Krell or Parasound Amplifiers What is your pick? System advice

Joshwest90

Hey Everyone!

This quarantine has me rethinking my system. I currently have the following:

Receiver:
Onkyo Tx-Rz 820

Front sound stage:
Polk Audio SDA-1A (Upgraded Caps, Resistors, dynamat on speaker housing, additional acoustastuff) Front Right and Left
*SDA-1A powered by Parasound HCA-1500A*

SVS Prime Center Channel

Polk Audio SDA-CRS as Height 1
*SDA-CRS Powered by Kenwood Basic M2A*

Rear Sound Stage:

Polk Audio SDA-2A
*SDA-2A Powered by Carver TFM-35x*

Height 2:
Definitive Technology Pro Monitor 1000

Side Surrounds:
Atlantic Technology FS-3200 LR

Subwoofers:
SVS SB2000
Velodyne Minivee 8

A Krell Soundstage 7 came up for sale locally and I am curious what everyone thinks of this amplifier. Any suggestions on new speakers to potentially replace the polks or upgrade advice?

pitdogg2

Do you mean Krell Showcase 7 ? I would think it is but seeing how you have some blade/Blade speakers you'll need common ground.

Joshwest90

@pitdogg2 yes the Krell Showcase 7. Didn’t realize it wasn’t common ground. If you could make a suggestion about the system above what would it be?

pitdogg2

I'm not saying that it is or is not common ground. I'm simply stating that with your blade/blade SDA'S you need to be sure it is common ground to use your SDA with the interconnect cable.
I stated " I would think it is" since it is a multi-channel amplifier.

Joshwest90

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I'm not saying that it is or is not common ground. I'm simply stating that with your blade/blade SDA'S you need to be sure it is common ground to use your SDA with the interconnect cable.
I stated " I would think it is" since it is a multi-channel amplifier.

I’ll hAve to look into it.have you had any experience with Krell Amps?

mantis

Both amp companies are very good. I have tons of experience with the Showcase 7 channel amp by Krell and it's a powerful beast. Krell has made some of the worlds most powerful and best amps.
Parasound is no slouch, they make wonderful amps and have been in the Theater game forever. They where also one of the early THX certified amps and they seem to last forever.
I don't think you can go wrong with either. The common ground thing is a thing with SDA speakers so I would look into that. I don't remember if the Krell is, I believe it is but I would double check.

Joshwest90

mantis wrote: »

Both amp companies are very good. I have tons of experience with the Showcase 7 channel amp by Krell and it's a powerful beast. Krell has made some of the worlds most powerful and best amps.
Parasound is no slouch, they make wonderful amps and have been in the Theater game forever. They where also one of the early THX certified amps and they seem to last forever.
I don't think you can go wrong with either. The common ground thing is a thing with SDA speakers so I would look into that. I don't remember if the Krell is, I believe it is but I would double check.

I’ve looked online and through the manual online and I cannot find anything that points to it being common ground. Any advice?

honestaquarian

Contact Krell industries.
Here is where you need to pay attention to some seemingly small details that can be VERY important. Firstly get the name of the amp right😉😆
Secondly do not just contact the them and say you want to know if that amp (which is no longer made)is common grounded. YOU NEED TO TELL THEM WHY YOU ARE ASKING I.E. tell them the make and model of your loudspeakers and the fact that they have a common ground requirement because of the crossfeed cable.
The reason why I say this is because when you give the bare minimum amount of information (which is what most are prone to do)then you get the bare minimum amount of answer back (meaning it is often either the wrong answer of just doesn't answer your questions at all)

Joshwest90

honestaquarian wrote: »

Contact Krell industries.
Here is where you need to pay attention to some seemingly small details that can be VERY important. Firstly get the name of the amp right😉😆
Secondly do not just contact the them and say you want to know if that amp (which is no longer made)is common grounded. YOU NEED TO TELL THEM WHY YOU ARE ASKING I.E. tell them the make and model of your loudspeakers and the fact that they have a common ground requirement because of the crossfeed cable.
The reason why I say this is because when you give the bare minimum amount of information (which is what most are prone to do)then you get the bare minimum amount of answer back (meaning it is often either the wrong answer of just doesn't answer your questions at all)

Haha. I was just discussing the soundstage with my fiancé before typing that post 😂😂. I’ll definitely explain what I have. I had one guy tell me that Krell and Polk together create more of a “boomy” sound stage. Has anyone had experience with that?

honestaquarian

I would DEARLY LOVE to hear a Krell amp with Polk loudspeakers.
ESPECIALLY the SDA’s!!
Also a McIntosh.
Never had the pleasure with either.

pitdogg2

I've heard a Krell on SDA1c and to describe any Krell as boomy I'd have to call horse hockey. Krells to my ears are very analytical, they seem very neutral in presentation. They are able to reproduce the music dynamics very well because of their build quality in the power supply.

