So when Krell announced its KAV line of products, designed to offer components that conform to Krell's design philosophy and build standards but intended to sell at…
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You'd be hard-pressed to find a company more protective of its reputation than Krell. At a recent meeting of the Academy for the Advancement for High End Audio and Video, a motion was made to replace the phrase "High End" with the more purely descriptive "High Performance." Krell's CEO, Dan D'Agostino, objected—while he knew the description fit his products, he wasn't sure about those from some of the other members.
The power supply includes EMI filtration and a whopping big toroidal transformer that features numerous secondary windings, which, in turn, feed a variety of regulation stages that deliver power to each section while maintaining circuit-to-circuit isolation. There is no facility for turning off the unit, only a logic-controlled switch to place it in powered standby mode.
Excellent things are rare
I used the KAV-300cd in a variety of systems during my audition, but most of my serious listening revolved around using it in my main system: Conrad-Johnson ART preamp, Krell FPB 600 power…
To further illustrate that it's no one-trick pony, the Krell responded to the complex overtone structures of the winds, breathy voices, and all those mallet instruments with éclat. After hearing the first recording of this piece on ECM, nearly 20 years ago, I was startled when I heard Reich perform it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music several years later. While the recording featured a dry studio acoustic, it sounded timbrally true, capturing a natural breathiness that was quite convincing. In performance, however, the overtones stacked upon each other, creating a clangorous hash of high-…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Front-loading CD player. Transport: monolithic assembly featuring full-size clamp. DAC: Burr-Brown PCM1702K, 20-bit. Analog outputs: one pair balanced via XLR, pin 2 noninverting; one pair single-ended via RCA. Digital outputs: one EIAJ optical (TosLink), one S/PDIF coaxial. Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz, +0.0/-0.18dB. S/N: 103dB, A-weighted. Distortion: 20Hz-16kHz, -87dB; 20kHz, -82dB. Power consumption: 50W.
Dimensions: 19" W by 4.6" H by 15" D. Weight: 22 lbs net, 32 lbs shipping.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 9097050146.
Price: $3500…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
CD Player: Mark Levinson No.39.
Preamplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier Fourteen, ART; Krell KRC-HR.
Power Amplifiers: Arcam 7; Krell KAV-300i, Krell FPB 600.
Loudspeakers: B&W DM-302, EgglestonWorks Andra, ProAc Response One S.
Interconnects: AudioQuest Opal v.3, Kimber KCAG.
Speaker Cables: AudioQuest Dragon 2, Kimber Black Pearl.
Accessories: Audio Power Industries Power Wedge 112, Magro Stereo Display Stand.
Sound Treatment: ASC Tube Traps, Studio Traps, Bass Traps; RPG Abffusors; Chaetiferous cat.—Wes Phillips
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Krell's performance from both its balanced and unbalanced outputs. Except where noted, my comments refer to the balanced outputs. With a full-level 1kHz sinewave, its output was 4V from the balanced outputs, 2V from the unbalanced. Channel balance was superb at within 0.01dB. The output impedance was a low 16 ohms from the unbalanced outputs, 32 ohms from the balanced. Absolute polarity was correct from both sets of outputs, the balanced wired with pin 2 hot.
The KAV-300cd's frequency response is shown in fig.1: absolutely flat from 10Hz to…
Wes Phillips compared the Krell with the Audio Research CD2 in April 1998 (Vol.21 No.4):
Comparing the Krell KAV-300cd with the Audio Research CD2, it was déjà vu all over again, to resort to that overworked phrase. The difference in slam was discernible, but the Audio Research certainly didn't sound anemic or deficient, nor did the Krell sound too bass-heavy. The presentations were just different. This doesn't mean that there was nothing to choose among the two. If only it were that easy...
Some will find the Krell more up-front in perspective, preferring the smoothness of the…
What has happened will happen again, and what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun.—Ecclesiastes 1:9
The author of Ecclesiastes was a world-weary chap. He beat the existentialists at their own game, and he did it nearly three millennia before they even suited up. (As Mark Twain noted, those dead guys stole all our best ideas.) I think that the reason the author of Ecclesiastes' writing still resonates with so many people is that, over the run of human experience, he ends up being right enough of the time that you can't discount his attitude out of hand…
As I said, the Stuart & Sons piano represents a radical rethinking of string coupling—and, it should be obvious, a very complete rethinking. Wayne Stuart has been working to bring his vision to reality for about 20 years. It shows, in both the attention to detail and the sonic results. However, even if I had heard the pianos live, which I have not, it might be difficult to apportion credit for the quality of the sound between the bridge agraffe and the underlying reality that Stuart & Sons pianos are designed and built to the highest standards of craftsmanship, and with jovial, even…
Alicia Holt, aged 18 months, devours her father's magazine
After much searching of soul and of bank account, we have reached an earth-shattering decision. The Stereophile is going to start taking ads.
Before you throw your hands up in horror and scream "Sellout", though, bear with us for another couple of paragraphs while we explain why this decision on our part need not prompt you to cancel your subscription immediately.
First of all, we are not considering, and neither will we consider, taking ads from manufacturers. There is just too intimate a relationship between a…