• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Review and Measurements of Crown XLS 1502 Amp

RayDunzl

Grand Contributor
Central Scrutinizer
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
13,202
Likes
16,982
Location
Riverview FL
It is always surpising how much power is really needed on dynamic peaks.

With digital sources there shouldn't be any surprises, limited as it is by full-scale (and a little inter-sample over if accomodated).

With a turntable though, who knows where the limit lies...
 

DonH56

Master Contributor
Technical Expert
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
7,835
Likes
16,497
Location
Monument, CO
The ancient AES guidance I recall is 17 dB (a power factor of 50) for music based upon studies of live music long ago. That is, if you need 1 W average, expect to need 50 W to prevent peaks from clipping. More recent anecdotal data is more like 30 dB for movies, a factor of 1000, but I expect that is mostly for explosions and such where a little clipping will go unnoticed. For studio work, again my experience (pretty dated), the pro standard was +4 dBu with 24 dBu max so 20 dB headroom required (a power factor of 100).

From there the power you need depends upon how loudly you want to listen and at what frequency, the sensitivity and dispersion (radiation pattern) of your speakers, your distance from them, and the room's characteristics. And probably a few other things I've forgotten. And don't forget that if the numbers say 1000 W but that fries the voice coil or whatever in your speakers then having a 1000 W amp may not be your best choice.

FWIWFM - Don
 

RayDunzl

Grand Contributor
Central Scrutinizer
Joined
Mar 9, 2016
Messages
13,202
Likes
16,982
Location
Riverview FL
My speakers say 200W power handling, they have 700W available (theoretically).

The only driver I've ever fired was a Peavy compression driver on top of the PA stack. Might have done that twice, live and learn.

Whoa...

1547669717718.png


That's a bold claim.

I've verified my limit... 116.9dB measured for a moment on a calibrated drum solo experiment. Sounded a bit like someone was taking a baseball bat to them.

1547669857317.png
 

Swtoby

Active Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
192
Likes
287
I would not, personally, expect the measured imperfections to be audible listening to music
Agreed. I have been using this amp as my main for both music/movies and subjectively it sounds very good to me. As my system does double-duty for movies, the extra power makes home theater fun, even without a sub (Vandersteen 2s). Also, the unit has performed reliably and just goes "meh" when I do stupid things while in tinker-mode, like forget to turn the amp off when swapping cables, etc: No loud pops, no fearing for my speakers.
 

Ron Texas

Master Contributor
Joined
Jun 10, 2018
Messages
6,078
Likes
8,914
In another thread I asked if members could find amplifiers with great measurements for under $1,000. I only received one reply. There aren't many around. Most of what I could find at https://audio.com.pl/testy/stereo/wzmacniacze-stereo had distortion vs power graphs worse than the XLS 1502. In particular there was much more distortion/noise in the lower power range. The Peachtree Nova 150 was a lot worse than the XLS 1502 never getting as low as .1%. It sells for $1,500 in the US.

The stand out performer that I could find were some pricey units from Accuphase. Numbers for Hegel, Krell and Pass were very good, but not as amazing as the Ncore.

The takeaway is owners of XLS 1502 aren't complaining because because it has tons of power and most of what is out there isn't a lot better and sometimes it is worse. Amps with stunningly low distortion numbers are a select few and usually expensive. That makes some of the bare bones Ncore amplifiers a screaming deal, even if they have power supply heat issues and will probably need a preamp.

If anyone has been combing through those tests and found something with very low distortion for under UD $2,000 let us know about it.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,390
Location
Seattle Area
If anyone has been combing through those tests and found something with very low distortion for under UD $2,000 let us know about it.
I am testing one such amplifier. For now, the Hypex based NC400s fall in that category also.
 

jhaider

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
2,822
Likes
4,514
I’m currently using the XLS 1502 in mono mode to for a JBL B460 which is a ported sub using the JBL 2245H driver. Is this amp appropriate for a sub amplifier? Sub needs 600-800W. Any other ideas for alternatives?

I would not worry about an XLS1502 not being able to drive a medium-excursion woofer in a 9 cubic foot cabinet! You'll be fine.
 

Dj7675

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
2,116
Likes
2,782
Appreciate the comments. Sounds like the amp is fine for sub duty and will continue to use it as such. Output is pretty amazing.
 

