leok Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 Prompted by Duke Spinner and the impressive specifications I found at the Crown web site I purchased a Crown D-45. I wanted an amp with low distortion at low power and low output impedance. A Watt or two over 3.5 or 8 was a plus. The amp arrived a few days ago and today I purchased/made adapters for the 1/4" phone input and barrier block speaker output. Thanks for the tip and encouragement Duke, the amp is delightful. I have never heard anything ss that comes even close. The amp is just wonderful to listen to. I played Morton Gould's "Show Piece for Orchestra" (Albany Troy 300) and a few selections from "String Music" on the same disk. The composition, performance, and recording are extremely dynamic and the Crown delivered with ease. Instrument timbres remained natural regardless of volume or complexity. The low end detail and ambience are all there. Reflection of speaker impedance in the sound is gone. Many Klipsch forum members have good ss amps and probably wonder what drives people to use tubes. This is the first totally acceptable ss amp I've ever heard, and it is a gem. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 well, Leo ..... if sometime ya want some more Thump ... get a D-75 ...[] who say's SS sux ...?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 Interesting....very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted September 17, 2005 Share Posted September 17, 2005 As Duke says, a D75... or if you still need more power, there is a Crown/Techron 7780 4000 W Amplifier available on EBay for a steal![] http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7351198981 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartwen Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 I agree with you Crown amps are really very good. Although I tend to favour the DC300a. I own five of these and have rebuilt four of them. I currently use three of them to power a pair of ATC SC35M (yes I know thy are not Klipsch) and the sound quality is awesome. I am in the process of replacing the power cords with neutrick powercon connectors, much better than the usual iec sockets. Shame they stopped building the DC300A. I have tried a couple of the high power Crown amps and they suck big time. In fact DC 300A are almost as good as a Klimo OTL but I dont need the fire extingusher at my knees.......... S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 "Everybody knows" that Crowns and horns don't sound good. Except for the three zillion people who bought Crowns and Klipsches, Altecs and JBLs back in the 70s and 80s and are no doubt still enjoying them. I guess nobody told them, maybe they've been too busy enjoying music to pay attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 The composition, performance, and recording are extremely dynamic and the Crown delivered with ease. Instrument timbres remained natural regardless of volume or complexity. The low end detail and ambience are all there. Reflection of speaker impedance in the sound is gone. Many Klipsch forum members have good ss amps and probably wonder what drives people to use tubes. This is the first totally acceptable ss amp I've ever heard, and it is a gem. Leo Leo, glad to hear you're still in audio nirvana. I bet it sounds just great with your gear. I miss our listening sessions. I learned a lot from you about critical listening. Chris PS: I'll send you a note with my contact info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I agree with you Crown amps are really very good. Although I tend to favour the DC300a. I own five of these and have rebuilt four of them. I currently use three of them to power a pair of ATC SC35M (yes I know thy are not Klipsch) and the sound quality is awesome. I am in the process of replacing the power cords with neutrick powercon connectors, much better than the usual iec sockets. Shame they stopped building the DC300A. I have tried a couple of the high power Crown amps and they suck big time. In fact DC 300A are almost as good as a Klimo OTL but I dont need the fire extingusher at my knees.......... S Nonsense! The Microtech, Macrotech, Itech and Reference series are excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartwen Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Hello Dragonfyre, Youve got me there I have not used the Reference or the Itech as they are rare in the UK and they cost plenty here! I have found with AB testing that a well sorted DC300a, on my rather poor speaker rig, sound awesome! And there is no fan noise. Just transformer lamination noise. Which with three of them can become a little wearing. As I mentioned Crown or should it be Amcron build superb ss power amps with build quality second to none and all of the Crowns I have used have the same type of seamless quality! But fan noise is the bane of my living room. But after all we are strange people in the UK. S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 The thing that I LIKE about big power high-quality SS gear is the dynamic range. There is something to be said about the sonic benefits of a large power supply just idling along... DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schurkey Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I've never heard a Crown amp. I know that there was a big (750 watt into 8 ohm???) Master [EDIT: Macro] Reference or somesuch that got good audiophile publicity about ten years ago. I'm surprised that a class A/B-B amp has such a following. I was under the impression that biasing more heavily into class A transistor operation was a good thing sonically. Anyone had experience in hearing crossover distortion? I can't say I do, but then I've never listened to a class B amp driving decent speakers. Transistor bias class is all smoke and mirrors, maybe??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 I use the D75 for a monitor amp in a one rack space... Amazing IMO. Go to most radio stations and see them in the studio usually for the in studio monitors. Sometimes the DJ's like to rock out too. Crown makes very good stuff. (some of the current stuff entry level Amps "might" not be quite as good as the older or more expensive tour gear stuff.) They sound wonderful. The only complaint might be powerful fan noise in some other models.. The 300's were the work horses in the 70's and 80's for a LOT of applications. Go figure..they are still working today too. http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/136711.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 The Crown Macrotech and Reference series are class AB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Leo, You better be right on this! You got me curious enough to pull the trigger on a used Crown D-75. Funny how they go for cheap on eBay, cheaper than a pair of "generic" 300B. Seriously, I'll try to avoid tubes for the next couple of years at least until the tikette understand the concept of "hot" so I was looking fo a decent SS amp. I haven't been running such a thing since... er... mmm... 1997? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 OOH, ...Great .... here go d-75 bargains .......... right out the window Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 by the way .... most Crown amps.... are class A / A+B the are class A biased at low power output Crown has a lot of very innovative output circuts, BCA for one ... the current unused by the speaker, is returned to the amp ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 What's the difference between the D-75 and the D-75A? Beside the output binding posts (for the D-75) or barrier strip (D-75A). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 a few years .......[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 what are those crown amps selling for anyway? jeff, if you want SS, do not forget vintage mcintosh...the SS amps like the MC250 go for less than $500 and the other SS amps from the MC2xxx series go for less than $1,000, all sound great! regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 The D-45 seems to go new around 380-400 USD and used for 120-160 USD. The D-75A will go new for 580 USD give or take 20 dollars. Used, it seems to go anywhere from 120 USD to 240 USD. Seeing those old Crown DC300 while Googling the D75 bring some souvenirs. A rack of DC 300 was a huge thing, for not many watts in return. But those things were like Bryston 4B. Even if you wanted to blow them up, you couldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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