Crown XLS- for the rest of us!

*Scotty* · « **Reply #820 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 05:47 am »

Airto Moreira, Killer Bees, Banana Jam, will put images behind and above you. Empire Brass,Telarc, PASSAGE 138B.C.-A.D. 1611, tends to put you in the middle of the recording, reverberation seems to come from all around you. The cut, Si Dolce, has this quality in spades.
Craig Chaquico, On This Planet, Native Tongue, the first half of the song fills the room from wall to wall in front of you, then at about 4:30 it shifts gears into sense-surround. The third cut, Find Your Way Home,is entirely immersive with Craig's guitar echoing all around you. a trip to the rainforest of Southeast Cameroon can be had from Heart of The Forest, Music of the Baka Forest People. A live field recording done entirely out-of-doors in the jungle. Incredible you are there imaging. Brings entirely new meaning to the words "depth of image".
These imaging effects seem to be mostly non-existent when conventional speakers are listened in far-field rather than near-field. The phase relationships necessary are destructively interfered with or drowned out by the room reflections which predominate in far field listening.
Scotty

a.wayne · « **Reply #821 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 11:01 am »

Wow,

Front , back, up , down , behind you , total immersion , man you guys have something special going on here or quite possibly the best high octane xmas juice around ....

rodge827 · « **Reply #822 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 01:58 pm »

Did someone say Christmas Juice?

steve f · « **Reply #823 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 02:11 pm »

Christmas joy juice always helps.

Scotty thanks for listing the tracks. It's always nice to learn of good music.
The most important parts of good sound reproduction are the recordings followed by the speakers. Electronics are third. After that, joy juice & snacks. Wires, pucks, and cords, you're on your own.

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #824 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 03:14 pm »

Quote from: rodge827 on 21 Dec 2014, 01:58 pm

Did someone say Christmas Juice?

Chris, your choice for Christmas ornaments is exquisite!

Hopefully the tour amp arrives before the holiday, been waiting for your thoughts...for a while!

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #825 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 03:43 pm »

We have one participant on the tour that has a D-sonic amp with the Pascal mpro-2 module that will be able to compare the Crown with.

Just curious if anybody else has heard any of D-sonics offerings? Their M3-600m-a amp is supposed to have the new Anaview(formerly ABLETEC) AMS 1000-2600 module and from what I've read is an excellent performer. Tons of wattage in these amps!

OzarkTom · « **Reply #826 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 03:44 pm »

I don't have any of Scotty's selections, but here is some that I have that goes way to the sides and around the back of my head. Santana-Supernatural, several of Michael Jackson's CD's, Madonna-Immaculate Conception, Roger Walters-Amused to Death, Ambrosia-Best of, Jill Scott-Collaborations, just to name a few. There are a lot more selections that I am in the middle of the soundstage width. Stevie Ray Vaughn's Dead Pan Alley is wild.

And these Crown amps will play it with no problem. Not all amps will do it.

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #827 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 03:47 pm »

Quote from: OzarkTom on 21 Dec 2014, 03:44 pm

I don't have any of Scotty's selections, but here is some that I have that goes way to the sides and around the back of my head. Santana-Supernatural, several of Michael Jackson's CD's, Madonna-Immaculate Conception, Roger Walters-Amused to Death, Ambrosia-Best of, Jill Scott-Collaborations, just to name a few. There are a lot more selections that I am in the middle of the soundstage width. Stevie Ray Vaughn's Dead Pan Alley is wild.

And these Crown amps will play it with no problem. Not all amps will do it.

Supposedly Sting also has some recordings that give a 3 d effect but I can't remember which album or tracks.

jackman · « **Reply #828 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 03:55 pm »

Ozark,

Are you serious? I'm glad this amp has given you purpose to your life but everyone who says anything remotely negative is greeted to comments about magic wooden picks, heavy weights on top of the Amos and the magical benefits of cheap ebay binding posts. Lots of people say this amp is 2D and im not sure people are listening, perhaps they are enampred by the low price.

My system has very good imaging and it was painfully obvious this amp sounded very forward and very 2D. I did not use any heavy weights or cryo treatments or expensive power cables for that matter. It's a cheap amp and not realistic for people to pump hundreds or thousands of dollars trying to get it sound better with snake oil. Your magic wooden pucks did absolutely nothing as I originally suspected. More unfounded bullcrap.

If you don't value imaging and are willing to live with forward somewhat harsh sound, or if you have really dark sounding speakers, ithe XLS is worth a shot. It's cheap, powerful and can be used as a sub amp down the road. As a sub amp, I would use it in a heartbeat....even without the magic pucks, cryo treatments, or heavy sacks of flour, weights or whatever else you guys are stacking on it.

Let's see how many more pages we can get out of this one! The amp is not new, it's been on the market for a few years. In my system, I can't say I've ever heard an amp sound more 2D and forward. Maybe I need more pucks

cab · « **Reply #829 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:04 pm »

No doubt some will like this amp and others will not. Sound is produced in a system of which there are infinite possibilities. To further complicate things, every person has their own personal preferences. So not only can we expect the results to be system dependent but also the evaluation to be biased by each individual's personal tastes. This is why I personally feel these tours are basically useless as far as cross system comparisons are concerned. Try it, you may like it, or not.

As for the cedar pucks, weights, etc., the less said the better....

roscoeiii · « **Reply #830 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:09 pm »

But Jack, just because it was forward and 2D in your system doesn't mean it will be the case in everyone's. We also really discovered how forward your pre (at least relative to mine) was when we hooked it up in my place. I am not sure whether having two quite forward components will flatten things out and make them 2D, or if this is 2 separate issues in your system.

