Crown XLS- for the rest of us!

guest61169 · « **Reply #1360 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 12:22 pm »

Quote from: barryso on 4 Apr 2015, 01:53 am

To hide the brightness...

You could take a piece of 19" long black plexiglass and hold it up to the rack mount ears, drill 4 holes and black zip tie it to the rack mount holes. Drill ventilation holes through some of plexi in the fan area. You can even find a Crown logo on Google Images and print it and put it on the front. Also, you guys know about Light Dims, right?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Light-Dims-Black-Out-Edition-LightDims-/191434141108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c925d2db4

OzarkTom · « **Reply #1361 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 12:44 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 3 Apr 2015, 12:24 pm

So I ordered an iTube, not to raise the gain to the Crown amps, but as a tube buffer after the DAC, and to try the processing circuits. I also will try it between pre and amps, as I already have some unbalanced to balance cables made up. Guess it is the modern day X-10D (have one of those too, pretty grungy ).

I didn't realize until reading the reviews (which there are quite a few out there) that the chief designer is Thorsten Loesch. Pretty cool, I've read his posts on AA for years, and he even helped me sort out some circuits in a balance cable setup I was doing, via email. He's big time now.

So who here is using one of the processing circuits on their iTube and how does it help with the Crown?

Thorsten Loesch is one of the ultimate tweekster's in the audio world. Not only is his AMR products some of the best sounding, he has stepped up the great value into his IFI products. This now allows the C&C crowd to own some of his products.

jk@home · « **Reply #1362 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 01:23 pm »

Digging up more info on the iTube last night, found out the manufacturer states that using the 6dB gain setting will give more of a "tube effect" than with the no gain setting. So I guess I will be trying it between pre and the two Crown amps for sure.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1363 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 02:20 pm »

Quote from: jk@home on 4 Apr 2015, 01:23 pm

Digging up more info on the iTube last night, found out the manufacturer states that using the 6dB gain setting will give more of a "tube effect" than with the no gain setting. So I guess I will be trying it between pre and the two Crown amps for sure.

Interesting. And very curious about the new iPower supply vs. Astron that folks dig so much.

jk@home · « **Reply #1364 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 03:22 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 4 Apr 2015, 02:20 pm

Interesting. And very curious about the new iPower supply vs. Astron that folks dig so much.

I haven't found it listed on any iFi dealer's web sites for sale yet (Music Direct, etc.) Must be really new.

rodge827 · « **Reply #1365 on:** 4 Apr 2015, 05:21 pm »

Quote from: noway on 4 Apr 2015, 12:22 pm

You could take a piece of 19" long black plexiglass and hold it up to the rack mount ears, drill 4 holes and black zip tie it to the rack mount holes. Drill ventilation holes through some of plexi in the fan area. You can even find a Crown logo on Google Images and print it and put it on the front. Also, you guys know about Light Dims, right?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Light-Dims-Black-Out-Edition-LightDims-/191434141108?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c925d2db4

noway,
No I hadn't know about Light Dims, looks like a good product, thanks for link.

Quote from: jk@home on 4 Apr 2015, 03:22 pm

I haven't found it listed on any iFi dealer's web sites for sale yet (Music Direct, etc.) Must be really new.

Yes they are very new. I had called Avatar Acoustics (NA iFi Dist) the other day about the iPower and they hope to get some in soon. iFi has a long history of releasing information about their products and slooowly supplying it to market.

Chris

jk@home · « **Reply #1366 on:** 6 Apr 2015, 01:54 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 3 Apr 2015, 02:02 pm

I like the iTube with the 6db gain in my system. Try it both ways. And I use the 3D setting as well. Look forward to hearing about your experience.

Still breaking in the iTube, but right off the bat, I am really liking that 3D setting! It doesn't seem to effect imaging or transparency, but gives the KEFs a larger, more "di-pole" sound. The Digital Antidote appears to be helping smooth out my old CI VDA-2 also. If there is any con, it may be that the bass is reduced a touch. But that's fixable in my system.

Back on the other class D thread, where the Crown train left the station, someone mentioned that my old Dodds preamp wasn't "tubey" enough. Have to agree with that now, the iTube effect was apparent right away.

Best place in my chain seems to be between DAC and pre, with no gain. I tried the 6dB setting, before and after the preamp, it really didn't make much difference for the better (going by the pre's volume setting). So I'm keeping the balanced Mogamis in between the NuForce pre and Crowns, with the iTube upstream. My pre has a 10 dB gain, so I'm good there.

barryso · « **Reply #1367 on:** 19 Apr 2015, 01:31 pm »

Just a follow up with the Raspberry Pi 2 and Hifiberry Digi combo. It's got some time on it and I've been able to compare it to the Squeezebox several times. Both the Pi and the Squeezebox are feeding a DAC through a coax cable.

