Munich, Germany — Krell added to its selection of integrated amps here at the High End Munich show with the debut of the $3,500-suggested 2×200-watt Vanguard.
The Vanguard features a fully balanced Class A current-mode preamplifier circuit and an optional dealer-installable digital module with HDMI input, coax and optical digital inputs, USB input, AptX Bluetooth, and Ethernet port for streaming music and controlling streaming via iOS and Android apps. The module’s price hasn’t been set.
The integrated amp will ship in July to join the $2,500 2×150-watt S-300i integrated amp and the $5,000 2×275-watt S-550i. The new model, however, will eventually replace the S-300i.
The component incorporates fully balanced, fully discrete Class A circuit designs used in Krell’s top-of-the-line Illusion preamps. Like the company’s two other integrated amps, it also features Current Mode technology to send audio signals in the current domain between the preamp and amplifier sections. The technology reduces noise and increases bandwidth to reproduce the latest high-resolution PCM and DSD audio sources without a loss of high-frequency response and detail, the company said.
A home-theater bypass mode lets the Vanguard operate as part of a surround-sound system without sacrificing two-channel sound quality, the company said.
Inputs include three stereo RCA and one stereo balanced XLR.
The amplifier incorporates a massive power supply with a 750 VA toroidal transformer and 80,000 microfarads of storage capacitance to deliver 2×200 watts into 8 ohms and 2×400 watts into 4 ohms. “This is far more power than most other integrated amplifiers, at any price, can deliver,” the company claimed.
The chassis borrows its design and construction from Krell’s new Foundation preamp/processor, Connect streaming player, Illusion preamp and iBias amplifiers.
