Krell Evolution 2250e power supply voltage dip switches

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
I have just bought an 18 month old Krell Evolution 2250e power amplifier for my French house. It is a Central European model 220v 50/60Hz. The voltage at my French house is around 245V, so to prevent it running hot, I think I should alter the dip switches next to the toroidal transformer for 240V. Are the settings the same as in the KAV 300iL I use in my UK house, which I believe are as follows:

1-1-1 110V
2-1-1 120V
2-2-1 220V
2-2-2 240V

My KAV 300iL, which I bought from a Japanese friend, when he gave up his apartment in London on retirement, was Japanese spec at 110V/50Hz and he used in the UK with a 240 to 110V transformer. The UK Krell agents, Absolute Sounds, wanted £400 to change to 240V. However, I was given the above information by a service engineer. I took the lid off with the Torx screws and changed the three dip switches from 1-1-1 to 2-2-2 in around 30 seconds. I was a bit nervous about switching it on but it has now been working perfectly for 3 years, so I must have got it right. The quoted price to do this job by the UK agent falls under the heading "total rip off". I would like to do a similar job on the 2250e.

Wilson
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
The secret squirrel seems finally to have been put to bed at Krell :). They have actually confirmed to me that the dip switches next to the toroidal transformer should be changed to 2-2-2 for 240 volts. At the moment they are set to 2-2-1 for 220 volts. Krell strongly recommended that I did change the voltage on the 2250e from 220 to 240 volts, as my supply in France normally runs at around 242-243 volts. This is in total contrast to a few years ago, when Krell said they could not give any information to customers about doing things "under the hood" and would only recommend that they go to their local Krell dealer. Common sense rules!

Wilson
 

Barry

Member Sponsor
Jan 7, 2012
273
54
1,220
Somewhere near Philadelphia, USA
Wilson: Glad you were able to get help with this. Please let us know how you like the amp. I actually own a 2250e but I'm only using it to drive my subwoofers so I've never really heard it. It does has phenomenal bass, as well it should, since it's got a power supply with a 2.5KV transformer, 132,000 mF of capacitance and ...it's a Krell!. Maybe I can come to your house in France and hear it????
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
Barry,

Any time you are in Provence near the village of Tourtour, about 50km north of St Tropez, you would be very welcome to visit :D.

For bass, since the ATC-SCM-40 Mk.2's are not known for their very deep bass, I have also just upgraded from a very elderly JBL sub-woofer, which rattled on the loud bits to a new Monitor Audio Gold GXW 15" 650W active sealed box sub. My open plan living area in France is an odd shape with curved walls and sunken centre (my kids call it early James Bond Style), so the DSP controlled GXW, which has its own room acoustic adjustment system with a supplied microphone, should be a distinct improvement on the old JBL. I too am looking forward to how my upgraded system all sounds when I get out there in the middle of April. The ATC's and the Monitor Sub are on their way to France from the UK in a truck at the moment, with a friend's repaired old Ferrari.

I am going to be near your neck of the woods later this year. The family has hired a cottage on the Outer Banks for a week in July but we will be staying with my daughter in Baltimore, MD before. I am coming up to Philadelphia for a day to meet the folks at the Simeone Foundation Museum.

Wilson
 

Barry

Member Sponsor
Jan 7, 2012
273
54
1,220
Somewhere near Philadelphia, USA
Wow. Looked at the pictures - C'est merveilleux! Have been near Tourtour, to Aix-en-Provence & Cannes, but not exactly there.

I will be in France (Paris/Champagne) in May and in Italy in July when you are state-side. The Simeone Museum should be great, although I've never been there. You might also check out the Barnes Foundation. It's one of the largest collections of Impressionist & post-Impressionist art collections in the world (180 Renoir's alone).

Your house sounds beautiful. I am sure the system will be great when you get it all set up! Barry
 

Elberoth

Member Sponsor
Dec 15, 2012
2,007
253
1,170
Poland
I have just bought an 18 month old Krell Evolution 2250e power amplifier for my French house. It is a Central European model 220v 50/60Hz. The voltage at my French house is around 245V, so to prevent it running hot, I think I should alter the dip switches next to the toroidal transformer for 240V. Are the settings the same as in the KAV 300iL I use in my UK house, which I believe are as follows:

1-1-1 110V
2-1-1 120V
2-2-1 220V
2-2-2 240V

My KAV 300iL, which I bought from a Japanese friend, when he gave up his apartment in London on retirement, was Japanese spec at 110V/50Hz and he used in the UK with a 240 to 110V transformer. The UK Krell agents, Absolute Sounds, wanted £400 to change to 240V. However, I was given the above information by a service engineer. I took the lid off with the Torx screws and changed the three dip switches from 1-1-1 to 2-2-2 in around 30 seconds. I was a bit nervous about switching it on but it has now been working perfectly for 3 years, so I must have got it right. The quoted price to do this job by the UK agent falls under the heading "total rip off". I would like to do a similar job on the 2250e.

