Krell Announces Reference Blu-ray Player

9designs2 said:
....and a Ferrari, and a yacht, and a Rolex, and world cruise...
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You'r comparing apples to oranges.

There's a huge difference between a Ferarri and a Ford Focus. I bet there isn't much difference between a £200 BD player and a £15k Krell one.

Also the Rolex argument argument is void because Rolex have never ever claimed there watch will tell the time any better than a £20 digital watch. They sell there products purely on craftmanship and expensive materials used i.e. gold and diamonds.
 
I don't know why you're all getting your knickers in a twist about the Krell. It's not like any of you are a likely customer, is it?

As with all things hyper-expensive there's an element of "it's the best" and as such that has a value to the super-rich.

I've been to the homes of plenty of very wealthy people and I see the same trends in what they buy; and not just AV gear but in all purchases. What do they take their kids to school in? - a Range Rover. Why? Because it's seen as the best. What is the portable music player of choice - an Apple iPod - for the same reason. Home computers - Apple again. It doesn't matter if the reality is different...It's what they think.

The chances are that any real customers for the Krell Blu-Ray player won't bother auditioning the product. They're too busy making money to waste time doing that. It'll be installed as part of a cinema system or whole house AV install. The kind of project this will go in to will be £200k+ They buy the best that they can afford, and want gilt-edged service back-up from the installer/supplier.

As for Blu-Ray player quality, it certainly does get better with price.

I've just upgraded one of my customer's home cinema to add a new amp, scaler, speakers, calibration and Blu-ray. I put in an entry-level Sony (BDP-S370) so he could dip a toe in the BR pond. Last night I took round a Denon 2500 that I have just had serviced for another client. We spent a little time comparing the latest £100 machine vs what was a high-end player from 18 months ago. The Denon made nicer pictures. More depth and solidity.
 
You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a PS3 with a 99p HDMI cable and this Krell with £300 cables, thats why people are getting their knickers in a twist.

With some things you can understand it but this just reads a digital disk and sends it to the TV. Surely any additional processing on board is a total waste of time, I thought AV enthusiasts hated that kind of stuff anyway. You'll be putting the signal into a reciever anyway which would deal with the audio decoding.
 
It used to be said that the PS3 was one of the best Blu-ray players available for picture quality. That's no longer the case. There are players available that give better results; but if you want to stick your head in the sand then fine.
 
Donning my skeptic hat as per usual, I can't help but think it would be quite easy to demonstrate benefits in picture quality on such a player as they would with a TV or any other device which is involved in transmitting a picture?

Even if such a difference is miniscule, it would at least be reasonable evidence that Krell could use to justify such a price tag.
 
Once again we have people happy to pronounce what's "fact" without ever getting off there bottoms and doing a practical experiment to prove it...... I can quite happily accept someones opinion if they have made the effort to prove it and do a demo.... if not, pipe down as ignorance is not becoming.....

So did all DVD players picture quality look the same, or were some better than others ???? I believe it was accepted that there varied ...with price ?
So BD players would be the same ......yes ?

Second point, often the "improved" quality goes into the on board processing, which you you would by-pass a lot of by using HDMI...... But not every one uses it.
For sound I don't, so better on board audio is useful to me.....
Perhaps, better on board video could be better than some internal processing and scaling of a (cheap) screen ?... that's a question not claim....

Proof is in the testing and trying, not in the flawed logical of limited knowledge by "experts"........
 
lucid said:
As for Blu-Ray player quality, it certainly does get better with price.
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I guess ignorance is bliss, but it's still ignorance.

as i said there is no difference (or so minimal you wouldn't be able to show it in blind tests) as far as blu ray PQ,

the difference in players will be analog connections, CD playback, SACD/DVDA capable or DVD upscaling

ever heard of the Lexicon BD30? costs over £3k and yet it's nothing more than an Oppo inside you could get for £500 :eek:.

people are free to do what they want with there cash, but there is no harm in pointing out it's a rip off for all the others who have a shred of common sense
 
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Trick said:
I know, it's brilliant isn't it! You can tell this guy is a dealer...
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First and foremost I am a calibrator. That means I am assessing the performance of equipment using test gear and test discs. Go have a read of some of the better reviews that use similar methods to get a feel for what's involved and how these methods can help differentiate products.

