Crown 4|300N Amplifier Review

[jhaider]

One point of note I recently discovered. These amps are HEAVY on idle power draw.
In the manual it says these 4|300N draw about 120 watts at idle.

https://www.crownaudio.com/en/site_elements/dci-network-power-draw-thermal

They’re bad but not quite that bad. Here’s 3 DCIn amps idling: a DCI8|600n, a DCI4|600n, and a DCI4|1250n. The “power conditioner” itself uses 39W - so each amp is uncomfortably close to wasting 100W at idle but likely not over.

I typically just turn off all the amps in the rack when not in use from the trigger out of my AVR using the Furman cn2400s :

CN-2400S Smart Sequencing Power Conditioner – Advanced Power Control

Discover the CN-2400S Smart Sequencing Power Conditioner for precise power control and protection. Ideal for AV and commercial systems.

furmanpower.com

That one looks good. The stupid thing about Panamax is the outlets are all up and down. They’re spaced so closely you can’t plug in 20A plugs next to each other!

 

[jhaider]

They’re bad but not quite that bad. Here’s 3 DCIn amps idling: a DCI8|600n, a DCI4|600n, and a DCI4|1250n. The “power conditioner” itself uses 39W - so each amp is uncomfortably close to wasting 100W at idle but likely not over.

View attachment 269136



That one looks good. The stupid thing about Panamax is the outlets are all up and down. They’re spaced so closely you can’t plug in 20A plugs next to each other!

For comparison, here’s a the idle power consumption of a single Class AB bruiser (ATI AT4007), with a few other tiny things (coax to toslink adapter, WiiM Pro, Harmony Hub).

 

[Archaea]

They’re bad but not quite that bad. Here’s 3 DCIn amps idling: a DCI8|600n, a DCI4|600n, and a DCI4|1250n. The “power conditioner” itself uses 39W - so each amp is uncomfortably close to wasting 100W at idle but likely not over.

Something off with your meter's calc? It says near the watt number of 317 watt that it is 4.1A (4.1amp presumably) which at 120v should be ~490 watts? Not 317 watt.

The measurements I took were one amp at a time using this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0716WQW79/

Both of my Crown 8|300N measured like 201 and 203 watt on this meter. (I know it's just one meter, but it's ~ 5% off Crown's stated idle draw.

The link I provided from Crown seems to indicate the expectation is much higher than you mention.

https://www.crownaudio.com/en/site_elements/dci-network-power-draw-thermal

Your 8|600N supposedly draws 222 watt at idle according to Crown

Your 4|600N supposedly draws 113 watt at idle according to Crown

Your 4|1250N supposedly draws 183 watts at idle according to Crown

That's 518 watt expected, which is much closer to that 4.1 amps (492 watts) than your 317 watt figure?

 

[jhaider]

Something off with your meter's calc? It says near the watt number of 317 watt that it is 4.1A (4.1amp presumably) which at 120v should be ~490 watts? Not 317 watt.

Interesting. Never occurred to me to check Panamax’s math. I’m going to contact them to see what they say.

 

[kipman725]

This is one of the reasons I switched my home rack over to Extron XPA amplifiers. <1W auto standby with fast wakeup and low idle power consumption.

 

[Jonas_h]

I am a little surprised JBL Synthesis hasn’t replaced those amps with the Dante variants, or added the Dante ones as additional models, given the processor I/O. Crown offers DCI in both interfaces.

I have seen this one used in many Synthesis installations: https://jblpro.com/products/dsi-2-0-series
It is also mentioned in the Synthesis product page here: https://www.jblsynthesis.com/produc..._color=Black-GLOBAL-Current&cgid=loudspeakers

 

[pras1011]

So are they amps terrible for SQ?

 

[pauldavidthomas]

So are they amps terrible for SQ?

I’d put £100 on not hearing a difference between this amp and using a hypex amp from, say Nord. The numbers might be different but say on height and surround speakers you won’t hear a difference. I have Hypex & Crown in a Trinnov set up. No difference. However Hypex don’t have fans closer match on gain for trinnov less lights.

Lots of people take these reviews too seriously. In the real world they are mostly pretty similar. Same with DAC’s.

BOOM !

 

[pras1011]

"However Hypex don’t have fans closer match on gain for trinnov less lights." What does this mean? Are the fans loud on the Crown?

 

[dlaloum]

So are they amps terrible for SQ?

I find them to be excellent for SQ.
I have tested them against flagship Onkyo/Integra AVR's and Quad 606/707 power amps.

Some people look on them with contempt as "pa" amps - the JBL synthesis amps use the same drivecore circuits as these "PA" amps.

When properly blind tested, they have not been differentiable from other quality amps (when all are run within their rated constraints) - However the Crown amps typically provide a substantial level of additional power per $ over many other competitors.

Their long term reliability is pretty much guaranteed in a home environment, given that they are built to handle heavy duty PA / Band style pro use.

 

[dlaloum]

"However Hypex don’t have fans closer match on gain for trinnov less lights." What does this mean? Are the fans loud on the Crown?

