Crown XLS- for the rest of us!

OzarkTom · « **Reply #560 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:18 am »

I wonder what Roscoe is up to tonight?

roscoeiii · « **Reply #561 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:29 am »

Funny you ask. First, I was realizing that what benefits I heard from dual monos yesterday wasn't from BRIDGED monos. I hadn't changed the setting to Bridge Bypass on the amps themselves. So now there are further imorovements to what I heard yesterday. Mainly greater detail and dynamic impact at lower volumes.

I also switched over to XLR inputs after reading that these amps liked higher voltage inputs, more in the pro range. Some improvements I liked but treble started getting a tad bright again. So I will try to deal with that by lowering the gain on the amp. With DSPeaker RCA outputs at a lineout max of 1.6 V, I preferred the amps at max gain. With the higher XLR output from the DSPeaker, I'm gonna see how 3 o'clock sounds. I do like having this flexibility to play around with gain. As a side note, I think that the ability to adjust gain on the iTube would be another thing in its favor when paired with these amps.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #562 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:45 am »

How about the clip circuit, on or off?

roscoeiii · « **Reply #563 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:48 am »

Believe that it is off in both, but I will confirm.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #564 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 03:22 am »

OK, so I've dialed the gain on the XLS down to about 3 o'clock and that seems to nail it in my system. The impact is there, but the forwardness and brightness in the treble was not problematic. For those of you who hear this quality in the treble, I encourage you to fiddle with things, because it can be dealt with in a number of ways (power conditioner, lowering gain, power cords, IME).

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #565 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 03:24 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 9 Dec 2014, 03:22 am

OK, so I've dialed the gain on the XLS down to about 3 o'clock and that seems to nail it in my system. The impact is there, but the forwardness and brightness in the treble was not problematic. For those of you who hear this quality in the treble, I encourage you to fiddle with things, because it can be dealt with in a number of ways (power conditioner, lowering gain, power cords, IME).

Even though we have different speakers, everything you've said so far about the bridged monos and the gain mirror my thoughts.

steve f · « **Reply #566 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 03:34 am »

Ozark Tom, I ran the amp on Amazon again and this time it worked correctly. I guess I have to take back all of my bad thoughts. It is a good deal.

Steve

roscoeiii · « **Reply #567 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 03:40 am »

Quote from: steve f on 9 Dec 2014, 03:34 am

Ozark Tom, I ran the amp on Amazon again and this time it worked correctly. I guess I have to take back all of my bad thoughts. It is a good deal.

Steve

Steve, think they did take the 17% off deal down for a while and then put a 15% deal up. You weren't imagining things.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #568 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 03:45 am »

Quote from: OzarkTom on 9 Dec 2014, 02:45 am

How about the clip circuit, on or off?

Well, clip circuit was on in one amp and off in the other. Now off in both.

Will go back and A/B cryo and stock again to see if that affects anything.

Odal3 · « **Reply #569 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 05:36 am »

Quote from: DaveC113 on 7 Dec 2014, 06:50 pm

The enclosure for the 15" woofers (I have Acoustic Elegance and Volt woofers to try out) is still being designed and the mid-high section is being developed and measured. Things are going really well, I am very happy with the sound so far. I do intend to try an 800 Hz xo point but I expect it will end up much lower... it depends on how large the waveguide will be, a very large waveguide is technically ideal and would allow for a lower crossover point but there are tradeoffs that need to be balanced. So far the soundstage and imaging is the best I've heard from any speaker at any price, the room boundaries disappear and the stage depth is far past the rear wall and extends up in front of the speakers in some recordings, with a realism like you can reach out and touch the image. So I'm very happy but there are a lot of challenges too!

Nice. Hope your build turns out good!

Odal3 · « **Reply #570 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 06:17 am »

Quote from: Tomy2Tone on 8 Dec 2014, 09:54 pm

Ma,Ma,Ma, My Pomona!

Just got the Pomona binding posts installed in my crown monos and I have to agree with DaveC113, an improvement indeed. Not bad for $50.

Good to hear your mod sounds better. But what about the speakon connectors on the crown? Are they good enough to use? I never tried speakon myself so I'm just curious.

dlaloum · « **Reply #571 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 08:40 am »

Ditto here - what are peoples opinion of speakons? (compared to spades and bananas...)

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #572 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 09:41 am »

I think it's safe to say the Speakon is a well designed connector designed at the outset to be safe and locking and to pass high current by ensuring the contact surface area is as large as feasible. I guess a very well designed locking banana plug will approach them in terms of area of contact, but only the locking type, and only "approach". A well implemented spade is also good, but those looking for the ultimate connection will probably find a way to twist and clamp the internal wire to the speaker feed wire, or else solder them. For the record, the best connection of all is a wire wrap around a square post, but that's completely impractical for this use.

The Speakon is probably the best convenient connection and is the pro sound industry standard for good reason.

dlaloum · « **Reply #573 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 10:17 am »

Thanks for that... I was already seriously considering making a new set of speaker cables, I will ensure that the new set uses the Speakons then!

jk@home · « **Reply #574 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 10:43 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 9 Dec 2014, 03:22 am

OK, so I've dialed the gain on the XLS down to about 3 o'clock and that seems to nail it in my system. The impact is there, but the forwardness and brightness in the treble was not problematic. For those of you who hear this quality in the treble, I encourage you to fiddle with things, because it can be dealt with in a number of ways (power conditioner, lowering gain, power cords, IME).

How does doing two amps in bridge mode, with the XLR inputs effect the hiss produced by the amp? When I tried a single 1500, on my KEF LS50s, I got a little hiss out of the speakers. Not audible a foot or so away, but still not dead quiet like my consumer amp. At the time, I was limited to a no gain preamp, which probably was a factor.

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #575 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 12:19 pm »

Quote from: Odal3 on 9 Dec 2014, 06:17 am

Good to hear your mod sounds better. But what about the speakon connectors on the crown? Are they good enough to use? I never tried speakon myself so I'm just curious.

I don't have any speaker cables that are ended with the speakon but I did try an adaptor. Its a banana plug to speakon adaptor i picked up from Sweetwater.

When I tried them I thought the noise floor did lower but it seemed to sacrifice some detail. I had to crank the gain on the amp all the way up but still felt it did not sound as good as my banana plug connection. Probably not the best adaptor and use for my application so it will be nice to know if someone has a true speakon cable to use and see how it sounds in comparison.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #576 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:30 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 9 Dec 2014, 10:43 am

How does doing two amps in bridge mode, with the XLR inputs effect the hiss produced by the amp? When I tried a single 1500, on my KEF LS50s, I got a little hiss out of the speakers. Not audible a foot or so away, but still not dead quiet like my consumer amp. At the time, I was limited to a no gain preamp, which probably was a factor.

There was some hiss when bridged at max gain. I didn't notice any hiss when not bridged, with the RCA inputs. Like with your awesome LS50s the hiss was audible at about 1 ft but not at listening position. With gain at 3pm, no hiss.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #577 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:33 pm »

Anyone know where to get speaker cables that have Speakon on one end and bananas or spades on the other?

cab · « **Reply #578 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:39 pm »

trivial to solder speakons on one end and spades on the other of some wire....

zapper7 · « **Reply #579 on:** 9 Dec 2014, 02:42 pm »

Guitar Center, not sure about quality, that will be the hardest to match and any of our "higher end" cables I am sure we all have,

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Monster-Legacy-S-100-Speaker-Cable-Speakon-Banana-331644-i1128554.gc