[a.wayne]

Tiny amp, on top of the one it may replace. Unlike most other pro equipment I've bought, this thing comes with a fairly short power cord (36"). If one wants to use bananas on it, the little plugs in the binding posts need to be removed. I used a long, sharp pointed wood screw for that.

Hello JK,
Are you saying you prefer the performance of the crown over the 8008 ..?

[steve f]

JK, thanks for posting your first impressions. Differences in amps are so subtle these days.
Sometimes a slight volume difference, or the source impedance make things sound well...different. I look forward to your further comments.. Thank you.

Steve

[rajacat]

..  this is assuming I ever get the woofers I ordered from Audio Elegance 2.5 months ago... 

Oh yeah, my payment for the 1500 went to "Lone Wolf Audio". Hmmm....

Good luck with the AE woofers. I was part of a group buy several years or so ago and it was about year and a half before before my TD15Ms' were delivered.  Neverthless, don't worry... I'm sure things are better nowadays especially since you're not in a group buy; AE has never been known for speedy service.
 

[WireNut]

Yes, I would also like to hear if you prefer the Crown over the 8008.
I had a 4004mk1 but my Audio Research 150.2 amp just killed it in the bass so I sold off the 4004.

I could do pro amps, just never tried any. What about the fans, are thy noisy?



 

[a.wayne]

I conducted extensive listening tests with a high end Class D power amp (Yamaha MX-D1), which is as good or better sounding than any Class D amp made to date (and I have heard most of the upper end Class D offerings out there).  I compared it to my reference SS Amp (Electrocompaniet AW2-120), and a custom 110 watt tube amp with 12SN7 input/1625 output.  All listening was conducted with ATC-SCM19 speakers, and a SVS SB13 Ultra subwoofer.  The speakers are among the very best in a moderate sized room regardless of price, largely to the 9kg mid drivers.  All inputs were a Oppo BD-95 tube modwright, a Wavelength Audio COSINE DAC, and a Electrocomapniet ECC-1 CD player.  Music was classical SACD, SACD/CD Jazz, and SACD/CD/Blu Ray Rock.


http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/hi-fi-and-av-speakers/atc-scm19-hi-fi-98230/review



The take-away is that all three amps sounded excellent, with different strengths and challenges.  The Class D amp did play a bit louder than the other two amps.  It was also clean with good dynamics.  Compared to the other two amps, the Class D was more 2D, had slightly less low level detail, and lacked a bit of bass slam (but it was very clean). The tube setup sounded more like live music (as only tubes can with the presence region), and the Electrocompaniet had incredible low level detail, with a wide and deep soundstage that presents a reproduction with real depth.   


So, as always, it "Horses for Courses"

Best when comparing to level match.........

[Freo-1]

Best when comparing to level match.........

Some of the listening was level matched...No difference in conclusions.

[DaveC113]

My Crown XLS 1500 showed up early.   

Of course, the first thing is to take the cover off... this amp is made on a single PCB with lots of surface mount components, and all connectors are PCB mount so there is no internal wiring with the exception of 2 pieces of wire a couple inches long going to and from the circuit breaker and a few inches of wire to power the cooling fan. And a short ribbon connecting the front panel PCB to the main PCB. The steel chassis could use some damping, and there is already damping added to the inductors and larger capacitors on the PCB, which also serves to stabilize these larger components and make it less likely to be damaged due to rough handling. There are no footers included, so this is another place to do some experimentation. Mods that would upgrade connectors in the chassis could be done but might be more trouble than it's worth with the exception of the binding posts, you can't use spades with them and these wouldn't be hard to replace.

[a.wayne]

Some of the listening was level matched...No difference in conclusions.

Thanks for the clarification ........

[Freo-1]

My Crown XLS 1500 showed up early.   

Well, run it through its's paces, and tell us what you think.

[DaveC113]

Well, run it through its's paces, and tell us what you think.

Of course... I think it'll need some break in being brand new but I'll see what it sounds like later this evening, I just have it plugged in and turned on right now.

Even if it doesn't cut the mustard used full-range, with it's built-in 24 dB crossover it should make a nice subwoofer amp when bridged to produce over 1kW into 8 ohms.

5 WPC EL34 SET vs 300 WPC class D...    The only issue is I have a ton more gain then needed with my 20 dB gain tube preamp, the pre can put out 20 V RMS no problem and will hit nearly 35V before it starts looking ugly. My EL34 SET has about -5 dB gain as it has no driver section.

