Price Paid:  $1600.00

Summary:
Exceptionally all around excellent peforming preamp. Great phono section.


My associated equipment is:

Krell MDA 300 mono block amps.
Sota Sapphire TT, SME Arm, Sumiko Cart.
Krell KAV 300CD disk player
Mirage OM-5 speakers
All Cardas cabling, balanced from Pre to amps
Teac X7-R Reel to Reel

This is a typical Krell product with exceptional build quality and dynamic sound. I have had this unit for quite a few years and it has operated flawlessly. It will probably last longer than me.

Strengths:
Dynamics. Flexibility. Build quality.

Weaknesses:
No balanced inputs. No remote capablity.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from used dealer

Summary:
i got this pre by chance looking for a good phono stage for my ksl,it matches my ksa150 perfectly (cosmetic and sound)
i would reccomend this pre/amp combo to all.......
my setup is as follows

ksp-7b
ksa 150
kav 300i
thorens td-125 mkII/grado cartrige
acoustat model 3
infinity modulus sub
audioquest interconnects
audioquest midnite 2 speaker cable(non biwire)

the sound is a religious experience..........

Strengths:
built like a tank, clean quiet sound,perfect replacment for ksl users,verry nice phono stage

Weaknesses:
none its a krell

Similar Products Used:
ksl, sonic frontiers line 1

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Soundex

Summary:
Having tried several pre-amps in my system I could not get past the Price:Performance ratio of this highly overlooked Gem. Not that the SFL-2 , AR LS2b & LS15 , BAT VK3i & 5i did not have some very admirable qualities! Once warmed up and ready to go they made some great music,but that is my point! If you are like me and don't have a lot of time to listen at nights,the warm-up time kills too much of my listening time!!!!Not the products fault / Mine.
The Levinson and Proceed pieces sounded very nice,but just a tad dark and lacked the emotion in my system.Great solid state gear if used with the right associated gear.Adding up the costs of used starting at $1000.00 and new starting at $6000.00, and every price point in between,the Krell KSP-7b is an Audio Lovers Dream.
The KSP-7b had the most Bang for the Buck sonically. Yeah there was more Bells and Whistles on some of the other pre's but,I was after sonic performance with instant gratification. The power supply is always on and ready,keeping the pre at optimum operating temperature......just switch it from Mute and Go. Quite does not even begin to describe the KSP-7b, it had the blackest of backgrounds and could go from Triple Forte(fff) to Pianissamo(ppp)like none other tried. So dynamic that it scared me quit a few times. It has Absolute Phase and Adjustable Gain on the front panel. Techno babble is not really needed at this point, just the bottom line on this pre-amp.
Great biuld Quality, Top notch parts usage, Excellent circuit lay-out, Amazingly good phono stage(fully adjustable for all cartridges and tables), Sound staging / Dynamics / Balance / Accuracy that could not be beat until I reached the $6000.00 price point.....I could not believe my ears when I tried this piece out on a whim. After several weeks of listening the choice was clear. At $1000.00 used and always ready to please,it left me no other question than to buy it....and still have not replaced it to this day. I have tried other new models and they just can't warrant the cost to replace.
The Krell KSP-7b Is an Overlooked GEM.
Think of all the other things you can buy for your system with the money saved on this piece. If you can find someone that is willing to part with thiers.
Associated Equipment:
*Krell KSP-7b
*Krell MDA-300 monoblocks
or
*Krell KSA-150
*Proceed PDT mkIII transport
*Proceed PDP mkIII dac
*Krell SBP-32x dac (I like the different dacs for different types of music)
*Thiel CS 3.6
*MIT Pro-line interconnects
*MIT MH-750+ speaker cables
*Illumati Digital cable
*VPI-TNT turntable with all the trimmings
*Room Treatments by ME, made my own versions of Tube traps and Sound difractors.

Strengths:
Built like a Tank,Great sound stage,Still beats many higher priced Pre's in todays market,Amazing Phono section for T.T. users.

Weaknesses:
Non-remote,if you could call that a weakness.

Similar Products Used:
Sonic Frontiers, BAT, Levinson, A.R.,Proceed....and a few others not worth mentioning.

Summary:
The Krell KSP-7B is the first of the generation of Krell preamplifiers that uses bipolair transistors in it's output stage instead of the MosFet's in for example the PAM5 and PAM7.
The power supply is dual regulated and separate for each channel and separate for the phono stage.The separate power supply unit runs very hot, especially in the summer and must be placed carefully.Compared to the older Krell's the sound is even more dynamic and controlled.The highs are more refined and have more dynamic expression.The bass is of exeptional quality, witch is no surprise with Krell equipment.It's clean, fast, powerfull and detailed.Soundstaging is excellent.The overal sonic signature is much the same as that of the KSA-150 power amp.The phono stage sounds very transparant and open.I've tried the KSP-7B with the Krell KSA-150, Cello Performance II, Mark Levinson 27.5 / 20.5.The combination with older ML's (27/23) isn't a good match.

Strengths:
Beats much more expensive products whith ease

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
PAM5, PAM7, SPINX PJ4, CELLO AUDIO PALETTE