After some 8 years since the first Mc amp came out for car audio (and about the same time for Adcom amps), Dan D' Agostino of Krell is actually *thinking* about making amps for car audio.

My guess...it's a bit late in the game. McIntosh is already well established and Brax is getting to be another high end choice also as well as Arc Audio and others.

With Krells downhill trend I have a feeling it's going to be another "name" amp rather than one of substance. Take a look at their under 10k$ processor, the HTS (Home Theater System) and their newer CD players. Ol Dan has really skimped out on the parts count, quality of torriods for power supply and no HDCD decoding on any cd player less than 5k. SAD. The dead giveaway...the remote controls. For a 5k+ HTS system, you'd at least expect a nicely milled solid aluminum remote control (like they USED to). But, alas, they've gone to all plastic with a questionable build quality with a film membrane that's pretty much guaranteed to break within a 3 year usage.

It doesn't look good. I highly doubt he'll incorporate his Full Power Balance technology. If he does, that would be surprising.

Hate to say it, but give me a McIntosh amp anyday. And I was a big Krell fan! This includes their home gear too.

Percy

 

There are a lot of highend amps coming up in the game. Just see any euro show and you see many new amps in the game. Sinfoni is one of those.

I am thinking about getting the new Denon HU. What are your thoughts on those?

http://www.alphaaudio.co.jp/usa/denon_web/denon.html

 

Retro,

Sinfoni is one of the new guys on the block. Luxman is another one as well as MacTone. The MacTone looks quite interesting but the tubes can only put out so much power. Luxman looks quite promising and I haven't seen the Sinfonis yet.

Denon. Ahhh! Now there's a solid name. When they had the head units back in the early 90's, their reliability wasn't too hot. Lots of failed mechanisms if I remember correctly. The newer ones with Alpha processing - they throw a lot of marketing speak but they're good, solid units. BTW...McIntosh MX406 and Clarion DRX9255 also use the Alpha Processor, but it isn't well known or advertised. The Alpha processing is just their "core" processor for the CD section. They're much better now than in the '90's. I have a Denon cd changer (modded) at home which beat out Sony's XA777ES SACD player by a long shot in standard CD sources, so I have no complaints about Denon. Good stuff.

Lots of new names like you mentioned. Krell had better be "up to snuff" with it's patented technologies to play with the big boys. If they're just selling their name then it'll be a disappointment.

Percy

 

I haven't listened to any new highend amps yet. My mission was the speaker systems and amps come last. I will be listening to most of them in a couple of month when I am in Finland though!

Many home audio companies are supposed to be coming out with all the good gear for cars now. This market is definetely getting big now days.