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Crown amp?

David Harper

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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
 
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JeffS7444

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As long as there is no excessive mechanical noise (fans, etc) I don't see why not.
 

Jdunk54nl

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I use a xls 1502 for subwoofer. They work. Some hiss from them on my current high sensitivity speakers though. Can't hear it through subwoofer so works fine for that.

Personally, now with Buckeye amps, you can get a 2 channel 502mp for $650 which puts out 500w @ 4ohms. Or get a 4 channel for $1049 and get up to 1000w @ 4 ohms by bridging for 2 channel (or have 4 channels at 500w)

 

Matias

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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
Get a Buckeye NC502MP for similar price, smaller and with way better sound quality.
 
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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
The reality is that they're 'fine'.

I have older models 1500 and 2500 and there is some his from them, but I have to put my ear against the speaker when they're at max tilt. I also purchased them used for less than half the cost of new, so that's a banger of a deal I could not pass up.

If you need the power, they're a great option if you find a deal. Otherwise an upgrade to a Hypex is a no-brainer.

My particular use case was that I upgraded from a Denon receiver because I needed more power. Having power on tap brought way more enjoyment than I thought it would.

So if a Crown is available to you for a good price, go for it. Try it out. They resell well.
 

DSJR

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Get a Buckeye NC502MP for similar price, smaller and with way better sound quality.
Ummm - this is ASR here... They should sound much the same, shouldn't they? No offence meant to anyone here!
 

Absolute

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I've used Crown cdi 4/1200 on my JBL M2 clones for a year, replaced hypex nc400 due to gainstructure leading to too little power.
The Crown sounded very similar but with a hiss level that gives that "gray" sounding quality in the highs. Keep in mind the 110 dB sensitivity tweeter here, though.

To me the most important quality is enough power and after that the absence of noise. Distortion needs to be really bad to become the dominant factor for sound degradation. I expect most Crowns to be around that fine line where distortion may or may not be a noticeable factor judging by the measurements made by Amir.

So, if you can get enough power and no noticeable noise with similar cost going the Hypex route, I wouldn't even consider a Crown for hifi-usage.
If you need crazy power and won't be annoyed with the inherent noise and could have use for active cooling and sustained performance/reliability, Crown is a good proposition.

Oh, and even if this is ASR where people are focused on rationality and hard evidence I wouldn't place any more weight on opinions here than anywhere else because most of us are just talking out of our ass with perpetually repeated assumptions and statements that may or may not actually hold any real truth to it.
 
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Ummm - this is ASR here... They should sound much the same, shouldn't they? No offence meant to anyone here!
This doesn't strike me as question. It seems a lot more like a political statement based on fallacious logic patterns.
 
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I've used Crown cdi 4/1200 on my JBL M2 clones for a year, replaced hypex nc400 due to gainstructure leading to too little power.
The Crown sounded very similar but with a hiss level that gives that "gray" sounding quality in the highs. Keep in mind the 110 dB sensitivity tweeter here, though.

To me the most important quality is enough power and after that the absence of noise. Distortion needs to be really bad to become the dominant factor for sound degradation. I expect most Crowns to be around that fine line where distortion may or may not be a noticeable factor judging by the measurements made by Amir.

So, if you can get enough power and no noticeable noise with similar cost going the Hypex route, I wouldn't even consider a Crown for hifi-usage.
If you need crazy power and won't be annoyed with the inherent noise and could have use for active cooling and sustained performance/reliability, Crown is a good proposition.

Oh, and even if this is ASR where people are focused on rationality and hard evidence I wouldn't place any more weight on opinions here than anywhere else because most of us are just talking out of our ass with perpetually repeated assumptions and statements that may or may not actually hold any real truth to it.
Yes... I think use case is important to know. My speakers are 87ish db. If I were running horns as efficient as yours, I think the audibility of the Crowns noise would start to present itself.

I'll soon find out. I'll be building some ~100db open baffle speakers and I think the I'll have a want for an amp with a better SINAD
 

Qbd

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As others have said, beware of hiss. My Crown XLS 1502 has hiss audible from my listening position. But that’s with 99 dB/W speakers.