Can't say much about the imaging since that is a real weakness in my current set up, and not a priority for me. But yeah, I have yet to hear that excel with the XLS. Best thing is that it is easy to try out in anyone's system thanks to it being sold by Amazon and other retailers with good return policies.

wushuliu · « **Reply #831 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:14 pm »

Quote from: jackman on 21 Dec 2014, 03:55 pm

Ozark,

Are you serious? I'm glad this amp has given you purpose to your life

Hey now, man, come on...

OzarkTom · « **Reply #832 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:17 pm »

Jackman,

Who else here said the Crown amp is 2D sounding? I must have missed that. If the Crown was 2D, I would never get to hear things behind my head on those special recordings. If the Crown was 2D sounding, I would have sold it long ago and made some money off of it.

Your Ncores was more than likely put together with better parts, what is wrong with putting some better parts on the Crown amps? Let's see, I spent $140 for the Crown amp, $7 bucks on the cedar rings, $7 for the moongel pads, $35 for the cryo, $50 for the Pomonas. For less than 250 bucks, I now have an amp that is more detailed than my $1700 Job amp. And I know of several here on AC that switched from the Ncores to the Job amp. Even my buddy Rex sold his Job after getting his Crown. He would never own a 2D amp.

Laugh about the moongel pads, but these actually work. Even the Cryoman was surprised that they worked so well. And the Cryoman has tried everything.

jackman · « **Reply #833 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:21 pm »

Roscoe,
I agree that my amp did not sound right right with the SP tech speakers in your system. Don't know if it was the load, your preamp or power conditioner (power conditioners did not play nice with the NCore in my shstem either) but all of this talk of magic pucks and heavy weights started to get on my nerves. The cheap Chinese binding posts (designed in the USA of course) may have put me over the top.

Do you recall the impact those magic cedar pucks had on the Crown in my system? Neither do i... Maybe we should have followed the advise of some of the resident "experts" and tried stacking weights on top of things or applying generous amounts of actual snake oil to our gear.

Just kidding, I hope you have a great holiday and look forward to catching up during the break. Seriously, I thought the crown amps sounded great in your system, even without any "magic" devices. Looking forward to trying the 2500 in my system sometime. If it sounds great, I'm not afraid to eat crow. It wouldn't be the first time.

Cheers

Jack

cab · « **Reply #834 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:21 pm »

Quote from: OzarkTom on 21 Dec 2014, 04:17 pm

Your Ncores was more than likely put together with better parts, what is wrong with putting some better parts on the Crown amps? Let's see, I spent $140 for the Crown amp, $7 bucks on the cedar rings, $7 for the moongel pads, $35 for the cryo. For less than 200 bucks, I now have an amp that is more detailed than my $1700 Job amp. And I know of several here on AC that switched from the Ncores to the Job amp. Even my buddy Rex sold his Job after getting his Crown. He would never own a 2D amp.

Who cares? Is this some sort of contest? Glad you like it. Not everyone will. Accept it and move on....

wushuliu · « **Reply #835 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:25 pm »

The tours are always useful because you can still draw a consensus from feedback and observations. You can get a sense of an amp's overall tonal qualities, ability to drive a range of speakers, and potential anomalies. I appreciate and value tour threads.

The Crown has been stuck with only two people for a long period of time while the thread is barreling forward, giving the impression that there's more feedback than there really is.

This is the hobby. This is what we do. We shouldn't poo poo people for certain proclivities because it inconveniences us or offends our audio 'beliefs'. Dude wants to slap wooden pucks over under or around with some hot sauce on top, wtf not? Nobody died. This thread isn't being submitted to AES.

Quote

The Dude: You brought the Pomeranian bowling?

Walter Sobchak: What do you mean brought it bowling, Dude? I didn't rent it shoes. I'm not buying it a f'ing beer. He's not taking your f'ing turn, Dude.

jackman · « **Reply #836 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:27 pm »

Quote from: cab on 21 Dec 2014, 04:21 pm

Who cares? Is this some sort of contest? Glad you like it. Not everyone will. Accept it and move on....

In fairness to Ozark, I started the latest exchange. The talk of weights and gels transforming sound always sets me off. I blame myself.

Cheers

J

cab · « **Reply #837 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:33 pm »

I only care about what I think in my specific system in my specific environment. What others find may or may not have any correlation in my experience to what I might find. And given the large diversity in tastes, preferences, and perceptions, I take others subjective impressions with a grain of salt. I will agree that the tour offers potentially valuable info as far as objective factors are concerned, but when it comes to anything sound related, not so much....

cab · « **Reply #838 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:34 pm »

Quote from: jackman on 21 Dec 2014, 04:27 pm

In fairness to Ozark, I started the latest exchange. The talk of weights and gels transforming sound always sets me off. I blame myself.

Cheers

J

True. My apologies to Mr. Ozark....

OzarkTom · « **Reply #839 on:** 21 Dec 2014, 04:43 pm »

Quote from: jackman on 21 Dec 2014, 04:27 pm

In fairness to Ozark, I started the latest exchange. The talk of weights and gels transforming sound always sets me off. I blame myself.

Cheers

J

No worries jackman and cab. Merry Christmas!'

And wushuliu is right. Amp tours here on AC is very generous by the owners and very helpful to others here on AC. No amp on any tour is ever going to get 100% positive feedback from the listeners.