Amps for Sasha W/P?

[psjl]

Originally Posted by daveneumann

Hi Philip and welcome.

I can't help you with your specific question about the Krells, although Martim Colloms at Hi Fi Critic used a Krell 402 when he reviewed the Sashas and raved about them. Hi Fi Critic does not take advertising, so I tend to trust their reviews over others.

Based on my research I went with Lamm M1.2 Reference amps for my Sashas. My listening room is quite large at 20 X 36 X 9 and the Lamms never run out of power, although they are masters of finesse at low level listening as well. You can do a search of some of PC1 and my threads to get our listening impressions of the combination.

If you can work an audition locally, I would highly recommend it before you make your final purchase of the Krells. Ultimately you might like the Krells but when spending that kind of money it's good to explore options by listening in your system, so that you know you have made the right decision for you.

daveneumann,

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Totally agree with you on the need to audition locally. In fact that is why I've not made the purchase of the Krells yet these many months since selling my Classé Omega Omicron Monoblocks, as I have been trying to get auditions with the Sashas and various other amps.

I do definitely believe in demoing before I purchase any equipment, and I have yet never bought any equipment that I have not had the chance to demo within my system. Which is why on one hand I have listened to the Krell 600e's with the Sashas (as well as various other amps that I mentioned earlier), and I liked the apparent synergy/sound that they produced. However, on the other hand, the Lamm M 1.2 Reference Amps are indeed a compelling proposition largely because of the impressions of Serge (PH1), yourself as well as others that have reviewed/commented on them. The problem is, I have no way to audition them due to the fact that the local dealer here in Hong Kong refuses to either let me home demo the Lamms, or lug the Lamms up a couple of floors (via elevator) to the Wilson Audio dealer who is in the same building (quite a few dealers have permitted me to do this with their amps already). In fact the Lamm dealer use to be the HK Wilson Audio dealer many years back, and I believe the split with Wilson was not on the most friendly terms, thus I can understand their reaction. I've even looked out for 2nd hand Lamms in the HK market these past few months so I could try to demo them, but to no avail, because to be honest, Lamms are not that popular in HK, as there re-sale value is terribly low, and HK audiophiles tend to go with equipment that retain decent re-sale value.

I've even toyed with the idea of buying a 2nd hand Lamm M 1.2 if a pair comes on the market for a very reasonable price, just so I can demo them in my system. However, nothing has turned up in HK, and I even have kept an eye out in Singapore, as I have family there and thus travel there a lot, but no luck there as well.

So I either go with the Krell 600e's which I've heard, or I go with the Lamm M 1.2's which I haven't heard, but they come highly recommended by AA members like yourself as well as others.

Tough choice!

I've actually been stuck in this never-ending loop these past few months, but am teetering towards the Krell 600e's just because I've listened to them. To make matters worse, the "once-in-a-lifetime" offer to get the Krell Evo One's came along recently, and that just made things more interesting. Although I haven't listened to them, I have to believe that they are similar in overall sonic characteristics/dynamics as the 600e's. The Lamm sound coupled with the Sashas is a total unknown for me, and I just wish there's a way to listen to this combo (along with the Ayre KX-R, Ayre QB-9 and Transparent cabling of course)

I did read Martim Colloms' review of the Krell 402e, and yes he certainly did rave about it, which coming from him is a big deal. He certainly doesn't mince words, and certainly doesn't spin to the nth degree like many other a reviewer.

In a nutshell, I'm neither here nor there in my final decision, and that is why I hope that AA folks can provide me with some of their respective thoughts on this topic.