Krell S-300i and S-350a

For Krell fans the good news is the first real New Zealand distributor for Krell (the Audio Reference Company) and the launch of the latest entry level components; the S-300i integrated amplifier and the S-350a CD player. These products carry added significance as the first Krell made in China. Unlike many manufacturers who have product made in the PRC, Krell gets double bonus points for clearly naming the country of origin on its product.



The 150wpc S-300i amplifier features a fully balanced circuit from input to output. It will accommodate three single-ended inputs, one balanced and one analogue iPod input. Home theatre pass-through is selected via the remote. There’s provision for third party controllers and a 12V trigger. Old time analogue fans (like me) miss out on the recording loop of earlier KAV integrateds.

The S-350a CDP uses a TEAC slot-loading DVD transport coupled to a Burr-Brown 192kHz/24-bit DAC. There are single-ended and balanced analogue outputs, coax and Toslink digital outputs and matching coax and Toslink inputs, these are limited to 96kHz. Lack of USB connectivity snubs modern digitalists. There is provision to add video playback but it’s limited to standard definition DVD so why bother?



The units share the current Krell pre-occupation with highly polished aluminium faceplates, a large central volume control, tiny control buttons and a large backlit display screen. The tiny buttons look good and have a good positive action, the volume knob looks like metal but feels like plastic and is actually one of those awful electronic encoders with no feel to it. The displays are functional and legible, making menu adjustments easy.

Annoyingly, both units had pilot lights and display panels of differing intensity that no amount of fiddling could fix. The metal remote controls are much nicer to use than the front panel controls. They carry the familiar heft of US Krell remotes. The amp remote carries basic CD functions but some operations (like switching between CD and digital inputs) are unique to the CD remote, which only performs dedicated CDP tasks.

Behind the polished fascia it’s easy to see where costs were trimmed. It’s all well made and solid (the amp is 19kg, a lot of that comes from the huge 750VA toroidal transformer; the CDP 11kg) but the design and build quality of the casework and fittings is all a bit generic and not as bespoke as US built Krell. Not surprising as the original KAV-300i retailed at $4500 in 1996, equivalent to ~$6500 in 2011 dollars. The last US Krell integrated (model KAV-400xi) was around the $10,000 mark a year or so ago. These new pieces are only $4000 each.

The Krells were auditioned in my resident system of Well Tempered, Marantz, Denon, Nakamichi, Sony source equipment; Image Petite Performa/Mass speakers; XLO cabling. An original Krell and Jadis integrated amplifiers were on hand for comparison.

Amping up
Turning the S-300i on is like taking a trip back to hi-fi of the ‘80s. There’s a small thump through the speakers, followed by the gentle buzz of the mains transformer and a low hiss through the speakers.

Fortunately the hiss is at a fixed level and almost totally masked when music is playing. Source selection results in the loud snap of a relay, volume changes are accompanied by the tick, tick of the electronic volume control. None of these noises are deal breakers; it’s just a bit of a shock to find a modern solid state amp with as many odd noises as my cranky old tube amp.

Something was wrong as the amp sounded lazy and boring. The culprit turned out to be the stock IEC power cable. More evidence of cost cutting as the old KAV-300i came with a fat, no-name cable that remains the best sounding stock power cable I’ve ever used.

It was only after replacing the stock cable with the AS/NZS compliant ARC cable that the amp revealed its musical prowess. The soundstage is expansive, with solid, focussed and dimensional performers on a well lit stage. There’s wide bandwidth, good dynamics, lots of detail and plenty of control and drive. It’s all clean and smooth with no additive or subtractive colourations. Music is alive but never overwhelming in its immediacy. The amp is composed and beguiling in a manner that eluded earlier Krell integrated amplifiers.

Disc drive
Slide a disc into the S-350a and the player starts up like a supermarket DVD player with a cacophony of whirring and clanking as the disc is read and readied for playback. Once initialised, transport commands are carried out quickly and silently.

Playback through the balanced connection (single-ended was thinner, less exciting, a bit dull) was superb; full bodied, lively, articulate, involving, with a good sense of scale and space, free of any digital artifice. A large part of this is down to the high quality digital processing, similar sound was obtained when experimenting with other CD transports.

Country of origin
So is Chinese Krell equal to US Krell? Where it matters most (ie, performance), a definite YES !

These components offer class leading performance unmatched at the price (even after factoring in the ARC power cables). Together they work together extremely well and are more than good enough to see off the imported competition and even leave locally manufactured competitors in their dust. Put aside the operational quirks and you will have a no-brainer basis for a very satisfying musical system that won’t put you in the poor house.

Krell S-300i integrated amplifier, $3995
Krell S-350a CD player, $3995
ARC power cables, $475 each