Krell is the better of the two amps in most cases. I think Krell produced better amps in the Dan D'Agostino era which the showcase is towards the end of that era.

My Krell experience was a ksa250 beast of an amp.

nooshinjohn

I would grab this one instead... significantly more power.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Krell-Theatre-Amplifier-Standard-TAS-5-Channel-Amplifier/274301513094?hash=item3fdda4ed86:g:nrMAAOSwA7JeZqym

Joshwest90

nooshinjohn wrote: »

I would grab this one instead... significantly more power.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Krell-Theatre-Amplifier-Standard-TAS-5-Channel-Amplifier/274301513094?hash=item3fdda4ed86:g:nrMAAOSwA7JeZqym

I need 7 channels that looks like just 5, and its 1200.00 more than the asking price for the showcase 7 not including his shipping price through ebay.

Joshwest90

@pitdogg2 @honestaquarian @mantis any idea what a fair value price would be on the following amps?

Carver TFM-35x
Parasound HCA-1500A (Orignal Box)
Kenwood Basic M2A (Small dent on the bottom corner)

honestaquarian

Please remember the “x” series of the Carver TFM amps while THX certified do not sound the same as the ones which came before the certification. They removed the transfer function modification circuitry for reasons never explained. They are going for average three to five hundred on eBay. The non “x” versions are more desirable and do not go up for sale often. They tend to fetch the most.

honestaquarian

A Krell would blow all of them out of the water though

Joshwest90

honestaquarian wrote: »

A Krell would blow all of them out of the water though

Trying to sell these to buy the Krell. I tried to get ahold of Krell to verify common ground and they are closed due to covid 19

honestaquarian

Are there any forums you can go on?

Joshwest90

honestaquarian wrote: »

Are there any forums you can go on?

I’m not sure. I’ve googled and googled and cannot come up with anything

Joshwest90

@pitdogg2 @honestaquarian
This is what I've found on Krell's Website regarding the showcase 7. Can either of you decipher whether or not this means it is only common ground through the XLR connections and not utilizing RCA.

audioluvr

That's referring to the input circuitry not the output circuitry.

Joshwest90

audioluvr wrote: »

That's referring to the input circuitry not the output circuitry.

That is all I can find on the amp. Nothing leading me to believe it is common ground. The current owner does not have means of testing it for me unfortunately.

audioluvr

So I'm no expert on this but I would think it would be quite difficult for a manufacturer to build a 7 channel amp with seven separate grounds. Like you've been told before by others... Sometimes life is all about taking chances. This is a great amp. My recommendation is to buy it before someone else does. Like me.

Joshwest90

audioluvr wrote: »

So I'm no expert on this but I would think it would be quite difficult for a manufacturer to build a 7 channel amp with seven separate grounds. Like you've been told before by others... Sometimes life is all about taking chances. This is a great amp. My recommendation is to buy it before someone else does. Like me.

hahah. Well if you buy it let me know if its common ground for the next one hahaha

invalid

I know my krell ksa 300s is common ground, I've used it with my sda 2a's. I would assume a multi channel amp is common ground as was stated earlier.

Sound_Recluse

honestaquarian wrote: »

I would DEARLY LOVE to hear a Krell amp with Polk loudspeakers.
ESPECIALLY the SDA’s!!
Also a McIntosh.
Never had the pleasure with either.

Sda's sound great on mcintosh.. I love my setup

Joshwest90

For anyone wondering I received an email back from Krell.

nooshinjohn

It is worth noting here that Krell's service to their customers has been affected by being shut down, and still has been stellar, and far better than many other companies service during normal times.

honestaquarian

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I've heard a Krell on SDA1c and to describe any Krell as boomy I'd have to call horse hockey. Krells to my ears are very analytical, they seem very neutral in presentation. They are able to reproduce the music dynamics very well because of their build quality in the power supply.

Krell is the better of the two amps in most cases. I think Krell produced better amps in the Dan D'Agostino era which the showcase is towards the end of that era.

My Krell experience was a ksa250 beast of an amp.

I don’t know if I would call Krell “analytical” per se. I had an almost life changing experience by walking in to The Stereo Shop in Hartford, Connecticut where I’m originally from by sheer coincidence on the very day the late Steve Portacarrero was demoing Krell to them in the hopes they would pick up the line back in 1991. They had the infamous KSA-250 beast hooked up to some B & W 801 Matrix III’s. I heard a huge, expansive soundstage with soundstage height even!! (back then they said you could not reproduce such a thing) I heard detail that I had never heard before or since!

soundfreak1

I have powered rta 12b and c's with hca 1200ll and 1500a and the Krell Kav250a. No comparison the Krell killed it. But... biamping with Krell on top and the 1500a on the bottom is something special!

honestaquarian

@soundfreak1
Okay I’m sure you’ve been asked this before because of Krells bass reputation (I think you can figure out where this question is going about the biamping)😉