DSJR
Major Contributor
As Hans an lots of ASR members I'm in my 60ties by reading information published here I gain knowledge even on my age. I did discover DSP like Room correction an it opened a new windows enjoying my music way more than before. Why because I'm open to new opinions an insight.
But only from a statistical point of view I read many opinions of people (not only on ASR) who own Mark Levinson, Krell an other expensive amp's they would turn to a modern Class D amp like Hypex if there expensive amp's are beyond repair. Those people have deep pockets to buy the best amp's available are they all wrong???
If I read you correctly, I'd respectfully suggest that many well heeled audiophiles buy on reputation, looks and high ticket price, the actual measured performance being irrelevant or at least, taken for granted... I've been told by several manufacturers with their main business in far eastern markets, that high ticket price is everything as it conveys status on the buyer/owner being able to afford it! I'd also suggest that since the late 70's, reliance by domestic users on decent well sorted measured performance declined rapidly and there remain pockets of resistance to measured performance to this day , where the perceived 'sound' matters most and a steadfast refusal to believe that measurements today are far more accurate than our ears, the latter depending on our minds' interpretation which can vary from day to day. Why do people today buy valve/tube gear when the bench performance of much of it is awful and the output transformers react so badly to a typical loudspeaker crossover, acting as a graphic equaliser a lot of the time? They buy these things on visuals and the eq effect gives a definite subjective alteration over what they had before... The fact a 'reviewer' prefers the more expensive option every time shows exactly the market he's aiming at - and it's a very lucrative one still, but may only last while us '60+'s' are still around to spend the money, at least in Europe.
Old Krell amps sell for the prices they do to nostalgia for a bygone high end era I reckon. I sugested to a purchaser that a Krell KSA100 might sound a bit 'foggy' today, accepting the preamp may have played a part. I was ignored, the purchase went ahead and the first thing he did was to replace a handful of electrolytic caps on the main board, claiming an instant 'improvement.' A few weeks later, he bought a manufacturer assembled Neurochrome 686 and had it shipped over here, balking at but paying the import duty (I think the total was around two grand). He was amazed how much 'better' it was, the KSA100 sounding much as I described in comparison.
Old Levinson may well be a better kettle of fish to start with, as I understand that 'those who know/knew' in the UK always preferred these to earlier Krell models, despite Levinson being kept away from certain UK reviewers at the time - there's a good reason why apparently.