I’m using it for my buttkickers, where such low levels of hiss are of no concern.
 

DSJR

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This doesn't strike me as question. It seems a lot more like a political statement based on fallacious logic patterns.
What's fallacious about it? Take eyesight and touch-feel out and only rely on ears and most audiophile 'differences' promptly disappear. It's an ancient argument now but I've fooled myself a few times now so know not to trust sighted dems. Sure, 'audiophile enthusiast amplifiers are often hobbled in one way or another to have a different 'sound' but the ones designed outside of this fraternity often 'measure' properly with no oddities and surprise surprise, sound very similar to each other to many people. I'd suggest it's the subjectivist audiophile mindset that's fallacious as everybody has a different point of view and with absolutely no evidence to back it up other than what they perceived sighted on the day. The internet has opened itself to allow everyone with a voice to be heard, but weeding out the repeatable facts from the general internet noise can be very difficult. Until you've been subjectively fooled, I doubt you'd understand and no, I'm NOT a SINAD Disciple!!!!

As for hiss being an issue, someone I know (admittedly over 50 years old) and a confirmed 'valve fan' into his 12" full range speakers (whizzer cone for highs), tried a well beat-up Crown pro amp (1500 or 1501?) one afternoon in a friendly 'bake-off' and was very pleasantly surprised how well it 'sounded' when he was expecting harsh toned blood and thunder from it. The listening distance and room acoustics will alter perceptions of noise too.
 

Phorize

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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
Klippel recommend a couple of Crown amps. Last thing I heard was that Klippel knew something about audio performance:

 
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What's fallacious about it? Take eyesight and touch-feel out and only rely on ears and most audiophile 'differences' promptly disappear. It's an ancient argument now but I've fooled myself a few times now so know not to trust sighted dems. Sure, 'audiophile enthusiast amplifiers are often hobbled in one way or another to have a different 'sound' but the ones designed outside of this fraternity often 'measure' properly with no oddities and surprise surprise, sound very similar to each other to many people. I'd suggest it's the subjectivist audiophile mindset that's fallacious as everybody has a different point of view and with absolutely no evidence to back it up other than what they perceived sighted on the day. The internet has opened itself to allow everyone with a voice to be heard, but weeding out the repeatable facts from the general internet noise can be very difficult. Until you've been subjectively fooled, I doubt you'd understand and no, I'm NOT a SINAD Disciple!!!!
Your initial poke was borderline ad-hominem that by associating us together as if we all think the same.

Now this post smells of a false dichotomy and finger pointing.

Someone asked about a crown amp and you brought your fallatious politics into it.
 

Ron Texas

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I'm using a Crown XLS 1502 to drive a pair of LS50's (non meta). The amp has DSP built in allowing a high pass which I keep set at 100 hz. There is no fan noise and no hiss. There are long threads by people happy with the original 1500. The newer 1502 has a fan which is effectively noiseless.
 

Jmudrick

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I'm using a Crown XLS 1502 to drive a pair of LS50's (non meta). The amp has DSP built in allowing a high pass which I keep set at 100 hz. There is no fan noise and no hiss. There are long threads by people happy with the original 1500. The newer 1502 has a fan which is effectively noiseless.

Mine drive Infinity 263 with Crown's high pass filter, output to R12 subs, no issues.
 

gene_stl

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There are a lot of great Crown amps available both new and used. The ones that have built in DSP can do lots of wonderful tricks. Those models may introduce some latency (a stack that I have the figure is about 11 milliseconds according to Crown/Harman tech support Mine are CTS600 and 1200 which can totally elimnate the need for crossover networks and can be controlled and monitored via ethernet) I also have some XLS series amps that are more traditional class AB. These are available almost free nowadays. Power amps have gotten to be like HDD space and internet bandwidth. Very much lower price and higher quality. The biggest thing to worry about is potential cooling fan noise and also hiss if you have ver efficient spikkers. That is also true of the Class D amps. Crowns answer to Class D is their Drive Core. I love their slogan. "Installs Anywhere, Outperforms Everything" ;):cool:.

