Post by ajski2fly on Jan 11, 2023 15:49:25 GMT
As I had got a lovely Marantz Pearl CDP last year and I was taking a different route streaming I decided to sell my Audiolab 8300CDQ as pre and DAC, this had done very well in my system, but I felt I could do better.
After some investigation it became clear a good choice could be a Krell pre-amp if I could find one I could afford. Luckily a Krell KSP B7 came on the scene and after several weeks contemplation I decided I had to go ahead and scratch the itch. The Krell KSP 7B I have purchased has been fully recapped in the last 2 years and the PSU also been tested and re-capped, the PSU is the later version which is supposedly more reliable, it runs warm, not hot as some other owners have reported in the past. It will be feeding my Krell KSA 80 power amp, which I have had for a couple of years now and never regretted buying it.
So my new toy arrived yesterday afternoon by UPS and I carefully unpacked it. I then opened the pre-amp up, and it is pristine inside, I set the dip switches to 800ohms and set it to MC. I already own a very nice Audiovalve Sunilda phono stage and want to compare them.
After carefully setting up, using the Sunilda initially, I put on one of my favourite test listening tracks ‘Tala Rasa Ranga’ by Ravi Shankar on the ‘Portrait of Genius’ album, this is a fantastically dynamic recording, with great depth and variation in the Tablas, sitar, hand percussion and flute. All I can say is that it was an instant wow moment, detail, depth and clarity had just opened up, soundstage felt larger and separation between instruments is more defined.
I continued my listening session with Supertramp - ‘School’, Alan Parsons Project - ‘I Robot’, Charlie Byrd - ‘Taboo’, Peter Gabriel- ‘Rhythm of the Heat’, Hugh Masekela - ‘Stimela’, Eva Cassidy - ‘Fields of Gold’, 10cc - ‘The Wall Street Shuffle’, Shpongle - ‘ Botanical Dimensions’ and St Germain -‘Rose Rouge’. A nice mix of styles and all tracks have some great dynamics and can challenge a system. The Krell KSP 7B did not disappoint on any of these tracks, I noticed I was hearing some details and dynamics for the first time, it gives a lovely well balance presentation and enables a high sense of realism, I think attack and decay also seem improved giving improved timing.
I also listened to the tracks using the on board phono stage, once again this was a surprise, as expected a slightly different presentation from the Sunilda but a very, very good one. Slightly warmer in the mids and low end, with very good and defined low end bass, giving a very relaxing and enjoyable listening experience.
I also listened to some of the tracks on CD using my Marantz Pearl CDP, and also streamed with my inexpensive Raspberry Pi(2)/HiFiBerry Digi+ using Volumio, with a linear PSU, going to the DAC of the Marantz Pearl, nothing exotic but for streaming but it does a reasonable job. I am going to do some minor mods and am waiting for a Digi+ Pro card to arrive that I picked up for £19 on Ebay.
Once again for both CD and streaming I was pleasantly surprised by the Krells performance, no harshness just clarity, and enjoyable listening. So an all round success IMHO, I'm happy anyway.
For those that may consider one of these:-
Pros:
A great all round pre-amplifier with a very acceptable phono stage that will easily satisfy most people.
You could easily spend £5-10k or more to better sounding pre-amp IMO, partner it with a good Class A power amp that can do it justice and you will be set up for a long time.
Cons:
None from a sound quality point of view, as far as my ears are concerned.
Supposedly designed to be left switched on all the time, I would not necessarily do so, it takes around 30-60 mins to come on song in my opinion, so just power up before you sit down to listen.
The PSU, especially the earlier version, can run hot from what I have read, I believe this usually indicates the capacitors need to be replaced, if you buy one get them replaced it will save the transformer(s) from failing.
These pre-amps are built like tanks but are getting around 25-30 years old, try and buy one that has had all the capacitors replaced or build that into the price, there are 36 of them, but it will be worth it.
After some investigation it became clear a good choice could be a Krell pre-amp if I could find one I could afford. Luckily a Krell KSP B7 came on the scene and after several weeks contemplation I decided I had to go ahead and scratch the itch. The Krell KSP 7B I have purchased has been fully recapped in the last 2 years and the PSU also been tested and re-capped, the PSU is the later version which is supposedly more reliable, it runs warm, not hot as some other owners have reported in the past. It will be feeding my Krell KSA 80 power amp, which I have had for a couple of years now and never regretted buying it.
So my new toy arrived yesterday afternoon by UPS and I carefully unpacked it. I then opened the pre-amp up, and it is pristine inside, I set the dip switches to 800ohms and set it to MC. I already own a very nice Audiovalve Sunilda phono stage and want to compare them.
After carefully setting up, using the Sunilda initially, I put on one of my favourite test listening tracks ‘Tala Rasa Ranga’ by Ravi Shankar on the ‘Portrait of Genius’ album, this is a fantastically dynamic recording, with great depth and variation in the Tablas, sitar, hand percussion and flute. All I can say is that it was an instant wow moment, detail, depth and clarity had just opened up, soundstage felt larger and separation between instruments is more defined.
I continued my listening session with Supertramp - ‘School’, Alan Parsons Project - ‘I Robot’, Charlie Byrd - ‘Taboo’, Peter Gabriel- ‘Rhythm of the Heat’, Hugh Masekela - ‘Stimela’, Eva Cassidy - ‘Fields of Gold’, 10cc - ‘The Wall Street Shuffle’, Shpongle - ‘ Botanical Dimensions’ and St Germain -‘Rose Rouge’. A nice mix of styles and all tracks have some great dynamics and can challenge a system. The Krell KSP 7B did not disappoint on any of these tracks, I noticed I was hearing some details and dynamics for the first time, it gives a lovely well balance presentation and enables a high sense of realism, I think attack and decay also seem improved giving improved timing.
I also listened to the tracks using the on board phono stage, once again this was a surprise, as expected a slightly different presentation from the Sunilda but a very, very good one. Slightly warmer in the mids and low end, with very good and defined low end bass, giving a very relaxing and enjoyable listening experience.
I also listened to some of the tracks on CD using my Marantz Pearl CDP, and also streamed with my inexpensive Raspberry Pi(2)/HiFiBerry Digi+ using Volumio, with a linear PSU, going to the DAC of the Marantz Pearl, nothing exotic but for streaming but it does a reasonable job. I am going to do some minor mods and am waiting for a Digi+ Pro card to arrive that I picked up for £19 on Ebay.
Once again for both CD and streaming I was pleasantly surprised by the Krells performance, no harshness just clarity, and enjoyable listening. So an all round success IMHO, I'm happy anyway.
For those that may consider one of these:-
Pros:
A great all round pre-amplifier with a very acceptable phono stage that will easily satisfy most people.
You could easily spend £5-10k or more to better sounding pre-amp IMO, partner it with a good Class A power amp that can do it justice and you will be set up for a long time.
Cons:
None from a sound quality point of view, as far as my ears are concerned.
Supposedly designed to be left switched on all the time, I would not necessarily do so, it takes around 30-60 mins to come on song in my opinion, so just power up before you sit down to listen.
The PSU, especially the earlier version, can run hot from what I have read, I believe this usually indicates the capacitors need to be replaced, if you buy one get them replaced it will save the transformer(s) from failing.
These pre-amps are built like tanks but are getting around 25-30 years old, try and buy one that has had all the capacitors replaced or build that into the price, there are 36 of them, but it will be worth it.
