[wisnon]

Nice Chris, I will print and read it now….

[Folsom]

That's quiet the testimonial. OzarkTom, you get any listening in yet?! I wish the one with a mod could follow the tour.

I've just finished (or about to ship off) the 4th one I've got my hands on. It was a XLS2000, not the XLS1500.

It's pretty much the same amp, with literally just more parts of the same; and bigger output inductors. There's more drive chips, more capacitance in the PFC section, and some extra PCB waste land between input and front end.

[roscoeiii]

In conclusion the Crown XLS is a winner!

I did use a custom Mosfet amp before the XLS and though it was all that and a bag of chips, but I was wrong! I don't like to admit that too often but things being as they are...  
With the XLS in my system the sound stage grew in depth and height and the detail was off the charts! Not some kind of fake detail with trumped up high frequencies but the detail that portray's the artist as human! I could here deeper into the little nuances that bring out a (Dare I say it?) 3D feel to the music. By nature my Shelby+Kroll monitors throw a big spooky sound-stage and image about the best I have ever heard. With the XLS in the chain all of the very good attributes to the S+K's were increased exponentially and then some. The XLS allowed me to listen to the true potential that my speakers were capable of.
As compared to the TBI amp the XLS completely out classed it!  Think of a fast food restaurant compared to a 5 star joint! White gloves, white linen, great ambiance and some seriously good service to accompany all the great flavors popping around your mouth! (Keep it clean here guys!)

Truth be told I was looking to get out of my audio hobby. I wasn't enjoying it any more and my system was sounding flat and uninteresting. I would listen occasionally, loose interest, turn it off and go to sleep. With the XLS that has all changed and I now have a verve for it again.

Poppa's got his groove back!

Chris

   

Great to hear Chris. Was particularly interested to hear your thoughts on how it imaged. Good to hear that it worked for you in that respect. My current set up isn't one in which soundstaging is going to be much good, regardless of the amp being used.

As I indicated in my mad-scientist proposal for a chain of gear, I'm thinking about the iTube. if it is easy to arrange, how does the system sound with and without the iTube in the chain?

[rodge827]

I'm thinking about the iTube. if it is easy to arrange, how does the system sound with and without the iTube in the chain?

Roscoe, the iTube was in play the whole time and I never thought to take it out. A while back I did try the TBI amp without the iTube and thought the sound was aweful! Flat, uninteresting, harsh, and closed in. I use the iTube as a buffer with no gain, my guess is that it lowers the impedance so that the Dual Core and XLS "mate" together better?

[Tomy2Tone]

Excellent job Chris!!!

Sounds like it was worth the wait! Thanks for sharing and passing it on to mjosef.

Salis- I agree, it would be nice to have an XLS with your mod follow the tour! Mine keeps sounding better by the day!

[Folsom]

Excellent job Chris!!!

Sounds like it was worth the wait! Thanks for sharing and passing it on to mjosef.

Salis- I agree, it would be nice to have an XLS with your mod follow the tour! Mine keeps sounding better by the day!

That's good to hear. That means the capacitors are improving, but also those CMC's in the filter will improve a tiny bit over a long period of time.

[rodge827]

Salis- I agree, it would be nice to have an XLS with your mod follow the tour! Mine keeps sounding better by the day!

Put me on the list! 

[Folsom]

See if you can pry it from OzarkTom's system

[rodge827]

Hearing the Mission Impossible theme in my head...and it's getting louder!

[John Casler]

The cryo amp is not here yet. But what made a big difference tonight was putting a moongel pad on top of each cedar ring and weighing the amp down. I sat two 2.5 pound barbell weights on top, that made quite a bit of an improvement in the detail area. Even the volume seemed to have gone up slightly.

I do this quite often with my gear, but prefer the RUBBER COATED Steel Olympic Plates as they damp the ringing resonance of "steel only" plates.

NOT Rubber Bumper Plates which are Rubber only.