[wushuliu]

Of course, the first thing is to take the cover off...

 Spoken like a true diy'er

[Folsom]

I think the Crown amplifiers are what Ed over at The Horn Shoppe is using to power his uber-subwoofer bucket. It would make sense he's so pleased with them, if they got the slamming accuracy spoken of among some here.

[DaveC113]

So far it's about what I expected from hearing the amp on my friend's Pipedreams, he uses the XLS 2000s in bridged mono to run the midranges with no crossover, then adds highs and lows where the midrange drivers naturally roll off using a Pass active xo, another pair of Crown amps for the subs and a 30 wpc class A transistor amp for the ribbon tweeters.

It sounds like a good class D amp, and a big one. Definitely brings to mind NCore as being the closest thing I'vbe heard.

On a macro scale this amp is absolutely first class and pretty amazing, it's making my speakers do things in the mid and upper bass regions I never thought were possible, dynamics are off the charts and will make you jump. In that sense, playing at higher volumes, this amp is clearly superior to my SET amp, and not just by a little bit. I've tried Tom's TBI and used other SS amps on my Omega Super3 XRS speakers and so far the Crowns are easily the best, by far.

On the other hand, the SET amp makes the sound very natural and effortless, more realistic and (for now) lets through more fine detail. It can't do the same thing as the Crown with bass or dynamics at high volumes and won't play as loud either, the speakers can probably take 20-30 watts and the SET amp is 5 watts.

I said "for now" because it's new and I can't make any judgements about how it sounds in detail before it burns-in. IF it's presentation and fine detail improves with break in it'll be a great amp, if not it will still be a great amp for subwoofers or the low end of an active speaker system, which I will try... and I think that's going to be it's best use. But I'm hoping it'll open up and sound as beautiful as my SET after break-in. 

[Folsom]

Maybe it needs some modifications.

I'm sure they got the circuit dialed, but let's get real, how much effort do you expect in refinement for their market?

Looks like they're pretty serious, as far as doing everything right, with cheap parts.

[Jon L]

Maybe it needs some modifications.

I'm sure they got the circuit dialed, but let's get real, how much effort do you expect in refinement for their market?

Looks like they're pretty serious, as far as doing everything right, with cheap parts.

Those internals vaguely remind me of the JVC RX-D702B digital receiver I had once.  I really liked that JVC's sound, but the fan noise really detracted from the enjoyment, as the fan kicked in very early even if the amp wasn't hot.  Since people are reporting the Crown's fan hardly kicks in, that is a definite plus 

[steve f]

Looks like the Crown amps are at least very good performers. The 1500 series on up have 6 Db less noise than the 1000 series amp. I'm wondering if it's noticable. 6 Db is a significant number. Anybody get to try both of them? I doubt if anyone would notice at high volumes, but with high efficiency speakers at low to moderate volumes, who knows?

[Folsom]

SO who's going to be the first to start the process of turning one into something better?

They appear to actually have more than adequate output filtration!

[OzarkTom]

I said "for now" because it's new and I can't make any judgements about how it sounds in detail before it burns-in. IF it's presentation and fine detail improves with break in it'll be a great amp, if not it will still be a great amp for subwoofers or the low end of an active speaker system, which I will try... and I think that's going to be it's best use. But I'm hoping it'll open up and sound as beautiful as my SET after break-in. 

Since these Crown amps have gain controls, can you bypass the preamp?

[Folsom]

Since these Crown amps have gain controls, can you bypass the preamp?

That might be nice, but you might need your own buffer else the input impedance might be too low.

Crown hasn't released anything about the internals yet.

[DaveC113]

It's input impedance is 10k RCA and 20k XLR, I'm using RCA. So far I've just turned the gain to about 9 o'clock and it works fine with my tube preamp, it has cathode follower outputs so a couple hundred ohms output impedance... not sure I'd want to try using the gain controls as a volume adjustment.

The amp is sounding much better than it was yesterday. I put in on wood blocks with the moongel pads between the wood and the component and a 1 lb brass weight on top with some damping material. The footers and weight did help.

One thing that's interesting is that it accentuates details, it seems to make them louder and more noticeable. Stuff that was more in the background is brought forward.

I'll give it a while longer before I make any calls but already it's pretty good. I'd like to hear it next to an NCore, that's what it reminds me of the most.