Dirk Diggler Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Someone is selling a Crown DC-300 Amplifier and IC-150 Preamplifier locally. I have never heard any Crown equipment but have heard very good things. Is anyone familiar with either of these pieces? Any idea of what they would worth in good condition? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 I have no idea what they are worth. I used to have one of the little brothers to that amp. Model number fades in memory... D75? D150? I think the speakers you're using will have a big impact on how much you like the amp. I was using a pair of original series B&W 801f when I got the Crown. Those speakers demanded a very powerful amp, were very insensitive, and the Crown sounded fine with them. Later on when I had my first set of Klipsch horns, I was running the Crown with much lower gain, and it was too noisey. Hisssssss... Also, check the input connectors. A lot of Crowns have 1/4" phono plugs rather than RCA jacks, which can be a pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Bell Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Dirk: The Crown DC-300 is built like a tank and is a excellent amplifier. $300. is a good price for it if it's in good shape. If it's a DC-300 Series II it's worth a bit more. If working properly, you should not hear any hiss. The 1/4 inch phone plugs should not be a show stopper. Radio shack sells a phone plug to RCA adaptor which works just fine. Mick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Get a hold of Duke Spinner he is a resident Crown aficionado. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yaffstone Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 The IC-150 is the first integrated circuit pre-amp. I've had experience with two of them and they're not the best design. They have some hiss at zero volume which is impossible to get rid of. I replaced the IC op-amps with low noise versions and put in some new caps. This all helped but the hiss was still there and quite noticable. The PSL-2 is a much better pre-amp and is readily available on e-bay. It's extreamly quiet. In general, the old Crown stuff I've seen appear to have dirty and therefore noisy volume or gain control knobs. Cleaning sometimes helps but replacement is the only real way to quiet down this portion. I'm working on a DC-300 now which pops like hell when you power down. I'm going to start with the power supply caps and see where that gets me. Note that the old units used 45V rails for the semi-conductor which is pretty harsh. Newer designs will typically use 12 V .... All that said, 300 isn't bad for the pair and if you have patience, you could end up with good components in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Diggler Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 Thanks for the info guys. The seller has a bunch of vintage stuff for sale including NAD, B&K, Crown, and a few others. I am going to go check them out tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 Hi Dirk, I'm a Crown amp owner "wanna-be" and I found this info for you, it may or may not be accurate...... ...the amp was made in 68'-150wattsx2 and is listed for 685.00 new & 300.00 used. The Pre was made in 70' & sold new for 470.00 and now used for 140.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 the " ICY " -150 .... is one Bright pre-amp ... you will be much happier with a SL-1, or, even better, a PSL-2 i would also look for a newer power amp, maybe a PS-400....if ya want vintage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 I have the Crown service manual for that model, the cover actually says: "300 WATTS AND A CLOUD OF SMOKE" Basic Service Suggestions for the CROWN DC-300 Amplifier My advice is to buy something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 We used to have a little roadie/techie joke that you could have the job if you could re-wire a DC300 so it could put out 600 watts per channel with a ding-dong wrapper. No one took us up on it gladly. Michael Aren't the 300A black panel ones much better reliablilty? Actually I don't remember having problems with the old ones, and we had racks and racks of them for the MCM stacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myhamish Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Your post will bring us Crown lovers out of the woodwork. I've got some vintage Crown equipment here - IC 150 pre-amps, DC300A power amps,a VFX2 crossover, OC meter bridge and switching unit and a few things that come and go. Vintage Crown is built in the good ole USA, built like a tank, and just the fact that it is available to you is a testament to it's build quality ( try to find a phase linear 700 from that era). Crown will repair vintage equipment. I've dealt with Crown directly in Elkhardt, Indiana on repairing the crossover. They were able to bring it back to original specs, and ship it back to me in Canada for less than $150. I've got one DC300A that's been in use since I got in 1976. So if you're looking for vintage ss equipment that's going to be around for the long haul without the pricey mac price tags, Crown is a good way to go. As for the pre-amp being bright - audio is a matter of personal preference and taste. If it sounds good to you, go for it. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Hamish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 the " ICY " -150 .... is one Bright pre-amp ... you will be much happier with a SL-1, or, even better, a PSL-2 i would also look for a newer power amp, maybe a PS-400....if ya want vintage Maybe the 300 with a tube front. ? ? Maybe. Duke is right about the 150-pre IMHO. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Diggler Posted December 3, 2005 Author Share Posted December 3, 2005 Terry, What is that speaker the 511B is on top of? I am thinking of doing a similar project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Terry, What is that speaker the 511B is on top of? I am thinking of doing a similar project. DD, That would be 1975 Oiled Walnut Klipsch Cornwall1.[] Altec 902-16a driver. DIY first-order crossing at 400hz. Heavily braced box with three 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" steel angles bolted across the motor-board and 3/4" form ply screwed & glued to the back. Guess this bastard CW could be called an "Al-Corn".[:S] Terry EDIT: *** is a fatherless son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Does anyone have experience (maybe Duke or Michael) with the Crown M400 or M600? Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 T ..... to my knowledge ... there is no M400 600 ... could it be a MA-600 .... Macrotech ..?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backbone1 Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 I'm currently using a Crown DC-300A with the IC-150 preamp. It's pushing the heck out of my 4 Cerwin Vega cabinets. It didn't cost me ten grand....but it sure sounds as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 The DC300 was a huge POS, the much more reliable DC300A had twice the number of output transistors, the DC300A II had better opamps (the LF 357, same as Carver used, vs the µA 739). The IC150A had a much better volume control and sounded better overall than the earlier IC150. The D150 was bad news. Half the power of the DC300A, it only had 1/4 the number of outputs. The D60/D75 were the best sounding and most reliable from this vintage, but get a newer style one with the better opamps, and add some bypass caps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 " M600? " The M600 slews at only 16V/µS, with its power output it would need to be at least 50V/µS for full range use. Uses the 3231 opamp forced into class A mode with the same voltage gain stage Carver used in all his amplifiers. This is a reasonable amp for subwoofer use, it has two transformers wired in parallel, two bridge rectifiers, and two sets of filter caps, and twice the number of outputs (all same parts as DC300A, with a big fan-cooled heatsink). 92 lbs. An M2000 is two M600 bridged, and will do 2KW minimum into 8 ohms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Slammin Posted December 4, 2005 Share Posted December 4, 2005 " M600? " The M600 slews at only 16V/µS, with its power output it would need to be at least 50V/µS for full range use. Uses the 3231 opamp forced into class A mode with the same voltage gain stage Carver used in all his amplifiers. This is a reasonable amp for subwoofer use, it has two transformers wired in parallel, two bridge rectifiers, and two sets of filter caps, and twice the number of outputs (all same parts as DC300A, with a big fan-cooled heatsink). 92 lbs. An M2000 is two M600 bridged, and will do 2KW minimum into 8 ohms. djk, Thanks, Thats it. I remember seeing those things in pro-use years ago. They were the size of small TV sets! The face plates were painted light blue or green I think. Looked like they belonged in a hospital. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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