Crown XLS- for the rest of us!

steve f · « **Reply #1240 on:** 18 Feb 2015, 04:18 am »

You still have to find out if the imbalance is in the phono pre, the cartridge, or perhaps the cartridge alignment or even arm setup. You did prove that the Crown has good channel balance. Patience.

barryso · « **Reply #1241 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 02:55 pm »

Rob, don't feel bad about the imbalance debugging. It took me way too long to figure out an imbalance in my system wasn't a component but one of the RCA cables. This was after swapping out everything but the cable in question.

Same thing happened with an odd sounding (but expensive) power cord. It stayed while all sorts of components got swapped in and out. When a good sounding DIY cord got swapped in as a replacement things just opened up. Up to that point I'd have never guessed it was a power cord.

This can be a very strange hobby at times.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1242 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 03:33 pm »

Having a balance control in your system can be mighty useful for a number of reasons. For me, I need one due to the shape of my room and limited speaker placement options.

Rclark · « **Reply #1243 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 03:44 pm »

I'm moving here next week and will need an amp to drive my second system. Totally getting one of these.

jk@home · « **Reply #1244 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 03:48 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 20 Feb 2015, 03:44 pm

I'm moving here next week and will need an amp to drive my second system. Totally getting one of these.

Would that be your Magnestands?

jk@home · « **Reply #1245 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 03:51 pm »

Only tweak left to do on my two 1500s is to upgrade the power cords. Will need 1.5 m long each. Can anyone recommend a diy or premade cord, preferably in the $50-$75 range?

OzarkTom · « **Reply #1246 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 05:35 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 20 Feb 2015, 03:51 pm

Only tweak left to do on my two 1500s is to upgrade the power cords. Will need 1.5 m long each. Can anyone recommend a diy or premade cord, preferably in the $50-$75 range?

I have used the Pangea AC14 power cords with good results. But I will ask my buddy Rex, he has tried almost everything including the cheapest cables.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1247 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 05:47 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 20 Feb 2015, 03:51 pm

Only tweak left to do on my two 1500s is to upgrade the power cords. Will need 1.5 m long each. Can anyone recommend a diy or premade cord, preferably in the $50-$75 range?

Pangea and the Shunyata Venom were the first that popped to mind. PM me if the Venom interests you. I've got one that is not in use right now.

a.wayne · « **Reply #1248 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 05:54 pm »

Which one of you frozen philes have the Amplfier now ..... ?

jk@home · « **Reply #1249 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 06:51 pm »

Thanks, got an Audio Advisor sale flyer just yesterday with Pangea on sale. Will check it out. Roscoeiii did you try the Shunyata on the loaner Crown when you had it?

wushuliu · « **Reply #1250 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 07:06 pm »

So did anyone try the 193l/M Hammond choke tweak yet? I thought some folks were going to give it a go.

Rclark · « **Reply #1251 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 07:10 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 20 Feb 2015, 03:48 pm

Would that be your Magnestands?

Yes, that will be my living room system, and since I no longer have housemates, I can finally go whole hog and finish the last 10th's of the system with basstrapping, microphone, etc.

I can't decide if I could put Ncores out there or not, but I'll probably use both system's equally as I will have a PlayStation TV installed on the living room TV to stream the PS4 from my bedroom and have access to all my games, movies, music out there on the couch. The PSTV will also have its own Ethernet connection.

The Maggies will appreciate the big power, even if they aren't getting the Ncore love that my bedroom speakers are getting. Or maybe I'll use the Crown in the bedroom. We'll see.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1252 on:** 20 Feb 2015, 07:57 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 20 Feb 2015, 06:51 pm

Thanks, got an Audio Advisor sale flyer just yesterday with Pangea on sale. Will check it out. Roscoeiii did you try the Shunyata on the loaner Crown when you had it?

No, haven't tried it yet. Have a higher priced cable going into the Crown. Getting back to my power conditioner is a real pain, so don't do much cable swapping. I can look into it this weekend and report back, or drop it in the mail to you if you want to try it out in your system.

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #1253 on:** 21 Feb 2015, 03:35 pm »

Quote from: wushuliu on 20 Feb 2015, 07:06 pm

So did anyone try the 193l/M Hammond choke tweak yet? I thought some folks were going to give it a go.

