Krell KMA-1800 - MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER

Ever since I raved about Krell's K-300i integrated amplifier after it was released in early 2019,¹ I've wanted to review other Krell products. After spending more than a year and a half (since its prerelease announcement) awaiting the opportunity to review Krell's new flagship mono power amplifier, the KMA-1800 ($73,000/pair), the time has come.

- JASON VICTOR SERINUS

Both Krell models utilize the company's proprietary iBias technology, albeit in different iterations, and both were designed by longtime Krell engineer Dave Goodman.² In the conclusion to my K-300i review, I wrote, "The Krell ... has the smoothest, most listenable, and most all-of-onepiece sonics of [any] integrated I've reviewed.... There's a round edge to its images that some might equate with the gentlest sprinkling of warmth, but others would describe as listener friendly. It certainly leaves me smiling." I thought it so excellent, and such a good buy for a Roonready streaming integrated with an optional onboard PCM/DSD/ MQA DAC, that I urged a friend to buy one. More than three years later, he's still smiling.

Would Krell's new, far more powerful class-A monoblocks inspire the same excitement? As much as asking the question may sound like the first installment in a made-for-TV soap series, finding out made all the work I did carting these beasts around more than worth it.

Design and engineering