Krell 750mcx monoblocks
 

Hi all,

I recently acquired a pair of krell 750mcxs (they were originally 650m's that were upgraded by Krell to 750mcx)

Anyway, plugged into my Focal Mestros, I must say that they sound truly epic. The scale of the sound in my room is massive and the dynamics superb. They have a lovely darkish sound and never harsh - so pleased with them :music:

Anyway, I need to install some 20amp 240v lines here in UK to extract max performance as these amps can deliver 6kw into 1 ohms:naughty::naughty:

Anyone else use these or other fpb range and if so what pre did you settle on?

Cheers

That is a great purchase you made. The grip those older Krell maintain on speakers in amazing. They are one of the few amps that get the most out of the various iterations of B&W 800 and 802 speakers. They should do a great job with your Focals.

Beautiful Beasts!

http://echohifi.com/images/product/4360.jpg

I have a set of the 350MCX's driving my 20.1's. I use an EAR 868 with it and they sound great. I would guess they sound fairly similar. You may want to get the caps upgraded if you use a tubed preamp.

Beautiful amps! Now I have amp envy and am going into a shame spiral.............

Hi,

I am in the UK as well. I have the Krell 600s and tried an ARC Ref3 and Krell 202. The ARC was much as you would expect very detailed, relaxing, dynamic with a slightly softer bass but worked a treat with newer, dryer CDs. The 202 was really fast with very tight bass, and much sharper dynamics and explosive impact with good recordings. It is more truthful, which may not be good news. I went with the 202s as the addition of CAST and the more honest sound was ideal for my mainly rock/pop music. I can imagine a jazz and classical fan going with a Ref3 or Ref 5. Nice choice to have though.

Hi Jim,

Thanks - they certainly do grip my Focals by the balls. The Focal Maestro is actually a bit of an anomaly in the utopia range in that it has a wicked impedance dip in most of the bass (down to 1.7 @ around 100hz) so despite the high sensitivity, it needs juice. The Stella and Grande have the electro voice coils so easier on the amps.

Anyway - feel like I am joining the big boys now :D

They have just been serviced by Krell and so I am not going to change caps till maybe next year (with any luck!)

Thanks, Ivan. I do have a weird thing for mega large ss amps. I drool over Krell MRAs more than anything.

Not good Bob, we know what happens when you get amp envy. :)

Indeed

Hi guys,

I need a preamp for these beasts now. Want to run fully balanced system - what would you recommend for me? I favour large soundstage, wonderful timbre, speed, and resolution. Don't like overly clinical stuff nor syrupy either.

Am thinking a Ref 5SE might be the ticket but I welcome options.

Cheers

If you want to stay with Krell the Phantom or Evolution 202 are nice units.

Hi Jim,

Do you feel that the phantom and 202 won't be a little dry /clinical? My dealer said I might find them exceptionally detailed but a little clinical?

I'm also looking to change preamp (I have a 302e) and currently use an AR LS26. A toss up between Ref5SE and 202 - currently thinking the former it's supposed to have better low end grip than the Ref3 and has been far more popular than the Krell Preamps. If you can find a 202/ Phantom it's likely to be cheaper than a Ref5SE and I'm not sure of the benefits of CAST although I don't want to lose money on my TA interconnects.

There's at least one guy on here that prefers the Phantom to the Ref5 but I think most votes will go the other way.

Hi

I am using the 202 connected with cast on my MRAs. Works very nice! :-)

What about the Ayre KX-5 or KX-R Twenty? I have only heard the K-5xeMP but very detailed while not dry.

Absolutely love the kx-R but it is pretty darned expensive over here - too much for my pockets :)

Do love what it does though - the resolution and 3-dimensional soundstage is sublime. In fact it is the single best ss preamp I ever heard.

Too bad your in the UK. There is one for sale in the pre-amp section here on AA.
:whistle: :naughty:

Oh my - you are the owner of my all time dream reference amplifiers - never heard nor seen them in the flesh but they just exemplify everything that I love about the high end - over engineering at its madness. 16000 watts into 0.5 ohms:eek2::eek2:

Out of interest, what kind of dedicated lines did you install? In theory you would need 70amp /240v line.

