It looks nice and is made by a company that some
people lust over.

Doesn't really sound that great.

Here is a theory.....if all of a sudden nobody had ears, Krell would sell about the same amount of equipment and would sell them to the same people that were going to buy their equipment before the sudden "no ears".

Another theory....some will say fact....most of the decision making influences on high end stereo purchases are everything but how it sounds.

Last theory.....Most people don't realize the above and bristle when the thoughts are mentioned. They are too smart about this topic, too refined and read all the magazine and know all the latest buzz words. They will passionately say, "These theories are ridiculous". They will speak of the hours of listening and the comparisons to this and that.......refer to theory number 1.

Krell loves these people.

Sound quality, neutrality and powerful

remote

LOOK THIS :
1997,Outstanding,Audio Choice Award,Gramophone Magazine,UK
1997, Recommended Component, Stereophile, USA
European High End Product of the Year (EISA)
Jazz Component of the Year, Swing Journal, Japan
Best Amplification Component up to $5.000 Hi Fi News and Record Review, UK
1997,1998,1999 Grand Prix Award, Stereo Integrated Amplifier,Audio Video International, USA
1999 Editors Pick: Two Star Award Fi Magazine, USA

The Krell KAV-300i is the kind of product the high-end audio industry can be pround of, it is capable of inspiring a music lover to learn to love MUSIC all over again. OK?

strong forceful bass; good tonal accuracy; great 2nd hand resale value; manly good looks; good soundstage and focus; great flexibility for hometheater use with pass through direct amp option.

difficult to find the right speakers, with the wrong speakers can sound small and undefined, or very bright

With the right speakers, this amp sounds wonderful, full, tight, wide open soundstage, crisp and detailed in acoustic passages. However, finding the right speakers is hard! I've found the french speaker Equation 15 ($4900) to be perfect with these. The joseph audio RM7si's were too bright to me, but this may be due to the NAD silverline CD player + DHlab silversonic speaker cable. The Silverline audio speakers (SR15 and Sonatas) sound closed in with muddy bass and an instrument was missing somewhere.

For the money, the Krells are not a bargain. What you are getting is a well made brand name amp with great resale value. But, for $2500 you can do better. It's better than the Bryston, but not as good as the simaudio moon I5, the vecteur, or the audiomat. I expect more for $2500. This Krell is worth buying for $1000 to $1500 used.

BEST ADVICE: Carefully audition the speakers & CD players you will use with it, because these Krells are very component picky.

Similar Products Used:

audiomat integrated, vecteur integrated, simaudio moon i-5

nutral,nutral

nutral

After reading all reviews below,I want to react because I was shocked reading articles about a product what is a quality product wich seems to be easily mistaken as junk.
In a good system a high quality amp is a must as the hart off the music.
A good amp easily ends up in a wrong system with lower quality units who let you hear foults in the spectrum off the frequency.(or not fitting in)
A good amp is revealing,letting you hear all the ingredients of the music wich contains nutrality, soundstaging,imaging,depht,hight,focus,air,warmth transients,emotion,ambiance,drive,pace and rythm and give you the feeling of being there more or less.
Now there does not excist an amp who has it all even right.
Compromises have to be made espesially in lower price ranges
My oppinion is that the 300i shows you about 80% of what is possible in amplification,there are a lot off better and absolutely much more expencive amps than this object.
I,v listend to it several times,IN GOOD SETUPS,icluding cables,fiters and good acoustical surroundings.
It can really sound superb with good focus and timing dragging you into the music with good scale and a great deal of ambiance.
Sometimes it sounds lesser in depht than the reverence amps off the world but gives often a feeling of being there.
Iff a recording is bad,it will let you now but is still listenable.
Iff the speaker you are jusing is not tonaly correct or in some reviews below even not papable of the name loudspeaker,do not blame this amp,come on!
It can give you the magic a great deal that good audio can give you by dissapearing and involve you into the music.
Im surpriced by the way,how many people do not recognice the sound of real music and instruments but are jused to the junk of sound of not sonicly correct cheep audio.
They like harsh trebble and boomy bass hearing distortion of the speaker.
Expect no such thing from the Krell.
Try to find the right balanced combination and it will for this price not dissapoint you.
Another great amp is by the way YBA integre which has less power but can sound really fine.

