LET’S say you’re in the market for a powerful integrated amplifier and have US$5,000 to spare. There’s a new contender for your attention now – the Krell S-550i, which begins shipping next week.
Built on the success of the award-winning S-300i, the S-550i is claimed to output an impressive 275 watts into eight ohms and able to drive just about any loudspeaker to extreme performance. The 29kg package takes up less rack space than you would expect such a powerful amp to, so you don’t have to redesign your room.
The equipment list is as impressive, too – three single-ended inputs, one balanced input and, yes, a dedicated input (via a 30-pin connector) for your iPod. Plus, there’s Theater Throughout mode which allows seamless integration with a home theatre system. Also provided are a pair of preamp outputs and a set of speaker terminals.
The preamp section design is drawn from the flagship Phantom. Krell’s now familiar Current Mode allows a wide bandwidth suited for high-resolution sources. The S-550i also sports a massive 1,750-watt transformer and is capable of 68,000μF of capacitance. Power is doubled when speaker impedance is halved, so you get 550 watts into four ohms.
The S-550i comes with a remote control that is finished in brushed aluminum, while the amp itself is available in silver or black.
More details at the Krell parking lot.