There are tons and tons of great power amps on the used market here in St. Louis. I think that has to be true almost everywhere. A couple of my audio friends are getting massive amounts of cinema equipment merely by being willing to show up , uninstall and haul away. I am talking about big powerful amps and Voice of the Theater and JBL cinema gear as well as other less well known brands. Lots of movie theaters seem to have closed during the pandemic. Check out this ebay seller whose honesty I would vouch for: https://www.ebay.com/str/spectraaudiosystems
aka RescueAudio llc He is also on Facebook sometimes.
 

Sal1950

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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
Crown have always produced quality products that were highly dependable.
I believe they bailed out of the HiFi world when they saw the explosion of the audiophool mentality in the 1980's.
Way back in another lifetime I owned a IC-150A and a D-150 amp. I only had the amp for a short time cause I was myself getting caught up in the phool mentality. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was to trade that Crown amp for a Phase Linear 700B :facepalm:
With your speakers I doubt you'll hear any hiss at all. If you use a lot of that power the cooling fans might come on and be a disturbance but if the music that loud??? These are two attributes that have no impact in the Pro world.
Grab one somewhere reputable with good return policy in case you not happy for some reason.
The nice folks at Sweetwater have them on sale right now for $689.00 and free shipping, sounds like a deal.
 

dlaloum

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I have 2 x XLS2500's... which I have used with my Gallo Ref 3.1's...

I compared them to Quad 606 (class AB current dumping 140W) Onkyo TX-SR876 (flagship AVR, 140W).... my observations were that the Crown was equivalent in quality to the Onkyo, but very slightly inferior to the Quad - my impression was of slightly smoother. perhaps more detailed mids and highs.

With regards to the bass there was no competition, the crowns were victorious... solid, deep....

With the built in DSP crossover, they are ideal for biamping ... and although not currently in use, I am planning on redeploying them shortly.

They provide very high quality sound - can you do better, yes, can you do better at the price... I doubt it. You can perhaps achieve a different balance... (like the Quad 606 does) - but if what you need is sheer power, and the ability to drive difficult low impedance loads, there is not much out there that will match them anywhere near their price. (and they are of course even cheaper used...)

I have not noticed any Hiss, even close to the speakers (they are not the most efficient design though) - and although there is a fan, I have never heard it turn on, under any conditions. (but then I am not a heavy metal fan...)
 
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I've always been wondering about crown amps. They look to have mind-boggling power output at a bargain basement price. I've never heard one so my question is; does anyone here own a crown amp and if so, what is your experience with it? The high-end audiophile sites all seem to say the same thing which is that crown amps are "not suitable" for audiophile use because (presumably) they have poor sound quality. I can get a new one at guitar center by my house for about 1k that's rated at (I think) 600wpc. It's pretty ugy and industrial looking. But still 600 watts!!!!!! Less than a thousand $.
I just read Amir's review of the crown XLS2502 and he seems very positive about it.
Crown have made many different types of amps and its not the company it once was, now owned by Harman.
I have owned a Studio Reference II power amplifier since 1994, still going strong, a very well built amplifier designed for recording studio's or for mastering and to drive large main monitors, (it is not a P.A. amplifier for live concerts),
Came with its own specific Left / Right channel test bench measurements (from memory 124 & 122 dB S/N ratio on each).
It can be changed to bridged mono or parallel mono, depending if requiring current or voltage.
It's a class A/B design, weight 28kg, and when configured as stereo, puts out 360 Watts RMS into 8 ohms 560 into 4 ohms, safe to drive 2 ohm load.
There is also a Crown Studio Reference I, which has double the power of my II model, the earlier versions were called Macro Reference, the old Audio magazine used one to test speakers.
There days the majority of studio's are using powered monitors, so the market for these amplifiers isn't there anymore.
For the curious, the manual and schematic are still available from crowns website.
I don't think they're very expensive these days, would be interesting to see Amirm test one.
 
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