Krell Amplifier Bi-Amp vs Brute force

[Doug Lax]

I want to get your advise as to which direction I should look . I am thinking about a a new amp. I plan to upgrade some of my equipment over the next few years. Would you buy a krell s 1500 with 150 wpc with the thoughts of Bi amping with another later or buy a Krell TAS with 200WPC. Both would most likely be bought on AA or the Gon or AM. I would have room for 2 1500s but not 2 TASes. I will probably upgrade the speakers to B&W 804 Diamonds and an HTM2 or 4 Diamond center.

[thezaks]

Originally Posted by Doug Lax

I want to get your advise as to which direction I should look . I am thinking about a a new amp. I plan to upgrade some of my equipment over the next few years. Would you buy a krell s 1500 with 150 wpc with the thoughts of Bi amping with another later or buy a Krell TAS with 200WPC. Both would most likely be bought on AA or the Gon or AM. I would have room for 2 1500s but not 2 TASes. I will probably upgrade the speakers to B&W 804 Diamonds and an HTM2 or 4 Diamond center.

I've had 500 watt monoblock amps (Cary 500MB) in my system, from a few years ago when I was doing 2 channel. Before that a Pass Labs X350. I decided to go to a multi-channel amp, and I had a Cary 7.250 for a few years. For the past year or so, I've had a Krell S-1500, in a 7 channel configuration, running my 2 channel and home theater. I've never felt that it lacked power, no matter how much I crank it. My speakers are around 84-86db sensitivity, so they are typically power hungry, which is why I had the bigger amps in previous years.

You might want to try the S-1500, before thinking of biamping...

Dave

[Doug Lax]

Thanks DaveHow would you compare the 7.250 to the krell?

[thezaks]

Originally Posted by Doug Lax

Thanks DaveHow would you compare the 7.250 to the krell?

Hi Doug,

When I had the Cary 500MB amps, I really liked the sound. I was told that the 7.250 used similar technology to the 500MB, in a 7 channel configuration. I was also told (by the creator of the amp) that it had a little more brightness than the 500MB's. As it turns out, that was the one thing that I ended up having trouble with. I tried different cabling and footers, but that little bit of extra brightness was always there. I think it just made the sound slightly unbalanced. Some folks, especially in a home theater environment, might like that, but it wasn't for me. Don't get me wrong, it sounded great, but sometimes it's the little things that can get to me. The final straw was when I was playing Dark Knight, and following an action scene, the fan was running very loudly. I also do not like fans.

The S-1500 has a balanced, robust, solid sound. No fan either. I am very happy with it!

Dave