Location: gone
Posts: 11,519
I'm gone.
Well, aside from anything else, it involves another set of cables!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: gone
Posts: 11,519
I'm gone.
Looks like I need to come over with my KIN and show you all how it's doneOriginally Posted by Marco
............... and get the TT connected again to show what you are missing
Last edited by Firebottle; 20-10-2017 at 17:51. Reason: TT comment added
Lol - you're on form today!!
However, I don't want to deflect attention from the main event (trying to fix the issue in Martin's system), with a 'willy-waving' sideshow between active valve preamps.
Therefore, unless Martin (as it's his gaff) particularly wants to hear the Croft in his system, in which case I'll duly oblige [no problem in shlepping it down], then if Alan wants to bring along the KIN, we can simply use that for active duties, and be done with it
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
The ONLY reason a passive preamp would possibly compromise your Krell is the sensitivity issue if used with old sources with say 500mV output not going loud enough - the KSA 50S needs 1.3V for full output. NOT AN ISSUE WITH CD sources or most other digital ones I believe - some phono stages have good gain as well Even with my old tuners, I never ran out of volume travel, but head-bangers might possibly and it's on these low-output sources a line buffer would be needed possibly, but not particularly a digital source with a 2V maximum output, which would give some headroom.
One reason I sold the Krell to you (the main ones were financial and the potential overheating issue where I needed to site it) is the trap you're falling into here due to what I feel may be incorrect advice. the Krell carries a certain cachet and reverence about it, meaning a cheaper 'twin-pot-in-a-box' isn't going to be judged 'good enough' for the almighty Krell power amp, which because of its ability to drive itself up the side of a bloody house if needs be (oh alright, a 2 ohm loading) and the main reason for its size and considerable cost when new (even your baby one was four grand at least) - large power supply and beefed-up casework to accommodate it, means it can be used with all sorts of over complex expensive speakers and the current output helped with low impedance US-made panels too. To keep with the 'image,' a matching active preamp would be regarded as mandatory by these people to get the 'best' out of it, despite most older Krell or usual ARC preamps having a 'sound' to them (the ones I heard do, although it doesn't necessarily make them 'worse' as such).
Then of course 'ordinary cables' wouldn't be good enough, so a few more grand on these is deemed necessary to bring the best out from this amp as ordinary cables aren't expensive enough or good enough looking... - See where I'm going here?
Apologies for diving in too soon possibly, but the Krell amp is an AMP, not bloody audio royalty, and it's main function was to drive complex speaker loads of the time that many other amps would limit themselves with and to provide heaps of current into low impedance loads. Your speakers needed this ability far more than mine, and I have no money to get on the cachet bandwagon of a 'matching' preamp, whatever expensive brand that should be, let alone foo cables of the right price tag....
The only way your *particular* power amp really *could* be improved - and this following the Stereophile review - is by possibly using a fully balanced preamp (I'm thinking the Levinson ML28 as Barry here uses as a start, as I believe it's circuit is fully balanced from input to output, needing very careful component matching I remember and you can get the odd one for under a grand now I think). I follow a path that tells me that 'balanced' isn't really needed for domestic setups requiring shorter interconnect runs, but if the Krell is positioned in between the speakers and fed by several metres of interconnect, then *in this particular instance* it might give a better sound than a 'pot-in-a-box,' which is potentially better than anything else otherwise - you do know that transformer 'preamps' have hundreds of feet of wiring in and across the signal path and they 'will' add distortion of sorts, even if it's benign... A precision attenuator such as you have is but one high quality resistor ONLY in the signal path, the others just 'shunting away' not-needed voltage (I'm hoping that's correct enough to save censure from Rothwell and others).
If I've got it all wrong then I apologies. Krell is one of those brands build like an outhouse and designed for a particular market, as was Mark Levinson of old and other juggernaut amps on the domestic market. This particular market is a kind of 'club' which I used to hang on the fringes of and the chap who passed it to me originally was very much of this band of loyal followers, raving about the 'cheap' mains cable he'd just sold at a mere £760! (his was from further up the range as were his 'Transparent Audio Reference' signal leads). Last I heard, he had a D'Agostino amp and twenty grand ML panels used with his freshly restored once £20k Krell CD/Digital preamp. The KSA 50S was a temporary standby amp while his FPB 400 was being serviced...
Last edited by DSJR; 20-10-2017 at 18:34.
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!