I just unplugged all my 193m chokes from my system to see what changes would happen and immediately the soundstage became hazy with a great loss of detail. For the $250 I spent at parts express for these I gotta say it was a nice improvement for the money.

I look at the Audio Magic Pulse Gen and wonder what it could do but its $400 for just one which goes into one component, so for me with two crown amps running that's $800.

For my Panny Plasma they work really well too but only at the outlet. When I tried one at the Brick surge protector where the tv is plugged in the picture quality took a hit. But for audio there was a benefit wherever I put them.

Tomy2Tone · « **Reply #1254 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 12:27 am »

Quote from: Peter J on 18 Feb 2015, 12:36 am

Arrrgghhhh! Received tour amp today, but discovered I have no easy way to hook it up. Speakers are biwired and cables terminated in spades, which the Crown doesn't accept. Never thought about that.

Is there such a thing as a spade to banana adaptor? I suppose I could make some cheapie cables and jumper but was really hoping to hear this with system mostly as is.

Hey Peter J,

Just checking in to see how things are going. Have you been able to come up with something to help you connect your speaker cables to the Crown?

Peter J · « **Reply #1255 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 01:15 am »

I think I've found something that will work with existing cables, but been busy with work, so haven't had much time to give it a spin. If I'm holding up the show, I can forward on to next in line.

Now that I think about it, wife's gone tonight, so I'm going to delay what I had on agenda and see if I can get it going right now.

I'll report back.

Peter J · « **Reply #1256 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 03:39 am »

My thoughts on the tour amp. I'm not a wordy guy when typing, so I'll make this brief. Also the audition was brief, I've found that if something sounds "off" to me, it's unlikely that will change with more listening. All that said it's just my opinion, so put the flamethrowers away.

System consisted of CAPs server > W4S DAC-2 > Cary SLP-03 > Crown >Northcreek Rhythms

The comparison is to the Ncores I recently built, which have a layer upon layer quality that I find beguiling. It's unlike any amp I've owned.

The Crown just didn't compare favorably in this system. Vocals on the shouty side. Bass sometimes tending towards overblown. Kind of an "in your face" presentation. Music had an edge I think I'd find fatiguing with extended listening. In the bang for buck category, I imagine this is a pretty good deal, but not a game changer for me and certainly not replacing the Ncores. At times, in certain frequency ranges, it did have some moments of glory, but overall, not so much.

I'll pack it up and send it along to next candidate!

rob303 · « **Reply #1257 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 01:50 pm »

Quote from: barryso on 20 Feb 2015, 02:55 pm

Rob, don't feel bad about the imbalance debugging. It took me way too long to figure out an imbalance in my system wasn't a component but one of the RCA cables. This was after swapping out everything but the cable in question.

Same thing happened with an odd sounding (but expensive) power cord. It stayed while all sorts of components got swapped in and out. When a good sounding DIY cord got swapped in as a replacement things just opened up. Up to that point I'd have never guessed it was a power cord.

This can be a very strange hobby at times.

Thanks man! Of course I went all tech-y crazy with a multimeter, etc instead of simply working my way down the chain using my best tools: eyes and ears! The culprit? I have this little iFi phono stage as a temp while my tube phono pre is being built. These things are sooo tiny but packed with adjustability. So, for the past couple months I had the gain set wrong and was giving my left channel a 6dB boost. Crazy thing is, it wasn't that noticeable with the DynAudio monitors I was borrowing. When I hooked up my new Omega speakers the imbalance was head-exploding! Things are all bueno now!

Peter J · « **Reply #1258 on:** 25 Feb 2015, 03:29 pm »

Calling S Clark... calling in S Clark.

Tour amp is ready to come your way. Assuming you're ready and willing, I'll send your direction straight away.

Over and out...

S Clark · « **Reply #1259 on:** 27 Feb 2015, 02:40 pm »

The Crown is on its way to Texas, where it has two very different amps to compare to. A custom Dodd 6L6GC/6dj8 amp with about 50 wpc driving fairly efficient X-Statik speakers, and a modded Moscode 401HR 200 wpc driving big line source LS9 speakers. The LS9's are moderately efficient, but have significant back EMF that requires control for the speakers to really sound their best. The Crown could be a good match. We should see by the middle of next week. Stay tuned.