Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[paulf-2007]

Gibson Les Paul Supreme and Washburn bass.

The LP is nice. Flamed maple both sides. Hollow body but you wouldn't know it. Still weighs a ton.

Nice, not that old then if it's flamed maple. PRS have forced fender and Gibson to put nice tops on their guitars.

[jandl100]

Back to the Krell 400xi integrated amp last night.

No, it doesn't have the soundstage and imaging precision and believability of the Crayon amp, no amp that I have heard can challenge that. But the Krell isn't bad in that regard and it does have a truly magnificent dynamic sweep; Berlioz' Requiem was stunning, classical music doesn't get bigger and bolder than that ime. The 28wpc Crayon simply can't match that with my medium sensitivity speakers.

Hmm, what I want is a 290wpc Crayon amp.
... or maybe bi-amp, with the Krell driving the MBLs' bass units [xover 160hz] and the Crayon on the rest? The amps are very similar tonally, so that might work. Although on the very rare occasions I have tried bi-amping in the past with different amps it hasn't been convincing.

Anyway, the Crayon is convincing for most of my music choices, which tend to be on a small or moderate scale. Swapping a few cables for the big music is a bit of a pain but doable.
I'll stay with the Krell for a few days and see how I get on with it. Immediate comparisons can highlight differences that in the longer term become less important; the Krell is a very fine amp in its own right.

[User211]

I thought the Krell had gone to Macca.

I sense another crossover mod coming along.

Some parametric EQ applied over the last few weeks at various levels in various places indicates the Luxman sounds even better on average with a cut between 4 to 8 KHz of about 2DB.

It just sounds more balanced that way. I'll be getting the test mic out to see what is really going on this week sometime.

The words 'on average' are really important. There are no standards for EQ on recorded music, and in high performance systems that can be really obvious.

No frequency response is optimal for all recordings. And much of why a track sounds great on one system as opposed to another is simply down to this annoying fact.

[Macca]

Well the amp and source will have a flat frequency response and the room and loudspeakers won't. But I don't see how having a standard for EQ on recordings would help that? or am I misinterpreting what you are saying?

[User211]

Well the amp and source will have a flat frequency response and the room and loudspeakers won't. But I don't see how having a standard for EQ on recordings would help that? or am I misinterpreting what you are saying?

Standard EQ for recordings would be ridiculous. That would mean that reggae couldn't be recorded without excess bass. Who would want that? Do you get what I am saying now?

Anyway, the Lampi isn't flat as the frequency response changes with valve rolls. It's easily measurable.

Currently PX4 is sounding the best with the Luxman but it does have a bit of a mid to upper end hype in it.

I might leave it as it is TBH. A couple of DB digital EQ doesn't hurt much in the way of SQ, and some of that is purely due to PX4 usage.

[jandl100]

I thought the Krell had gone to Macca.

Hmm, so did we, but we failed to find suitable boxes.

And then I tried it again...
It really is a very good amp. And it does stuff beyond the ability of the Crayon.
Current plan is to leave it fully powered up for a few days and see what transpires sound wise.

[User211]

Was it made after Dan left the company?

Not kept up with Krell models at all.

I'd be amazed if my evaluation didn't come down firmly in favour of the Krell in your system. Your speakers do need a fair amount of power.

That said until heard...

[Edward]

I thought the Krell had gone to Macca.

I sense another crossover mod coming along.

Some parametric EQ applied over the last few weeks at various levels in various places indicates the Luxman sounds even better on average with a cut between 4 to 8 KHz of about 2DB.

It just sounds more balanced that way. I'll be getting the test mic out to see what is really going on this week sometime.

The words 'on average' are really important. There are no standards for EQ on recorded music, and in high performance systems that can be really obvious.

No frequency response is optimal for all recordings. And much of why a track sounds great on one system as opposed to another is simply down to this annoying fact.

Justin,

Interested to know where/how in your audio chain you are applying the parametric EQ. And why you chose 2db in the 4-8Khz range?

cheers
E

[User211]

Justin,

Interested to know where/how in your audio chain you are applying the parametric EQ. And why you chose 2db in the 4-8Khz range?

cheers
E

I say so - it just sounds more balanced i.e. not overly bright.

That said change valves in the Lampi and a lot changes. So setting the crossover optimally for PX4 is a little over the top which is probably why I won't bother.

Equaliser APO and the Peace GUI. It's free and excellent apart from a dated looking GUI.

Google it and try it. Brilliant. Especially since it is free.

[Edward]

I say so - it just sounds more balanced i.e. not overly bright.

That said change valves in the Lampi and a lot changes. So setting the crossover optimally for PX4 is a little over the top which is probably why I won't bother.

Equaliser APO and the Peace GUI. It's free and excellent apart from a dated looking GUI.

Google it and try it. Brilliant. Especially since it is free.

Cheers Justin

Yes looks good. And the price is good.

Other than CD I had assumed you are an analog sort of guy, but I guess you have a computer in the audio chain.

I'll have a play with the software.