Anthem D1 vs Krell Evolution 222 for music pre.
mantis
Posts: 17,394
Ok Right from the start your thinking " why the hell would anyone shoot out a 2 channel preamp and a theater preamp for music?
So my crazy customer wanted an upgrade for his system. He has a very nice theater in his basement that really really enjoys music more then theater. He has probably 100 DVD and 1000 + music disc's including SACD and DVD AUDIO. His system had a Anthem D1 preamp with a P5 amp running everything. Then he wanted more and got a pair of Mono FPB 301 krell's , now he went further and got a Evolution 402e with a Evolution 222 preamp he wanted to integrate into the theater system. Ok so he's a bit nuts as I might have gone with the Evolution 707 krell preamp which is still might but he really doesn't care much at all about theater.( So owning Anthem really shows that right? LOL) So up front he has the awesome Vienna Mahlers with the matching center but went with Thiel Power point rears as they worked in his room better then Vienna Waltz. Also he went with not 1 but 2 Paradigm Servo 15's for movies only. They do not get used for music. With the amount of bass the Vienna's crank out I tend to agree.
We ran CAST cables from the 222 to the 402 which is Krell's own Balanced design with a 4th wire. It's made for them by Nordost. Everything else in the system is Cardos. He has a very nice Arcam CD player with a Cambridge DAC MAGIC external DAC which sounds really good together I must say.
So I listened to the Anthem and thought it sounded really good with the new Krell amp. I also was still using the cast cables as the 222 has a bad **** option to convert one input to a pure theater preamp bypass( I'll explain if anyone wants to know). Then I switched to the Krell for CD and my god people let me tell you the difference was unbelievable. Anthem prides themselves on being a very musical preamp music is first then everything else falls in place but in this case the krell so outshined the Anthem is was just about no was embarrassing . I knew preamps make all the difference in the world as you hear it when you switch them out but when you can quickly A-B one it's crazy the clarity and silence it brought out.
I have always been a Krell supporter but today I have never heard the Vienna's sing like that. My god it was tear jerking. I had James Taylor "Line em up" playing and as it's a great song I never got emotional listening to that cut. Today I did.
So my crazy customer wanted an upgrade for his system. He has a very nice theater in his basement that really really enjoys music more then theater. He has probably 100 DVD and 1000 + music disc's including SACD and DVD AUDIO. His system had a Anthem D1 preamp with a P5 amp running everything. Then he wanted more and got a pair of Mono FPB 301 krell's , now he went further and got a Evolution 402e with a Evolution 222 preamp he wanted to integrate into the theater system. Ok so he's a bit nuts as I might have gone with the Evolution 707 krell preamp which is still might but he really doesn't care much at all about theater.( So owning Anthem really shows that right? LOL) So up front he has the awesome Vienna Mahlers with the matching center but went with Thiel Power point rears as they worked in his room better then Vienna Waltz. Also he went with not 1 but 2 Paradigm Servo 15's for movies only. They do not get used for music. With the amount of bass the Vienna's crank out I tend to agree.
We ran CAST cables from the 222 to the 402 which is Krell's own Balanced design with a 4th wire. It's made for them by Nordost. Everything else in the system is Cardos. He has a very nice Arcam CD player with a Cambridge DAC MAGIC external DAC which sounds really good together I must say.
So I listened to the Anthem and thought it sounded really good with the new Krell amp. I also was still using the cast cables as the 222 has a bad **** option to convert one input to a pure theater preamp bypass( I'll explain if anyone wants to know). Then I switched to the Krell for CD and my god people let me tell you the difference was unbelievable. Anthem prides themselves on being a very musical preamp music is first then everything else falls in place but in this case the krell so outshined the Anthem is was just about no was embarrassing . I knew preamps make all the difference in the world as you hear it when you switch them out but when you can quickly A-B one it's crazy the clarity and silence it brought out.
I have always been a Krell supporter but today I have never heard the Vienna's sing like that. My god it was tear jerking. I had James Taylor "Line em up" playing and as it's a great song I never got emotional listening to that cut. Today I did.
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
Post edited by mantis on
Comments
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I have read that the anthem D2 is way better for music ..... Its cool that you get to mess around with all that gear
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I've always loved hearing Krell stuff. The one place I tend to go to has it often on display and its always just wonderful to listen to when set up. Only thing keeping me from getting it for now is the price. Don't think I have the money to shell out 16K just for an amp right now lol.
Thanks for the review though! Always interesting what you get to hear! -
It is a pleasure and curse to Install / Play with gear. It constantly makes me want something new. I moved into a theater first system and after sitting and listening to James Taylor on that system makes me want a 2 channel system even more or using this theater bypass option , that was really cool.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
polkfarmboy wrote: »I have read that the anthem D2 is way better for music ..... Its cool that you get to mess around with all that gear
Honestly man I have Installed Anthem D1 , D2 D2v2 and I have yet to be impressed with it's musical abilities. Theater it's very nice and really the preamp has so many setting it should be off the charts but it's I'd go as far as saying it's average sounding. There is no sparkle , there is no excitement , there amps are killer with tons of power yet you don't get that chill up your spine with music.
I have however done a full W5 with a Sub25 Paradigm Reference system for theater that sounded amazing with a D2v2 and a A5.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Would you like to donate me one of those Krell amps?????? lol It costs more than my car!
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rmknotts123 wrote: »Would you like to donate me one of those Krell amps?????? lol It costs more than my car!
if I had the money to donate one I would have several of them myself.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Mantis would you say that is the best Krell system you have heard to date? If not what do you feel to be the strongest Krell components out there?
