Crown XLS2502 Stereo Amplifier Review

[Rebelhifi]

I used XLR on all the Crown XLS 2000 and 1502. I tried RCA on the 1502 and it was worse.

 

[Rebelhifi]

I am using XLR Phoenix connectors with the Crown CT8150.

 

[righthookmike]

I'm thinking of purchasing one used that I would use to power a rear horn loaded sub cabinet for around 60hz and lower, anybody care top share their opinion?
Mike

 

[Frank207be]

I'm thinking of purchasing one used that I would use to power a rear horn loaded sub cabinet for around 60hz and lower, anybody care top share their opinion?
Mike

You can't go wrong with this Crown in my opinion. You can set the lowpass filter as low as 30Hz and the small increments allow you to set the crossover frequency quite precisely.

 

[righthookmike]

TY . I thought so but this is my first foray into pro gear

 

[Panelhead]

I prefer Class AB amps. But a bridged XLS-2502 is a beast. It should be capable of overdriving the subwoofer easily.

 

[Frank207be]

TY . I thought so but this is my first foray into pro gear

No need to worry about this. These amps are partially consumer oriented as they have RCA inputs en regular binding posts. Also the fan is very quiet so you don't need to put it in a separate room.

What woofer are you using in the horn loaded sub?

 

[righthookmike]

The boxes are Yorkville elite sw800. I'm picking it up today. I believe the drivers are RCF L 18/851 but I will post pics when I get back. I'm not all that worried about fan noise, My 2channel system is outside on a partially enclosed porch (my neighbors love me......)

 

[righthookmike]

I prefer Class AB amps. But a bridged XLS-2502 is a beast. It should be capable of overdriving the subwoofer easily.

I prefer them as well but I need the dsp on the xls and this seemed an easy solution. I won't be bridging. LR subs

 

[AudioLover73]

I'm looking for a way to power this Peerless driver rated to handle 3500 watts continuously. How much sustained power would this Crown output at 10Hz before clearly audible distortion? 16Hz? 20Hz? It looks like there's a downward trend in the output power graph vs frequency. Should I put one bridged Crown on each of the two 8 ohm voice coils, or would that not be significanly audibly different than wiring the coils in parallel to a single Crown at 4 ohms bridged? Or should I look for a more powerful amp? I wonder how the XTi6002 would measure here. It's rated at 4000 watts. An amp that can deliver 5000 watts sustained at 16Hz would be nice.

https://www.tymphany.com/transducers/stw-350f188pr01-04/

 

[Geert]

Crown made a rational decision to avoid consumer electronics. They decided to market to professionals. Still in business.

The amplifier under test is actually kind of a consumer product. About 10 years ago a lot of pro audio manufacturers started to sell low budget semi pro gear. Their's a huge difference with their real pro amps. We had about 40 of these. It wasn't uncommen to drive them at clipping level for 12 hours non stop with nominal loads of 2 ohms attached. They were like welding machines with audio bandwidth.

 

[mhardy6647]

I prefer Class AB amps. But a bridged XLS-2502 is a beast. It should be capable of overdriving the subwoofer easily.

Yay?

Is this the hifi equivalent of "Yeah, if you buy a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, it can put you in the hospital way quicker than most other musclecars!"?

 

[Jason Shep]

I'm looking for a way to power this Peerless driver rated to handle 3500 watts continuously. How much sustained power would this Crown output at 10Hz before clearly audible distortion? 16Hz? 20Hz? It looks like there's a downward trend in the output power graph vs frequency. Should I put one bridged Crown on each of the two 8 ohm voice coils, or would that not be significanly audibly different than wiring the coils in parallel to a single Crown at 4 ohms bridged? Or should I look for a more powerful amp? I wonder how the XTi6002 would measure here. It's rated at 4000 watts. An amp that can deliver 5000 watts sustained at 16Hz would be nice.

https://www.tymphany.com/transducers/stw-350f188pr01-04/

Have a look at these.
https://www.speakerpower.net/store/c2/Rack_Amplifiers.html

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

The amplifier under test is actually kind of a consumer product. About 10 years ago a lot of pro audio manufacturers started to sell low budget semi pro gear. Their's a huge difference with their real pro amps. We had about 40 of these. It wasn't uncommen to drive them at clipping level for 12 hours non stop with nominal loads of 2 ohms attached. They were like welding machines with audio bandwidth.

I cannot agree. The "low budget" semi pro gear you describe has always been sold to churches, bars, private clubs, budding bands, etc. Crown responded to consumer interest generated by internet through selectable sensitivity. A compromise to accommodate consumer demand. Until Amir tests Crown "high end" amps, count me a cynic.

 

[Geert]

Amir already gave the answer in this test: "Alas, the fan was insufficient to keep the unit cool under full power. The red thermal indicators came up even though the fan was running". We also had some of these semi pro amps and back they were of lower quality. They weren't designed to run at full power while driving difficult loads.

And there was a difference between the product range for the fixed install market and the semi pro range that came much later, when a lot of pro brands came up with low budget gear. There even is today.

Pro audio gear needs to proof itself in practise and not only on a test bench. The DUD already had thermal issues in the lab. Well, on the road we put at least 3 amp's on top of each other in a rack with restricted ventilation.

