My Crown amp works great! I'm only using 88 to 90db sensitive speakers (Martin Logan) and there is no hiss. Also the fan never turns on. Lets get to some elephants running around in the room.
1. Any post on Crown amps brings out guys who had Crowns from 30 to 40 years ago (older than dirt) and didn't like them for home use.
2. The idiotic weird and crazy idea that someone should turn the volume up to maximum, put their ear up against the speaker and see if they can hear any hiss. What is this supposed to do? I can tell you with 100% certainty it is not telling you what you think it is. You are amplifying noise from your pre-amp, which is not the Crown amps fault. Also, the hiss is so low and you have to put your ear to the speaker that it has no, zero, none whatsoever effect on your music listening. It is like saying you can hear gnat pass gas as it fly's by. I wish people would STOP doing this supposed test and reporting on internet sites. If it was a hiss audible at the listening position then maybe it might be valid. The "real" valid test is to turn the volume to 50% to 70% and see if you can hear any hiss at your sitting position.
3. Trying to do the above test on speakers with a 98 to 100db sensitivity. Those speakers are outliers and not anywhere near the norm in home audio. Something in the 82 to 92 range covers probably 97% of all speakers for home use. Bringing up weird exceptions to normalcy and then condemning the amp is nuts.
4. All this concern about fan noise. Most people will tell you the fans never even turn on in home audio. If they do, your volume level is so high that you still should not hear the fans. But, in some very rare, exceptional cases, this "could" possibly happen. But I would not see it as a concern for most people wanting to try a Crown amp. It is in my opinion blown way out of proportion when ever anyone brings up Crown amps and fans.
5. Massive amounts of hearsay brought up on any Crown amp thread. If you have not personally heard fan noise while sitting in your listening chair with music, then it is a non-issue. Hiss? again if you have not heard any hiss at your listening chair it is a non-issue.
6. Of course my favorite that many of you have heard before, thinking you have God like hearing. Please refer to the gnat. It seems like 80% or more people believe they can hear things they can't hear. It is mind boggling how common this is.
Well, that is the elephants that need to be dealt with right away. People need to stop regurgitating what they read in another forum. Or in others posts on ASR.
But bottom line, remember I may have experience and I may know exactly what I'm talking about,
but that does not make me the post controller. This is just my wish list for Crown amp threads. I live in hope that one day things will change. I'm not trying to be negative, I want to change the Crown threads in a positive way with my wish list! I know many of you may call me "Mr. Positive"!