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Review and Measurements of Crown XLS 1502 Amp

Archaea

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I like Crown amps, and I like the fact that based on my knowledge of them and the instances I've seen them in use, I expect they'll still be working in 20 years. My church has Crown amps that look like they were from the 1980's and they just kick on every Sunday without excuse.

I also like the idea that in real world testing we couldn't tell the difference between this Crown XLS 1502 and a Benchmark AHB2 when using a Marantz 8805 as a pre-pro in real world testing. We tested this 1502 amp, the Benchmark AHB2, a Behringer A800, and an old Halfer model, and darned if any of us could tell the difference. The Crown's fan never came on during our testing with a four ohm, low sensitivity Martin Logan Renaissance electrostatic panel.
What's not to like? Crown makes a great product.

Here's a link for anyone interested.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/ka...e-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218
post 8989.
 
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Panelhead

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Sad, but informative. Might have to get the XLS-1500 out of the attic.
 

almico

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I've been using it's predecessor, the XLS1500 as a sub-woofer amp for several years with no issue. The built in x-over makes it ideal for this purpose. I never tried it as a full range amp. But I'm running (2) 4ohm sub drivers per channel in parallel (2 ohms?) and it thumps along sweetly.

I've been thinking of amputating one pair of the sub drivers for another system and I'll need another amp to drive them. Hard to beat this for the $$$
 

tvrgeek

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This looks to be an excellent match for what I want to dive my new dual driver sub, but what I don't know is what is "pretty quiet" when the fan comes on. I had a Beringer once and even in a closet, it was too loud. I modified it with larger heat sinks and a larger, slower fan, but don;t want to put up with that again.
 

tvrgeek

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I wonder, do power amps, tend to have more distortion then headphone amps?
Well most. You can always build an amp with enough outputs to keep the per-device current in a more linear range and so get the distortion way down. ( I did once, 50W with 4 pairs of outputs) Of course, then the marketing guys will force you to up the voltage so they can advertise it as a much bigger amp.

Not uncommon for a phones amp to be class A. You can of course do that in a speaker amp too, at considerable cost. Personally I do not like the trend for lower and lower impedance speakers as we can amplify voltage a lot more linearly than current. ( also argument for MOSFET outputs, but that's another religious war all together. )
 

Chrispy

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This looks to be an excellent match for what I want to dive my new dual driver sub, but what I don't know is what is "pretty quiet" when the fan comes on. I had a Beringer once and even in a closet, it was too loud. I modified it with larger heat sinks and a larger, slower fan, but don;t want to put up with that again.

They're quiet, never hear any of mine whether on subs or mains duties.....even if I'm right next to the amp, have never heard fan noise. This is since my first one going back 9 years or so. Mine are in the same rack as the rest of my gear in each room I use them....
 

rvsixer

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tvrgeek

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They're quiet, never hear any of mine whether on subs or mains duties.....even if I'm right next to the amp, have never heard fan noise. This is since my first one going back 9 years or so. Mine are in the same rack as the rest of my gear in each room I use them....
Thanks. Still, might buy via Amazon just in case. My fall back was just to find an old so-so AB amp off e-bay but big, hot, and power hungry. My quandary is than most plate amps spec < 1% at some power, but at 95%, are they .01, or still 1%? I am working diligently to get my subs as low of distortion as I can, BP-4 alignment, careful filtering, two drivers to keep my excursion down etc. Early testing suggests in the 1 to 2% range @ 90 dB. so I want an amp at least ten times better.
 

GUTB

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I auditioned one of these Crown amps -- I think the next model up from this one -- back in 2018 I think. I really didn't like it, I felt that, as usual with high-output class D that dynamics were great but blurriness / softness (what I assumed to be distortion artifacts) just killed it for me. It was technically marketed as a PA-type amp, not a serious audiophile product and you can definitely hear why. To someone without any exposure or expectation for high-end audio it might seem okay -- so just because it was a loser for me doesn't mean others couldn't appreciate it of course.
 

sergeauckland

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Thanks. Still, might buy via Amazon just in case. My fall back was just to find an old so-so AB amp off e-bay but big, hot, and power hungry. My quandary is than most plate amps spec < 1% at some power, but at 95%, are they .01, or still 1%? I am working diligently to get my subs as low of distortion as I can, BP-4 alignment, careful filtering, two drivers to keep my excursion down etc. Early testing suggests in the 1 to 2% range @ 90 dB. so I want an amp at least ten times better.
Maximum power is usually rated at 1% (or even 10%) distortion, so just into clipping, whereas amplifiers used to be rated at just before clipping where distortion is much lower, often the lowest point. I can only assume the reason is that buyers are more impressed by a rating of, say, 100watts (@1%) rather than 95watts at 0.01%.