Wilson

You were lucky, as your 300iL came with 50/60Hz AC software loaded. If it came from the US, it would most likely have the 60Hz software loaded, that would make using it in Europe impossible (even after setting the dip switches correct), unless you replace the chip. The £400 quote The Absolute Sounds gave you, was most likely for the chip replacement. It is all done to prevent gray sales from the US (where Krell electronics is cheaper) to the rest of the world.
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
Adam,

I knew the pitfalls of the 60Hz problems with Krell stuff before I got the KAV 300iL, as it is well documented on the internet. I would never buy a 60Hz Krell component, controlled by a remote, as I understand it may never really work 100% properly, even if you have the chip changed. The Japanese friend I got it from, suggested that before I bought it, I check with the UK importer, as he knew I did not want to use a transformer. I knew the KAV 300iL was a Japanese Tokyo region model (Japan has both 50Hz and 60Hz regions), which was 50Hz and this is on a label at the back. I made wholly clear to the Krell agent in the UK, that this was a 50Hz model and the remote worked OK in the UK (50Hz) with the original owner's 240 to 110 step down transformer, which of course, the 60Hz model will not. They were also given the serial number, which would also have given them the information. I took the chance I could do the job myself, as my friend would accept so little money for this nearly unused Krell, that it was worth the risk.

No excuse I am afraid for the UK agent, the £400 quote to move three dip switches, was a blatant attempt at a rip off. The chip change costs considerably more than this. This organisation does not have a squeaky clean reputation, from other posts on various forums. I am surprised that Krell has not changed importers to one of the big guys like Sevenoaks, who have a much wider footprint. In consequence, I will never buy anything from the current agent or use them for service, so their behaviour was totally counter productive.

Wilson
 

Elberoth

Member Sponsor
Dec 15, 2012
2,007
253
1,170
Poland
Not trying to defend The Absolute Sounds in anyway, but since your situation was kind of unussual, maybe they just didn't have a separate position on their price list and your case fell into a common 'Voltage Conversion' category ? Just saying.

The pricing for the voltage conversions has always been more of an import duty anyway, than a price calculated on the actual cost of the job done.
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
Absolute Sounds' attitudes just seem a bit different to many other people in the HiFi business. Before I had the KAV 300iL episode, I had phoned AS on two occasions and left messages about ex-demo stuff they had for sale. Nobody bothered to phone me back, so I bought elsewhere. Twice in recent years, I have had old remote controls die on equipment that was way out of warranty. Both Quad and Musical Fidelity sent me the replacement remotes free of charge with their compliments. That is how to engender a warm feeling towards your company, which I know resulted in further sales from the companies by me.

Wilson
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
Now that I have had the Krell Evolution 2250e running for a week or so on my also new ATC SCM-40 speakers, I think I can venture an opinion. I find that my hifi upgrades seem to fall into three distinct categories. 1) OMG that is worse than what I had before (luckily the last time that happened was many years ago when I "upgraded" from a Decca FFSS pick-up arm and Mk.3 head to the Decca Professional arm and Mk.4HE head). 2) Well I am sure it must be better, yes I really, really think it must be.......... and 3) How on earth did I put up with the old stuff for so long. I am delighted to be able to say that the most recent upgrade falls into category 3 :)

I think the worst culprits on the old system were the Musical Fidelity 550K monoblocks. I changed the amps to the Krell 2250e the day before I went to collect the new speakers (I had to hire a van to do that). The Klipsch speakers sounded an awful lot better on the Krell than they ever did on the MF amps. I think part of the problem was that the Klipsch's are so efficient at 100dB/watt, that the very powerful MF amps are working down in the non-linear "heel" of their response curve. The new series 2 ATC SCM-40's were a revelation. The old series one ATC's needed at least 200 hours of breaking in. The series 2 sounded good right out of the box and now after about 80+ hours of running I cannot imagine them getting much better. Not a system to everyone's taste as many would find it too bright/cold and precise but I love it. If you turn it up, the Monitor Audio Gold GXW 15" sub woofer with 650W RMS DSP amplifier, can rattle the windows but turned down and with the room acoustic adjuster run, then set to 18dB roll off/octave starting at 65Hz it melds in very well with the ATC's.

Wilson
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
Hi, this movement swhitches its the same case for 302 or 402e ?

Since these switches seem to be the same between the quite different era and class of my KAV300iL and Evolution 2250e, I would guess this is a standard Krell feature. It certainly worked for switching my KAV300il from Japanese 100v to UK 240V (1,1,1 to 2,2,2) and on the 2250e from Central European 220V (1,2,2) to France 240 (2,2,2). Wilson
 

Wilson Laidlaw

Well-Known Member
Mar 3, 2015
13
0
108
Lewes, UK and Tourtour, France
thank you.
I saw 302 and 402 have 4 switch

I would suggest that you contact Patrick Bresnahan at Krell. Given the cost of my 2250e I did not want to risk damaging something by switching to a lower voltage than I was actually using. He confirmed to me that 1,2,2 was 220V and 2,2,2 was 240V. This sort of information used to be regarded as top secret at Krell but maybe that was in the D'Agostino era and no longer applies. Patrick was very helpful to me also, with information on lightning precautions, as my house in France is built right on the edge of a 1000' escarpment and is the first thing that storms hit. In summer, my area (The Var) is very prone to violent thunderstorms and the house has had two lightning strikes in the 12 years I have owned it. Wilson
 

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