I have two crown amps, with fans - I have never heard the fans (I have been using them for over 10 years now)

Keep in mind that the fans are thermostatic - and the amp is rated for 440W @ 8ohm - I use at most 16W peak... so the amp barely warms up, and the fans have never become audible (I don't know whether they turn off at a certain temperature, but I do know they are supposed to speed up above certain temperature.... something that I have never reached!)

Others have reported being able to hear the fans...

 

[JRS]

And that is exactly how relevant to ASR's members?

Late response, but I had a couple of Classe M500 monoblocks, each of which weighed about 50lbs--a very stiff supply such that 500W into 8 = 2kW into 2ohms. When I was forty schlepping those around wasn't a big deal, but now at nearly 70, I cringe at the thought. Or more specifically my back twinges at the mere thought. If I get back into a situation where I can let it all hang out, there is a very short list of suitably affordable amps and all Class D.

 

[pauldavidthomas]

"However Hypex don’t have fans closer match on gain for trinnov less lights." What does this mean? Are the fans loud on the Crown?

No fan has less noise than fan. In a dedicated room I can hear ANY fan.

 

[jhaider]

I have two crown amps, with fans - I have never heard the fans (I have been using them for over 10 years now)

Keep in mind that the fans are thermostatic - and the amp is rated for 440W @ 8ohm - I use at most 16W peak... so the amp barely warms up, and the fans have never become audible (I don't know whether they turn off at a certain temperature, but I do know they are supposed to speed up above certain temperature.... something that I have never reached!)

Others have reported being able to hear the fans...

Different lines have different fan noise levels.

DCIn amps pretty much always have fans running loudly. Other Crown lines, such as XLS or XTi, can be largely silent in home use. IMO a DCIn amp needs to be in a different room.

 

[Archaea]

I have two crown amps, with fans - I have never heard the fans (I have been using them for over 10 years now)

Keep in mind that the fans are thermostatic - and the amp is rated for 440W @ 8ohm - I use at most 16W peak... so the amp barely warms up, and the fans have never become audible (I don't know whether they turn off at a certain temperature, but I do know they are supposed to speed up above certain temperature.... something that I have never reached!)

Others have reported being able to hear the fans...

Do you have these crowns? The crown 8|300s have loud enough fans to certainly hear. They are nearly always on, because the amps themselves pull a bit over 200 watts at idle (each), and that heat has to be removed from the small chassis. They do change volume in the fans as the fan speeds change with thermals, but in my glass covered front AV rack (with fans in the back top for cooling), they are quiet enough to not be obtrusive because of the front panel, but I can certainly hear them in my room between tracks at a very low level. (Think something like a projector fan level when in my rack, behind the front glass). I agree with the previous poster. Most would not want these open air in the same room as your audio experience. They are too loud for that.

When I didn’t have them in my rack and they were sitting on top of my rack in open air they were still not quiet — my point is they are never silent one on and warmed up, even at idle. Both of my 8|300 make the same amount of noise, so if you are looking for a silent amp, these are not that.

My two Crown 8|300 together are louder than my four iNuke DSP 6000 together.
Here is a video showing the fan noise with the door open.

 

[Archaea]

So are they amps terrible for SQ?

No. You’ll not hear the difference between this amp and even something like the highly rated benchmark amp in my experience. There is a certain range and above that becomes specmanship, and this amp is into the inaudible audio quality difference threshold.

Lesser amps are as well.

Post 8989 for reference:

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/kansas-city-area-home-theater-meets-and-movie-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218

 

[pauldavidthomas]

I

I have two crown amps, with fans - I have never heard the fans (I have been using them for over 10 years now)

Keep in mind that the fans are thermostatic - and the amp is rated for 440W @ 8ohm - I use at most 16W peak... so the amp barely warms up, and the fans have never become audible (I don't know whether they turn off at a certain temperature, but I do know they are supposed to speed up above certain temperature.... something that I have never reached!)

Others have reported being able to hear the fans...

I have a dedicated room. I can hear any fan and most quiet noises in it.

 

[pras1011]

So there is fan noise and I hate those input and output connectors.

 

[charlielaub]

It's very easy to connect the end of a balanced cable to the input terminals. Just cut off one end of a balanced cable, strip three wires, and screw those into the terminal block. It takes about 5 minutes. You only need to do that once. If this is too much trouble or beyond your skill set, then look elsewhere I guess.

The fan noise is an issue, and they are not all that easy to swap out. I am currently doing this on another amp from the DCi series that will eventually be used for subwoofer duty. The fans are not screaming loud, so you could put them in a special cabinet with some sound adsportion material and that would make it pretty inaudible. Or put it in a closet - some people have a dedicated rack for gear that is out of sight. It's just not an amplifier to put up front and center in your stereo rack...

 

[Deleted member 48726]

If there are two fans you can wire them in series to get half the revolutions and minimize the noise.

You can also replace them with silent PC cooling fans if the voltage is 12 V.

Or look for an amp which only start the fans at a certain temperature.. Chances are you newer or very rarely see them spin and if you do you play so loud you don't notice it anyway. Yamaha PxxxS models are this way and many others I'm sure.