What speakers are you using - any photos of your rig would be great!

What are you changing it out for, Jim? Presumably the D'Agostino?

Yes. If I am able to sell mine.

Heard the full D'Ag kit running Alexias - beautiful and non fatiguing sound. Dream kit - enjoy.

The only ss i heard better was the Constellation reference monoblocks and pre driving Wilson Sasha 2s. They are a heck of a lot more cash though but move things on again. Never heard speed and resolution like Constellation.

I don't want to derail this thread any more than we have so we can take that discussion elsewhere. :thumbsup:

Okay cool.

I was unsure myself, because I only have 1x16 amp/240 v line for my stereo. Thankfully they startet and played music. I think I have to thank the softstart for this

I am using Magico Q5s and the MRAs should have adequate control :D. I owned Evolution 900s before, but the MRAs is a totaly different beast. The music flows much easier with darker background.

http://www.hifisentralen.no/forumet/...legg-image.jpg

Oh my goodness - they are monsters. You really need to get them dedicated lines in your place preferably with massive amp capacity. You are only hearing a tiny amount of their ability at the moment. Wait till you unleash them :)

The previous owner used 1x32 amp/230 v so this is what I want to try myself. Not sure if I will have a separate 32 amp in my apartment because I might be moving sometimes in the near future.

Not looking forward to transport the MRAs down 3 stories, it was hell getting them up here since I don't have an elevator.... It's nice to have some strong buddies! :-)

Ah - I see. If you are planning to move you may as well wait and get it done at the new place. Boy, you must know some powerlifters to move those beasts. I carried my 750s myself which are 64kg each - that is quite a lot of weight out front and with an awkward shape :)

Moving heavy amps alone is very impressive too! They sure are heavy on the power supply side!

We were 4 guys equiped with the same equipement/ropes as moving guys use (sorry, English is not my native language). But at 320 ish kg each (with the trolley) my friends were not so happy! It got better when i put some beer on the table later on :-)

Beer - always the solution to keep men happy for their work ;)

What is your source for those - looks like a linn Klimax DS?

….Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. H.Simpson :-)

Correct, I love my Linn Klimax DS. I use Mac Mini with USB disc. Its very nice to also stream radio, Spotify, Wimp etc… Also have a Rega RP40, but I use the Linn 95 % of the time. Its very nice to controll everything with just an iPad :-)

The Linn Klimax is a very enjoyable source that is for sure. The ease of control with iPad makes life as a music lover very convenient. About 5 years ago I had the Akurate ds, which I enjoyed.

I owned the stereo version for about 9 years. Had it reconditioned completely once. I loved the amp. Congrats!

Hi Guys,

I have the chance to purchase the audio research ref 3 at a good price here and I think this is the route I wish to follow. My system could just do with that little injection of some tube magic - soundstage air and presence and a bit of warmth in the mids.

Do you think this is a good move or should I save for a used ref 5 instead? Or look at a different pre entirely! I have heard some nice ss pres in my system and they do some things superbly but that tube magic is missing to my ears.

Well I have managed to line up auditions with Allnic L1500&3000, Krell evo 202, arc ref 3&5 so will see how I go...

If you have the possibility to try out CAST I would recommend it. It sound clearly more neutral here. But, I have not testet with high end ICs like S.R. Galileo LE, Odin etc. CAST is also a much cheaper alternativ.

Tommy

Well the L1500 arrived today and I have spent most of the day listening and I can say without reservation that it is fantastic and gels with the Krell beautifully.

This combo generates are lovely deep and wide soundstage with a very liquid feel. Dynamics are very impressive in part due to the incredibly low noise floor - you would honestly think it is ss as there is scarcely anything even an obscene volumes! The Allnic does a clever trick of revealing hitherto unheard details but never in a way that does not fully engage you in the whole. Looking forward to hearing the L3000.

Having just sold my 700cx, a pair of these may be my next move :music: