Krell PAM-5

[jwrosenthal]

Greetings guys,

A friend gave me his Krell PAM-5 preamp. He had the matching power amp many years ago which died and was sent to the audio graveyard in the sky and he lost the power supply in a move so it's just the preamp with no way of powering it.

Are power supplies available for these, either from Krell, an alternative company or as a home-brew? Was this unit also able to be powered from the power amp (the owners manual seems to hint at that), and if so, which amps provided this option?

The biggest question is, is this preamp sonically worth investing the money into a new power supply?

Thanks,

James R.

 

[Duke58]

I've got a PAM-7. It's a great preamp which I bought mainly because of the separate power supply (you can place it a distance away and can't hear any noise typically generated by transformers and the like). Also, I can use many different turntable cartridges by easily removing the cover and flipping switches. You can download the manual from Krell's website.

http://www.krellonline.com/manuals.html

I don't know if Krell has the power supplies available, but I've seen the PAM 5s and 7s for sale for around $500-$700.

Yes, my opinion- based on listening- is that the preamp is worth investing in another power supply if they are readily available.

I haven't seen homebrewed power supplies, but I'm sure someone could make one for you at a cost. Whether the cost is reasonable or not is the factor to consider.

Since you got the preamp free it is a worthwhile investment as far as sound quality is concerned up to the price of a used preamp in my opinion.

 

[poildeq]

in fact were they not dual mono you will need 2 power supplies, Dan d'Agostino the designer was not a a brillant or inovative audio engineer he just overbuilt his stuff. If you can find the schematic it should be simple to find a tech to build one for you

 

[jwrosenthal]

As far as I' e seen in pictures, the PAm-5 only came with a single silver box with and umbilical. I emailed Krell and got a response from a man named Raymond who said the supply is long out of production (which I figured) and it is the only source to power the preamp. I followed up asking if I could get the schematic and he said because it's so old (1985 is not that old, that makes me feel old :-( ) they don't have it on PdF and he would need to look in the archives. I responded thanking him in advanced for his efforts and haven't heard anything, so I think I'll call h this week as see if he's had any luck finding it. I have a good friend who services high end equipment (vintage ARC, Marantz tube, McIntosh tube and SS) and he builds his own tube amps so making a supply from the schematic should be child's-play for him.

If anyone out there has a schematic by chance, please share it or better yet, make it available in the hi-fiengine library....as long as Krell doesn't mind which I couldn't see thy would as they don't support that model anymore.

James R.

 

[joosoof]

If any PAM-5 or PAM-7 owner has a multimeter, it would be great to measure the output voltage of the power supply with the pin layout, and post here.