[OzarkTom]

See if you can pry it from OzarkTom's system

First, heading for the Cryoman tomorrow.

And Chris is not a reviewer? He will probably get a call later this week from one of the online review mags offering him a job.

[jk@home]

Sounds like the tour amp is good and broke in. Anyone want to guess how many hours are on it now?

Rodge were you feeding a single ended or balanced input into the Crown? Right now breaking mine in with Mogami balanced cables and short speaker wire. And where did you have the amp gain setting.

[steve f]

If Salis sends a modified Crown following the tour amps, can I be added to that part of the tour? I'd love to compare one to my stock XLS amps.

Steve

[Folsom]

I don't own one.

[OzarkTom]

I do this quite often with my gear, but prefer the RUBBER COATED Steal Olympic Plates as they damp the ringing resonance of "steel only" plates.

NOT Rubber Bumper Plates which are Rubber only.

I was thinking about melting some of my moongel pats and coating the steel plates with that. But  that would probably stink my wife out of the house. So I will hunt down some of the rubber coated ones instead.

[rodge827]

Sounds like the tour amp is good and broke in. Anyone want to guess how many hours are on it now?

Rodge were you feeding a single ended or balanced input into the Crown? Right now breaking mine in with Mogami balanced cables and short speaker wire. And where did you have the amp gain setting.

I had it on the Isotec Rejuvenation Disc the whole time, except when I was listening to music, so I guess it is pretty well broken in.

Single ended into the Crown and the gain setting was one back from full gain. It was the only way I could match the gain to the sub amp. Any less than that and there was a serious tonal imbalance.

Chris

[OzarkTom]

I had it on the Isotec Rejuvenation Disc the whole time, except when I was listening to music, so I guess it is pretty well broken in.

Single ended into the Crown and the gain setting was one back from full gain. It was the only way I could match the gain to the sub amp. Any less than that and there was a serious tonal imbalance.

Chris

Using a sub amp and sub? Try the high pass crossover set at about 100-125 and see if that sounds better. Also, cut off the clipping circuit on the amp if you have not tried that yet.

[Tomy2Tone]

And Chris is not a reviewer? He will probably get a call later this week from one of the online review mags offering him a job.

That's what I was thinking.

We can call him "The Amp Whisperer". 

[jk@home]

I had it on the Isotec Rejuvenation Disc the whole time, except when I was listening to music, so I guess it is pretty well broken in.

Single ended into the Crown and the gain setting was one back from full gain. It was the only way I could match the gain to the sub amp. Any less than that and there was a serious tonal imbalance.

Chris

Thanks. I trimmed mine back to 9:00 as other here have recommended. There was some discussion of reducing the full output of the amp by doing this. But my speakers are only rated for 100 watts, so I figure it is a GOOD thing that I reduce the max bridge output down a quarter.

Now I could of sworn I read on the Crown forum somewhere that a factory rep stated if the input control is set too low, there will be added "reverberation". Don't hear it with my system, maybe it is a live sound problem? I do suspect that the input controls of the two amps may not be perfectly equal, but I can adjust that issue with the preamp (after break-in).

After mine is broken in (probably a good month from now), I will try SE vs balanced.

[DaveC113]

Truth be told I was looking to get out of my audio hobby. I wasn't enjoying it any more and my system was sounding flat and uninteresting. I would listen occasionally, loose interest, turn it off and go to sleep. With the XLS that has all changed and I now have a verve for it again.

Poppa's got his groove back!

Chris

Thanks for the review Chris! 

I've waffled back and forth over the years, I never stop listening to music but there's been times I wan not actively trying to improve my system. I have found that if a system doesn't "draw you in" in some way you can lose enthusiasm for improving it, and on the other end if it's fatiguing you generally turn down the volume and it ceases to draw you in anymore because it may be good, but if it's harsh it won't work either.

When you get it right it's very encouraging though    I look forward to listening to music a lot more and stay much more interested in continuing the neverending upgrade process.