A small/big integrated amplifier

Absence of pre-out entry.

Reading Lawrence's review below, he seems to have been very unlucky. Mind you, I have contacted Krell a couple of times and also received no reply, so I'd agree with that bit.

Downsides of the Krell s-300i - getting it home (heavy!), the remote eats batteries quite fast and your choice of inputs and outputs is a little limited. It also runs warm, so heed the instructions about leaving space all round the amp. No headphone socket either, which may be a factor in your purchasing decision.

Upsides - the sound, the sound and the sound! Power enough for most requirements, the ability to name and trim individual inputs, set mute level and the display dimming options.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this; even more so as I bought it discounted as an ex-demo item. The general view online is that the S300i lacks the slightly 'hard' sound of older Krells. Not having tried any of their amps before, i can't vouch for that, but I find it to be an gorgeously smooth and effortlessly powerful sounding amplifier.

BIG CAVEAT: If you get a chance to audition the amp, make sure that it has been plugged in and warmed up. I didn't start experiencing the real potential of it for at least 36 hours.

Great Amp when it works, but a real pain in the butt when it doesn't, when I got this amp several problems happen at the same time, Display was having blocks and unreadable, preamp left channel kaput, then entire preamp section went dead, IEC connector for Live wire came loose, the entire IEC was arching when I turn it on, believe me that is one hell of an experience. All resolved by my local dealer, promptly except for my Display.

After waiting close to 7 month, replacement parts for my display is still no where in sight, wrote to Krell USA directly, no reply from them, lucky local dealer was responsive and they did the follow up, till now still waiting for a replacement for my display.

On the sound of the Krell S-300i, nothing comes close, listen to Bryston, MBL,Teac, Gryphon,etc.. but somehow the house sound of the Krell is still closer to my taste, enhanced further by SR fuses in total 5, with my modded DVD player (All diodes change 8ETX06pbf) my musical enjoyment experience is like having a life concert at home.

Would be buyers, my advise listen to as many setups and decided which is closer to your taste. Maybe my next setup would be Dan's Integrated Momentum..

Cheers!

I bought in hongkong for 1900 dollars plus free shipping in ebay thats why I rate it 4 stars in value, I really havent heard other hi end manufacturers except krell, this is an upgrade to my ADCOM 555 mk2, i say its one hell of an awesome amp, it grips my Magnepan MG 1.7 hardcore, soundstage is deep, something 3 feet from the speakers and extends upward it is maybe because of the planar characteristic of the 1.7 (awesome soundstage), both are match made in heaven. the only downside it gets hot so much specially listening to electronic music like BT and Van Dyk after 30 mins to 1 hour of continous playing the thermal switch will trigger, resulting to no sound mode by the amp (you need to power off the amp to have it function again) but this im saying with volume level 120 above BTW the full volume level is 151 and my listening room is 10x15x8ft, so listening to jazz, classical, vocals and other genre besides electronic is perfect, it never goes to thermal switch mode. Likewise when im listing to audio and my A/C system is on it ill never go into thermal switch mode, I live in the philippines and the environment gets hot specially noon time, so i guess thats the only downside of such amp. But if your looking for power, grip, clean, neutral, soundstage awesome, awesome detailed bass, i would say again neutral neutral neutral thats what i like in this amp then i guess ur in the right path for this amp, I just wanted to listen to pass labs integrated to really compare the sound sig of this unit. Although its made in china but make no mistake even the adcom separates are far cry from this amp. There are only 3 manufacturers i like to compare (bryston, pass labs and krell) but basing on reviews i like pass labs and krell and considering the price thats why i jump to the krells, so thats it folks enjoy krell style as they say.

Just bought this 2nd hand. Its worth every cent. Unbelievable control and grip over my sonus faber grand piano domus speakers. I used to have a KAV-300i and this was an upgrade and a worthwile one. The difference between the 2 is that the S-300i has got better sound stage and presents more depth of detail. It presents all the individual components without losing the plot.

It needs to warm up well in order to present its best and it is unforgiving to porrly recorded music. It does get very hot so if its going to be kept in a cabinet there needs to be proper ventilation.

It is much more neutral than the KAV 300i so you may conclude that it is colder but thats really a matter of taste.