineering continuity is assured by the presence of Director of Engineering Todd Eichenbaum, who, Bill told me, has been primarily responsible for Krell's designs for the past decade. Bill and the other two Krell engineers have between them 68 years of experience at the company. Making their public debut at Axpona were the e (for "eco-friendly") series of products. The Evo 402e power amplifier ($18,500) offers a standby consumption of just 2W compared with its predecessor's 70W. The rest of the Show system comprised the Evolution 202 preamplifier ($16,500) and the Evolution 525 CD player ($12,000).

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Comments
John Foley's picture
Submitted by John Foley on March 11, 2010 - 7:16am.

When I first entered this room, the selection that was playing was everything Mikey hates in digital. The harshness, particularly in the upper frequency range, was so strident it hurt my ears. I didn't know if it was played "by request" but I thought it must have because it was so harsh. Following that selection, (which I didn't recognize), they put in a selection by request, the theme to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." I left wondering if it is a good idea for exibitors to play music on request. Clearly, this system is capable of producing great music, but that didn't happen while I was in the room. I didn't come back.

Angel G Prieto's picture
Submitted by Angel G Prieto on March 12, 2010 - 8:48pm.

Wow!!same thing happened to me..I didnt even stay for two minutes when I told my son that was with me,"Let's go".Dont know what it was,maybe match of electronics,but when you go to a show room with this kind of equipment you expect to be floored and not move from the room,didn't happened..maybe next year.

Billy's picture
Submitted by Billy on March 21, 2010 - 6:02pm.

The cables are hand drawn 7 nines silver hand made in Japan by Bukkake Audioworks, KK

GEORGE's picture
Submitted by GEORGE on April 3, 2010 - 6:19am.

Only $70,000 why not $85,000? For the speakers. $12,000 CD player, yes indeed, it's not about anything but high prices, and poor sound. It's what makes high end so out of touch with reality. Did these speakers sound as good as say, a much CHEAPER Helix from Legacy? Hmmm, price is not any indication of quality, it's just an indication of someone seeing how much they can get from dopes. Shameful. Wonder why the writers of this fine magazine never QUESTION prices? Just always give it kudos, and move on. Question, WHY, make mfgs validate their absurd pricing. Help the readers of the magazine, not just schmooze the advertisers.

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