 

[Frank207be]

I'm looking for a way to power this Peerless driver rated to handle 3500 watts continuously. How much sustained power would this Crown output at 10Hz before clearly audible distortion? 16Hz? 20Hz? It looks like there's a downward trend in the output power graph vs frequency. Should I put one bridged Crown on each of the two 8 ohm voice coils, or would that not be significanly audibly different than wiring the coils in parallel to a single Crown at 4 ohms bridged? Or should I look for a more powerful amp? I wonder how the XTi6002 would measure here. It's rated at 4000 watts. An amp that can deliver 5000 watts sustained at 16Hz would be nice.

https://www.tymphany.com/transducers/stw-350f188pr01-04/

This is quite an awkward driver IMHO as it has very low sensitivity and not a lot of X-max either. I imagine it bottoming out very rapidly at 16Hz. What cabinet will be used for this driver?

Edit: FWIW I did some simulation with this driver in WINISD and 5000W @16Hz would need close to 60mm excursion. With the 10.4mm Xmax maximum power @ 16Hz is limited to a measly 155W. The 3500 RMS is only possible from 70Hz and above.

As this amp is not very expensive at least I'd give it a try in bridged mode. I have one XLS2502 bridged on 2x B&C 21SW152-8 in separate 550L enclosures tuned at 11Hz and another one on 2x RCF LF18N405 in 500L boxes tuned at 15Hz and on both builds they perform admirably. Both systems were DIY builds for my home theatres and I still haven't seen the red clipping leds coming on.

 

[AudioLover73]

Aren't sensitivity ratings for subwoofers usually of little value? They're usually taken at frequencies subwoofers would never be used at. In the description it says, "this driver is capable of 45.5 mm of excursion before any major loss in motor strength (Bl). In other words, this driver is capable of 90 mm (3.5") peak to peak excursion while still producing low distortion output." Now based on my research, I don't think I'll be able to achieve that kind of excursion but I'm hoping this means that this driver is significantly better engineered than what's out there, especially in this price range.

If I tune the enclosure to 16Hz, the excursion at 16Hz is 18mm at 3500W, peaking at 35mm at 22Hz. These seem like numbers I could live with.

But yes, it's relatively low in efficiency, but that's the tradeoff if you want low bass from a relatively small enclosure. It's either this driver in a 5.7 cu ft (160 L) enclosure (Peerless' own reference vented cabinet volume) or an Ultimax 18 in a 17 cu ft (480 L) enclosure. That's what I'm trying to decide between. But now that you mention other drivers, I'll have to look into them.

I'm very pleased to see someone here using large vented enclosures tuned to such low frequencies. Do you have a build thread on your subwoofers? I'd love to read about them. Is there anything you would change if you were to build them again?

I think the appeal of this subwoofer comes from how little space the finished product would occupy. It's either two full-size refrigerators or two relatively small cubes, and I'm willing to go with the refrigerators but maybe this will give me what I want. I just hope this Crown will drive it to a level I'm happy with. Sometimes I wonder if two SVS PB16-Ultras would satisfy my cravings for low bass.

This is quite an awkward driver IMHO as it has very low sensitivity and not a lot of X-max either. I imagine it bottoming out very rapidly at 16Hz. What cabinet will be used for this driver?

Edit: FWIW I did some simulation with this driver in WINISD and 5000W @16Hz would need close to 60mm excursion. With the 10.4mm Xmax maximum power @ 16Hz is limited to a measly 155W. The 3500 RMS is only possible from 70Hz and above.

As this amp is not very expensive at least I'd give it a try in bridged mode. I have one XLS2502 bridged on 2x B&C 21SW152-8 in separate 550L enclosures tuned at 11Hz and another one on 2x RCF LF18N405 in 500L boxes tuned at 15Hz and on both builds they perform admirably. Both systems were DIY builds for my home theatres and I still haven't seen the red clipping leds coming on.

 

[righthookmike]

finally had time to get into the cabinet speaker is l18/851kn rear horn loaded. would it benefit from higher gauge wire and can I remove the circuit and just wire straight to some speakon connectorsm?how do i post pics? says file to large

 

[AudioLover73]

If an amp doesn't shut down in real-world use, it's ok by me. In pro use, a limiter/compressor (including whatever's built-in) should stop anything too crazy from happening. If for some reason it does shut down, I guess that's why Macro-Tech exists. Though I'd consider a fan swap first.

...Pro audio gear needs to proof itself in practise and not only on a test bench. The DUD already had thermal issues in the lab. Well, on the road we put at least 3 amp's on top of each other in a rack with restricted ventilation.

 

[Geert]

If an amp doesn't shut down in real-world use (a concert that isn't a continuous sine wave at full power), it's ok by me..

If it starts oscillating and fries your expensive speakers than it's not OK for me. That's one if the experiences we had.

In pro use, a limiter/compressor (including whatever's built-in) should stop anything too crazy from happening. If for some reason it does shut down, I guess that's why Macro-Tech exists.

Compressors and limiters increase average power and make matters worse. And pro gear should not shut down, it should just do its job.

I think we have a different understanding of what pro audio is. If the budget gear works for you that's fine. Like I said, we also used it for low budget jobs that weren't to demanding.