Pillars

Active Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2018
Messages
291
Likes
216
The XLS series is amazing for sub duty. It also has done very well on full range in my setup. Heck, with up to 775W into 4Ω per channel you'd best brace yourself.. Very clean, too.
 

JRG1488

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
40
Likes
32
Location
UK,Norfolk
I have the older xls1500 , subjectivity its a clean sounding neutral amp , the distortion may look bad on a scope but its far from audible in the real world, driving some floor standers or a sub the crown xls is a good choice. Would be interesting to see how the slightly cheaper class d Behringer A800 compares.
 

sergeauckland

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
3,440
Likes
9,100
Location
Suffolk UK
I have the older xls1500 , subjectivity its a clean sounding neutral amp , the distortion may look bad on a scope but its far from audible in the real world, driving some floor standers or a sub the crown xls is a good choice. Would be interesting to see how the slightly cheaper class d Behringer A800 compares.
I too am very interested in the Behringer A800. I have three A500s driving my active 'speakers and the A800 could be an interesting alternative.

S
 

HammerSandwich

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 22, 2018
Messages
1,137
Likes
1,497
I have the older xls1500 , subjectivity its a clean sounding neutral amp , the distortion may look bad on a scope but its far from audible in the real world, driving some floor standers or a sub the crown xls is a good choice. Would be interesting to see how the slightly cheaper class d Behringer A800 compares.
An XLS...0 might be cleaner. It doesn't do A/D/A & DSP, right?
 

JRG1488

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
40
Likes
32
Location
UK,Norfolk
I'm not sure how the older model compares, specs are the same, I think the xls1502 just has a more featured dsp. The xls1500 has a setting called stereo bypass i'm not sure if this bypasses the dsp, on the new model its just called stereo.
 

Ron Texas

Master Contributor
Joined
Jun 10, 2018
Messages
6,078
Likes
8,914
I'm not sure how the older model compares, specs are the same, I think the xls1502 just has a more featured dsp. The xls1500 has a setting called stereo bypass i'm not sure if this bypasses the dsp, on the new model its just called stereo.

The new one is said to have a quieter fan. The blue lights can be turned off.
 

DonH56

Master Contributor
Technical Expert
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
7,835
Likes
16,497
Location
Monument, CO
We've been so taken by the incredibly low distortion of (most) all the DACs Amir has measured that we forget how much distortion speakers add and how much distortion it takes for us to hear it. We cringe at 75 dB SINAD but that is still less than 0.02% distortion (and noise)! Not really audible, and less than a lot of much more expensive audiophile amps... The Crown is a solid pro amp they've tweaked a bit for consumer use. Many consumers like them just fine, sub or full-range.

IMO! - Don
 
Last edited:

sergeauckland

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
3,440
Likes
9,100
Location
Suffolk UK
We've been so taken by the incredibly low distortion of (most) all the DACs Amir has measured that we forget how much distortion speakers add and how much distortion it takes for us to hear it. We cringe at 75 dB SINAD but that is still less than 0.02% distortion! Not really audible... The Crown is a solid pro amp they've tweaked a bit for consumer use. Many consumers like them just fine, sub or full-range.

IMO! - Don
Not so long ago, 0.1% distortion (at all frequencies, levels and permitted loads) was considered perfectly satisfactory for amplifiers, so I'm surprised at the sniffy attitude to equipment measuring (only) 20dB better. 0.1% (-60dB) was chosen as it was 20dB better than could be normally discerned, so thought to be perfectly innocuous.

We can now do a lot better than 0.1%, but so what? Has there been any serious research done into just how much distortion is audible? I accept that it's difficult to do if the distortion one's trying to measure is swamped by the distortion of the loudspeakers or headphones, but nevertheless, have thresholds changed so much that something with 0.01% (-80dB) distortion is now justifiably thought poor?

S.
 

JRG1488

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
40
Likes
32
Location
UK,Norfolk
This is a high power speaker amp not a dac driving a line level signal it makes sense it would have alot more distortion also depending on what subs/speakers this amp is used with it could have some challenging loads to drive vs a dacs line level output.

I don't think this amp will be used at less than 100millwatts , 1-5 watts would probably be average listening level for home use so 0.01- 0.02 THD , which if we look at studies into what level of thd is audible we wouldn't be able to hear this level of distortion even with sine waves let alone music.

I think everyone thinks the measurements are poor because there comparing them with dacs line level outputs.
 
Top Bottom