mandryka
pfm Member
You say this is the first time you have really heard one if these amps. I shared a flat with a KSA100 and KSA 80B for a good year or more and I assure you running a CD player with variable outs into it sounded like crap compared to an Audio Research (LS something or other) pre. That really surprised me to be honest as I was in the ‘less is more’ camp back then. If you have a decent preamp around do give it a go!
What speakers were you using? Given Jez’s comments about the sound in his system with a passive pre, that’s the obvious line to explore.
The room too could be an issue (was it the same room as the one you had the Missions in?)
Also, maybe you had a bad example of the KSA. If I remember right, the fan was noisy.
Mine’s an early model, and I know that the mark II had new technology for heat dissipation, maybe this makes a difference to the sound and maybe this different technology could have been in your Krells.
These are all ways in which what you say, and what Jez is reporting, could be true. Not to mention different inputs, expectations, tastes . . .