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you name it

It is good but lack of power after driving my martin logan Aerius i. There are many other good amps overthere: Aragon 8008, Bryston 4BST, McCoamack DNA1. You will have plenty of time to compaere them.

I purchased this product with some hesitation. The reviews from the critics have been outstanding, but far less spectacular from owners who have posted comments on this web site. Moreover, I was very happy with my Audible Illusions preamp and Parasound amp combination. However, I wanted something that had a remote controll and was capable of expanding into home theater.
The Krell has met all of my expectations. It is extremely versatile. The biggest suprise of this product is how good it sounds with balanced interconnects. I am using balanced Tara Labs Master Geneneration interconnects and these cables have totally transformed this Krell. The Krell has become much more involving. The soundstage grew by leaps & bounds. The bass became much bigger and tighter and the overall sound was more smoother and harmonically richer. In fact, I also own a pair of Cary SLM70 tube mono blocks, and I could not decide which ampliflier I liked better. The Cary's had more bloom, but were a little soft. The Krell was just as smooth as the Cary's, yet had more precise imaging and detail. I have chosen to listen the Krell and will probably be selling my Cary's tube amps. In addition, I have also added a processor to the Krell "Theater Throughput" output and have expanded into a very good home theater set-up without compromising my two channel stereo listening.

Overall, I would rate the Krell a five and would encourage anybody to consider the Krell KAV300i if they want versatility combined with excellent sound.

Nice bass,go company name

Too bright,on the high end,mids could be better

The Krell is not a bad product,but based on performance,I think the name is better than the sound. I my self pefer the McCormick DNA-0.5,it sounds better in the midrange,where most of the music is. The high end is much more detailed,bass is comparible with that of the Krell. I will say in closing,it does not matter what any of us think.Every person must decide which product sounds best with his or her speakers/system.

Similar Products Used:

Classe CAP-151, Mc Cormick DNA-0.5

Detail, clairty, soundstage, depth, realism

needs to be in at least a partially laid back system to be able to reap its benifits

Placed in the right system, this amp can be amazing, as well as versitile. I am using Martin Logan Aerius i's, and a Rotel CD. Even on hardwood floors, in disagreement with some previous reviewers, it maintains a detailed and involving sound. I was afraid of hearing an overpriced and over-analytical amp, but those fears quickly subsided. Because of new model upgrade, this amp will now be only found used, meaning it will be at a great price when one runs across one.

Similar Products Used:

arcam A75, Bryston B-60, B&K amp/pre-amp combo

I have listened to this amp. for more than 2 years and connected it with Sonus Faber Concertino speakers. The sound is clean and has good image. However, it was the first time I could realise the true potential of the KAV300i after I had installed an AC Offsetkiller from AH!.

This Offsetkiller is a tiny circuit board which can be installed inside the KAV300i without any soldering.

The sound is more musical, more power and has better image and detail after installation. As this AC Offsetkiller does not cost too much (HFL 250). I highly recommend this product to every Krell KAV 300i owner.

The sound is evenhanded, I heard no ‘hard edge’ sound in this combination at all. Great bass performance, deep soundstage (for an integrated) . Prefer the use of the balanced input over the RCA due to avoid cable couloration. Should have bought one years ago….A real winner !

My system consists of:

Piega P4XL speakers
Krell KAV-300i integrated amp
Madrigal Proceed PCD 3 cd player
Madrigal HPC XLR interconnects
Kimber 8 TC loudspeakercable

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Meridian 501/557 ML 28/29