To my ear, the Pi/Digi combo is clearer sounding and a bit more dynamic than the Squeezebox. It's a nice improvement.

The Pi/Digi sounds a bit different running different software, too, but those differences seem to be more system dependent so there isn't one piece of software that would sound best to all. But even with the software differences the Pi/Digi is an upgrade to the (non-modified) Squeezebox.

The Hifiberry boards are now available from a Canadian company so I didn't have to order it from Switzerland. My order was delivered in about a week and they were very helpful. The whole pile of parts (Pi, power supply, micro SD card, case, Hifiberr Digi, etc.) was about $150 after the conversion to US dollars which is about 1/2 what the Squeezebox cost in 2007.

If you can tinker with small computers then the Pi/Digi is a very good upgrade for a silly amount of money.

The Squeezebox is now going to be used at my workbench so I can access my music collection and Internet streaming while working. That alone was worth the money spent.

SlyFuu · « **Reply #1368 on:** 19 Apr 2015, 04:16 pm »

I'm too lazy to post from my computer so I'll keep it short.

Crown announced that they're coming out with a new generation of these amps. Details can be found here: http://www.crownaudio.com/en/product_families/xls-drivecore-2-series

It looks like Amazon is trying to clear their stock on the first gen. Currently lowest I've seen. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003HZV2JS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1429459678&sr=8-1&keywords=xls+1500&dpPl=1&dpID=31orWwoPd5L&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

srb · « **Reply #1369 on:** 19 Apr 2015, 04:30 pm »

Quote from: SlyFuu on 19 Apr 2015, 04:16 pm

Crown announced that they're coming out with a new generation of these amps. Details can be found here: http://www.crownaudio.com/en/product_families/xls-drivecore-2-series

With people either taping over the display and lights or going to the trouble to try and fabricate some kind of front panel for the present not-so-attractive DriveCore, besides having increased DSP capabilities, the new (black) DriveCore 2 Series also has

"increased lighting functionality; turn off display or any/all LED indicators except clip and thermal to reduce distraction in dark venues"

Steve

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1370 on:** 19 Apr 2015, 04:47 pm »

Adjustable input sensitivity and more DSP are the other details that jumped out at me.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #1371 on:** 19 Apr 2015, 04:56 pm »

According to this article, available in June and priced $299-599. I guess I need to sell a couple of 1500's right away. The amps even has a sleepmode.

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/crown_introduces_upgraded_xls_drivecore_2_amplifiers/

rodge827 · « **Reply #1372 on:** 20 Apr 2015, 01:43 am »

I like the new look and the new features but...Is this the same sounding amp with a few extra bells and whistles in an updated chassis?

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1373 on:** 20 Apr 2015, 02:50 am »

Quote from: rodge827 on 20 Apr 2015, 01:43 am

I like the new look and the new features but...Is this the same sounding amp with a few extra bells and whistles in an updated chassis?

Excellent question

OzarkTom · « **Reply #1374 on:** 20 Apr 2015, 02:53 am »

Quote from: rodge827 on 20 Apr 2015, 01:43 am

I like the new look and the new features but...Is this the same sounding amp with a few extra bells and whistles in an updated chassis?

Very likely, it does not sound like they changed anything else.

jk@home · « **Reply #1375 on:** 29 Apr 2015, 12:32 am »

Just an FYI for folks who are using an iFi with their Crown amps, Music Direct has the iPower page up now. Ordered one.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-322395-ifi-ipower-power-supply.aspx
http://

roscoeiii · « **Reply #1376 on:** 29 Apr 2015, 01:07 am »

Please report back on that one.

Bold claims for that psu.

jk@home · « **Reply #1377 on:** 29 Apr 2015, 01:17 am »

Yeah, if it is as good as they claim, I'll get a 5v one for my old Squeezebox classic (now using an Elpac).

rodge827 · « **Reply #1378 on:** 29 Apr 2015, 01:50 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 29 Apr 2015, 01:07 am

Please report back on that one.

Bold claims for that psu.

Yeah I agree, I might check one out too...gotta check the return policy

RDavidson · « **Reply #1379 on:** 29 Apr 2015, 02:04 am »

My bad.

I reposted a link.

Crown XLS- for the rest of us!

guest61169