Krell power on

[gross30]

Early this morning we had a thunder and lightning show, the power went out for about 10 minutes and then came back on. I walked into the HT room and my Krell KAV250 a3 was turned on. It is wired to its own 20 amp breaker, isolated from everything else, as requested in the manual. All the other HT equipment is wired through power conditioners and voltage stabilizers etc. None of that equipment was on. My question is what would cause the Krell to turn on when the power returned, and will I also need to stabilize/condition the power source ? The power was off on the Krell prior to sleep time. The cabinet door was open, good thing, as the Krell gets fairly warm, and if it goes unnoticed, I fear I might damage the unit. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated....dg

[LikeCoiledSteel]

Hi Gross,
I have the Krell Kav250 a2 and have noticed that even though the light is on, sometimes the amp is not engaged. If you push the on button very lightly, the led will be on but the amp will not produce power. If the button is pushed harder, a click can be heard inside the amp and it will draw power and produce power. It may be that the power turning back on just activated the led and not the amp.

I have my amps plugged into a Belkin pf60 power conditioner. It can turn off the amp from its main button, that is how I have mine set up. The Belkin also tells me how much power the amp pulls from the socket. I just sent my amp in for service to Krell. Now it seams that the amp runs cooler. It used to be very hot, now just gets warm. I am not sure what they did to it. Good luck.
Steel

[gross30]

Thanks Steel, I'm not the only one that noticed that these amps run hot. I do run cooling fans on both cabinets, and it does help. The amp was definately on this morning. Heat was being produced. I had it hooked up to an avs 2000, as I run one for each side of the cabinet, but it was too much draw, as it was kicking out the Krell pre-amp and the Classe monoblock on one side when the Kav 250 was turned on. The manual suggests to use it own 20 amp power source, so I had an electrician install it for me and have not had problems before. I think I will have to get another conditioner for this amp also, as I find it does produce significant heat and draws a lot of power when turned on initially. thanks again steel....dg

[LikeCoiledSteel]

HI Gross,
I think a seperate 20 amp line just for the Krell amp is overkill. All electronic equipment will pull a lot of power at start up, but will go down after a second or 2. I have my entire system hooked into the Belkin, which is plugged into a 15 amp outlet. I have a ground loop somewhere, which I belive that my a/c is bleeding into my living room outlet because they are next to each other in my circuit box.

With my entire system on, there are only 3.5 amps drawn from the wall. That would include the Krell amp, Outlaw amp (200 w), adcom amp (60x2), Krell preamp, Outlaw preamp, dvd player and 36 inch tube tv. When I turn on my tv when cold, it can draw 13 amps alone, but that is only for a second and drops to 1 amp. My Krell amp pulls around 1 amp also. The Krell when cold can draw 6 amps at startup but goes down also a second later. 1 20 amp line shouls be plenty for your setup. I plan on running a dedicated 15 amp line for my stuff, as my conditioner will not work with a 20 amp line.

I have my amps on an open rack with the Krell at the top. I use a ceiling fan in the room with the blades pulling rather than pushing air. After I got the amp back from Krell, it runs a lot cooler now. What kind of speakers are you using?
Steel

[gross30]

I am using B&W 801 matrix series 3 for mains on the Classe monoblocks, Monitor S9i's for rears and Paradigm Signature C3 center, and (2) Velodyne DD-15's for subs. I have (2) seperate 15 amp lines, one for each side of the cabinet. When the Krell kav 250a3 kicked out some other equipment when I initially hooked it up, I then went through the manual again and it states that Krell recomends a seperate 20 amp line for this amp. I kind of thought it was overkill,but just to be safe I had a seperate line installed anyway. I love having an electrician as a good friend.Both my racks are enclosed on each side of the tv, with 2 small fans on each side for cooling, and it seems to work fine, I'm just concerned of another electrical storm, and possibly kick that amp on, as the fans run on a seperate power conditioner. I will definately have to figure out another conditioner setup just for that amp. It might be hard with a 20 amp dedicated line already. Maybe I just have too much ht and 2 ch audio equipment, wait a minute, I just kicked myself, sorry, I just had a mind stall there for a second....dg

[LikeCoiledSteel]

Hi Gross,
Nice system. I guess there is never too much gear. I am trying to adopt the less is more style with my theater as I need to get more furniture to hold more and more stuff, etc.. I am looking to scale down a bit as my 2 channel and HT stuff are combined in one system. One line should be enough for your system. I have not read my Kav-250 manual, mayeb it says to use a 20 amp outlet also. Oh well, while I love this hobby and great sound, I will not let it run my life. lol One day there will be a device that is the size of a remote control that had all the amps, source equipment and a built in projector for a whole system with speakers too. Oh well, beats banging on rocks for music.
Steel