Second, yes I am a dealer, but not in the sense of a high street or internet box pusher as most of you probably assume.

My business is more like bespoke tailoring. I help customers get the most from their existing equipment first - and very often it's stuff that I have not supplied - and then, where appropriate and where it represents good value I will recommend and perhaps supply something. That "something" could be a new piece of equipment, it could be a used piece of equipment or I might even direct them to go buy something from a high street or 'net dealer that is particularly good value. In other words I'll send them to a competitor if there's a deal that I think is too good to miss. Those of you who are particularly hard bitten cynics will find that hard to believe, I am sure.

I did exactly this only last week. I told my customer to go buy his amp (Onkyo 807) from Super-Fi and a BR player from Amazon. How many dealers do you know that will do that?

You might be wondering where the benefit is for me and for the client. The answer is really quite simple: My interest is in delivering the best performing system for the client.

The thing I see time and time again is AV enthusiasts wasting huge chunks of cash buying the latest 5 star reviewed gear in the chase for better performance. I think that is tragic. As PC enthusiasts you must see the same thing among your friends and family. Perfectly serviceable PCs are junked for newer models when in reality all they need was a little TLC.

So, that's a little about the horrible villainous dealer that I am.
 
lucid said:
First and foremost I am a calibrator. That means I am assessing the performance of equipment using test gear and test discs. Go have a read of some of the better reviews that use similar methods to get a feel for what's involved and how these methods can help differentiate products.

Second, yes I am a dealer, but not in the sense of a high street or internet box pusher as most of you probably assume.

My business is more like bespoke tailoring. I help customers get the most from their existing equipment first - and very often it's stuff that I have not supplied - and then, where appropriate and where it represents good value I will recommend and perhaps supply something. That "something" could be a new piece of equipment, it could be a used piece of equipment or I might even direct them to go buy something from a high street or 'net dealer that is particularly good value. In other words I'll send them to a competitor if there's a deal that I think is too good to miss. Those of you who are particularly hard bitten cynics will find that hard to believe, I am sure.

I did exactly this only last week. I told my customer to go buy his amp (Onkyo 807) from Super-Fi and a BR player from Amazon. How many dealers do you know that will do that?

You might be wondering where the benefit is for me and for the client. The answer is really quite simple: My interest is in delivering the best performing system for the client.

The thing I see time and time again is AV enthusiasts wasting huge chunks of cash buying the latest 5 star reviewed gear in the chase for better performance. I think that is tragic. As PC enthusiasts you must see the same thing among your friends and family. Perfectly serviceable PCs are junked for newer models when in reality all they need was a little TLC.

So, that's a little about the horrible villainous dealer that I am.
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A business man who tells his customers to spend elsewhere , yeah right :confused:
 
lucid said:
It used to be said that the PS3 was one of the best Blu-ray players available for picture quality. That's no longer the case. There are players available that give better results; but if you want to stick your head in the sand then fine.
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Maybe. But the extra cost over the PS3 is barely justifyable as the PS3 is still in the top 10 (i would personally say top 5) of BD players in reguards to picture quaility
 
Not sure why this thread has (unfortunately) developed so much hostility towards certain posters :( I generally believe people when they say that they are able to see/hear improvements upon upgrading their AV kit... I however tend to judge my own purchases/upgrades purely based on my own (albeit limited) experiences... That said a would love to do a side-by-side comparison of the Krell to a much cheaper blu-ray player :)
 
At the end of the day it's down to individual preferences. It's a pity people can't do blind (ha!) tests when deciding what to buy. If the end user can't tell the difference between a £60 player and a $15k one then there's no point spending the money.
 
Anyone that seriously rates the ps3 as a decent BD player should be ignored, it makes a noise and thus is useless as a player.

The cheap Sonys suffer the same fate and are again useless as BD players.
 
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