Some amp specs will say something like THD 0.01% but with no power, frequency or load figures, then say something like Output Power 100Watts 8 ohms at 1% THD. It may mean that at just below the 100 watts the distortion is 0.01%, but who knows? Specs are usually written by a marketing department who wouldn't know a THD if it crawled up their leg, so hard to say. Best thing is to measure it for yourself and send it back if it doesn't suit. I accept that not everyone can do that.
S
 

MediumRare

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Thanks. Still, might buy via Amazon just in case. My fall back was just to find an old so-so AB amp off e-bay but big, hot, and power hungry. My quandary is than most plate amps spec < 1% at some power, but at 95%, are they .01, or still 1%? I am working diligently to get my subs as low of distortion as I can, BP-4 alignment, careful filtering, two drivers to keep my excursion down etc. Early testing suggests in the 1 to 2% range @ 90 dB. so I want an amp at least ten times better.
This amp will give you 336 watts at 0.008% SINAD (per Amir's review) so entirely inaudible through full-range speakers let alone a sub.
 

rwortman

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By the time you are playing it loud enough to get the quiet fan to come on, there is no way you would be able to hear it. If you are free of expectation bias, this is a very good sounding amp. Crown rates their amps based on testing at 1khz at < .5% THD, knowing that if you are playing the amp at near full power you aren't going to hear that level of THD and pro audio customers have realistic expectations of amplifier distortion near full power. Under rating the amp to get another decimal point isn't really going to impress. Driver distortion at bass frequencies is going to be 1 percent or more with the best driver(s). Spending money to get lots of 0's past the decimal point is of questionable value for a full range amp and, in my opinion, a complete waste of time for a bass amp. Harmonic distortions at bass frequencies have to get pretty bad to be audible.
 

Chrispy

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Thanks. Still, might buy via Amazon just in case. My fall back was just to find an old so-so AB amp off e-bay but big, hot, and power hungry. My quandary is than most plate amps spec < 1% at some power, but at 95%, are they .01, or still 1%? I am working diligently to get my subs as low of distortion as I can, BP-4 alignment, careful filtering, two drivers to keep my excursion down etc. Early testing suggests in the 1 to 2% range @ 90 dB. so I want an amp at least ten times better.

I've purchased mine from a coupla vendors depending who had the best price at the time. I don't like plate amps just because its a poor environment for an amp, plus somewhat a pain to accommodate in a diy build. The pro amp spec as mentioned is a bit different from some consumer amps, but worrying about the minimal thd involved isn't a concern.
 

Chrispy

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I auditioned one of these Crown amps -- I think the next model up from this one -- back in 2018 I think. I really didn't like it, I felt that, as usual with high-output class D that dynamics were great but blurriness / softness (what I assumed to be distortion artifacts) just killed it for me. It was technically marketed as a PA-type amp, not a serious audiophile product and you can definitely hear why. To someone without any exposure or expectation for high-end audio it might seem okay -- so just because it was a loser for me doesn't mean others couldn't appreciate it of course.

What I call user imagination. LOL audiophools like GUTB just crack me up.
 

rvsixer

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I auditioned one of these Crown amps -- I think the next model up from this one -- back in 2018 I think. I really didn't like it, I felt that, as usual with high-output class D that dynamics were great but blurriness / softness (what I assumed to be distortion artifacts) just killed it for me. It was technically marketed as a PA-type amp, not a serious audiophile product and you can definitely hear why. To someone without any exposure or expectation for high-end audio it might seem okay -- so just because it was a loser for me doesn't mean others couldn't appreciate it of course.
1) Good thing this amp has been objectively measured, as usual leaving the subjective ear-only opinions just that - opinions.
2) Crown actually took measures to move this amp series specifically towards the consumer market (compatible gain structure, connectors, etc.). It's in no way PA only.
3) Though just as invalid, there are countless subjective review "experts" out there that classify this as one of the BEST audiophile amps out there. Objectively, its quite decent, but certainly does not live in the high end spectrum. For sub only use you would certainly never be able to hear a difference.
4) And we can't forget that out of the ten top best measuring amps here, most of them are high output class D.
 

Sal1950

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I have a hard time imagining a scenario where the Crown amp would be called on to deliver enough continuous power in the subwoofer bass range to activate the fans? I guess it's possible but still highly unusual?
 

cistercian

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I have a hard time imagining a scenario where the Crown amp would be called on to deliver enough continuous power in the subwoofer bass range to activate the fans? I guess it's possible but still highly unusual?
I got the fan to run on mine with some EDM played pretty loud. I could hear it when the session was finished as a barely audible noise.
There is no way it could be heard while the music was playing. I was playing it pretty loud, XLS 2502. The tracks had pretty high average power
and lots of bass.
 

tvrgeek

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Looking at their line. XLi, no DSP I don't need, XLS, seems to have some, so that implies a A2D / D2A process with subsequent delays. Need to search to see if an XLi has been tested.

Getting frustrating as I have a budget, but can't find anything that is just right. Best bet may be an old used AB for the single sub in the living room and use both old O-Audio plates for th HT. ( 350 @ .05% into 4)
 

MediumRare

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Looking at their line. XLi, no DSP I don't need, XLS, seems to have some, so that implies a A2D / D2A process with subsequent delays. Need to search to see if an XLi has been tested.

Getting frustrating as I have a budget, but can't find anything that is just right. Best bet may be an old used AB for the single sub in the living room and use both old O-Audio plates for th HT. ( 350 @ .05% into 4)
Latency measured at just over 1 millisecond so... https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d/338784-crown-xls-drivecore-2-a-2.html
 
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