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Crown Amplifier's


Schu

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19 hours ago, The Dude said:

Interesting, my non modified D45s were not, maybe do to less power?  

 

15 hours ago, Marvel said:

My 'Duke' isn't noisy on mids and tweets. Was excellent on my LS, ad was fine on my Heresy IIs.

 

Currently using XLi800 amps on the Heresy IIs. They are heavy, but it's not like I carry them around.

In my experience different peoples opinions of "noisy" and how noisy are all over the place..The Topping amps that I use now put the Crowns to shame. YMMV.

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4 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

DC300A's are obsolete designs many of generations ago. This is 2025, not 1964. A lot has happened,

Of course they are obsolete. Dennis thought they were terrible amps over 30 years ago. Probably long before that. I can only speak of when I knew him.

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6 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Performance.

My K2's don't have the sound quality that my consumer amps have but depending on their setting and application, they can sound very good. 

 

High powered Crown amps such as the K2 that I have paired with Klipsch just have serious power. Scary power.....and when you crank it up it's comparable to being at a concert. Didn't have to buy tickets, a t-shirt or pay $10 bucks for a beer. You're there.

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7 hours ago, Woofers and Tweeters said:

Pricey has nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with how much X costs relative to how much people value X or their dollars.

A 1964 dime is 90% silver and worth a few dollars, whereas today's dime is mostly copper with nickel plating, but I get what you're trying to say. Inflation, the hidden tax. 

I wasn't referring to the metal content, just the buying power. Klipsch speakers are more affordable than they were then. It's all realtive to when you first know what a dollar was. In my case, it was my paper route and that my dad paid 6 moth's salary for new Car. Power steering, power brakes, power finance, he used to say. A "standard" GM car today costs 10X that, and he would have made 10X more as well.

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1 hour ago, SWL said:

My K2's don't have the sound quality that my consumer amps have but depending on their setting and application, they can sound very good. 

 

High powered Crown amps such as the K2 that I have paired with Klipsch just have serious power. Scary power.....and when you crank it up it's comparable to being at a concert. Didn't have to buy tickets, a t-shirt or pay $10 bucks for a beer. You're there.

I use mine for Tapped Horn subs that can reach 130 db output at 16 Hz.. I got scared at 125, so I stopped.

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3 hours ago, Marvel said:

Of course they are obsolete. Dennis thought they were terrible amps over 30 years ago. Probably long before that. I can only speak of when I knew him.

I remember my dealer shared his frustration when people came in and got Heresy's with that amp. He demonstrated LaScalas with the cheapest Japanese receiver (25 wpc) and proved you could get stupid loud with it. They got the Heresys and the Crown 9 out of 10 times.

My wife had one of those cheaper receivers on her Heresys and cranked them up plenty loud so she could hear music over her vacuum cleaner! My Khorns were in the basement across from the bar.

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6 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I use mine for Tapped Horn subs that can reach 130 db output at 16 Hz.. I got scared at 125, so I stopped.

That's what I'm talking about.

Go big or go home.👍

 

On the other hand.... I'll be starting a thread soon on all the Fosi gear I've bought lately. Not for the power but for the sound quality you get on the cheap. Never thought I'd see the day that this little Class D stuff could rival the performance of my beloved vintage gear. Not for how loud it can go but for how good it sounds at a fraction of the cost.

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10 hours ago, babadono said:

 

In my experience different peoples opinions of "noisy" and how noisy are all over the place..The Topping amps that I use now put the Crowns to shame. YMMV.

Which Topping amps are you using?  Are you using for subs only or full range?

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1 hour ago, SWL said:

That's what I'm talking about.

Go big or go home.👍

 

On the other hand.... I'll be starting a thread soon on all the Fosi gear I've bought lately. Not for the power but for the sound quality you get on the cheap. Never thought I'd see the day that this little Class D stuff could rival the performance of my beloved vintage gear. Not for how loud it can go but for how good it sounds at a fraction of the cost.

I use all 3255 derivatives for my 8 surround channels on Heresys.

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13 hours ago, Schu said:

do you have a lot of Amplifier failures?

Yes... my 11 year old Emotiva XPA 5 that I bought second hand has Cap discharge issues on 2 of the 5 channels. My Rotel 2 channel amp started having issues, but to be fair, that is about 20 years old.

 

Now, on the other hand, my 25+ year old Crown Comtech 1600 and several 400's along with my 3 crown k2's and k1 still work perfectly.  Not a single failure out of any of those amps.

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Another K2 user here.  Have three of them, one for each underground Jube and one, bridged for the Danley.

 

I had never heard of them and a former, forum member told me to try one as they were very musical and quiet (because of no fan).  That is a paraphrase of his comment.

 

Grabbed a couple and have zero issues/complaints.  Now, in the beginning, I discovered if I had their gains cranked up, I'd hear spittle from the 402 driver.  Also figured out that doing that used less of the upstream signal.  Flipped it around and now, the amps are around 5 clicks from zero and I'm using more of the upstream signal and, they are dead quiet if you stick your ear in the horn (the spittle is gone) they are quiet because of no fan noise.....  and if you want to get stupid, they can take the volume to stupid by simply adjusting the gains up.

 

Don't really need K2's but that's what was available when I got them.  I got the third K2 simply to match the first two.  System would (probably, since I've never tried)....anyway, system would probably be just as quiet, sound just as good and go just as stupid loud if I had used K1's.

 

I'd say, try one (if a single can work for you, if you biamp you'd obviously need two OR just use it for the bottom end)

 

Anyway, try one....  they're not horribly expensive and you can resell them.  Mine replaced a dbx BX1 on the bass bins and a McIntosh MC-2102 on the high end....  both gone, great sound and the cash in pocket was also nice.

 

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On 1/17/2025 at 11:39 AM, Schu said:

do you have a lot of Amplifier failures?

My porch system is exposed to large temperature variations, dust, pollen, and indirect moisture.

That can and has played hell with consumer electronics. The Crown amps take it in stride.

 

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That's true with most if not all pro-amps. Crown happens to be at or near the top of the heap in this area. As far as sound quality among pro-amps go, Macrotech and K2 are right up there if not the best.

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6 hours ago, Coytee said:

Another K2 user here.  Have three of them, one for each underground Jube and one, bridged for the Danley.

Don't really need K2's but that's what was available when I got them.  I got the third K2 simply to match the first two. 

 

Got Headroom??? LOL. You can hit 130 peaks at you MLP with those. No worries, eh?

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I have several of the toppings.

Also the original 3255 Eval boards from TI at $250. The chinese do it better, cheaper, and includ0 bux.e a power supply and a cabinet for 130 bux so I quit building mine.

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On 1/17/2025 at 8:55 PM, DLStryker said:

Which Topping amps are you using?  Are you using for subs only or full range?

I use 4 LA90Ds on the mids and tweets and 2 B200s on the bass bins of my 3 way UG Jubes. Silence is golden. 

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