2. amps-preamps
  3. 135700-110055

Crown XLS 1502.... real life test.

I was at guitar center yesterday cruseing the used pedal case and noticed they had the XLS1502 was on sale. With there 45 day return policy, that i have used with great success in the past, i bought the amp.

  With my Logan’s the crown was very clear and full. 525 watts at hand per channel brought the speakers to life. I adjusted the input to around 3 o’clock seemed to be a good match. I went thru a few cd’s and they all sounded great with Steely Dan winning the show...

  I put the Mac back in the loop and noticed the soundstage was a bit bigger and a good amount more subdude.

This was my first foray in the class D world and I was surprised at how good it sounded. At 329.00 its kinda hard to beat. I have no idea what the current measurements are but the XLS made the Logan’s sing. If i read the article correctly, doesnt the JBL Everest’s come with XLS amps? That’s the way it read... please correct me.

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon and the Crown is going back today. I haven’t bought the 10t’s yet... prob June is when I can pick them up... I will buy another crown then to use when I send the 7100 to a mac repair center to get a checkup... I have a gut feeling something is amiss with her. All in all I really enjoyed the XLS and in a blind test i feel it would hold up to many good amps that cost $$$$$.

  I want a 300 watt Mac but at 3-4 thousand dollars that is a big stretch for this retired chef... lol

BTW... the XLS was DEAD silent ... nothing!
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Showing 8 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
I believe the Ice Edge still uses multiple chips for control and driving while the Drivecore integrates it all into one, both seem to have had the goal or reducing component count on the board through.
You are right, but I don't think the count matters quite as much. In a stereo setup the difference is ICEedge needs 1 more IC. 

It will be interesting to see how these markets develop. Will Harman keep DriveCore proprietary? Maybe they won't even market it and put it into HT receivers. 

There's so much more to this besides sound quality, but I am happy to report I am confident the future for most audiophiles is high-efficiency, small and less expensive amplifiers and that's a good thing.

Best,

E

erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
The big thing with Drivecore is that it integrates almost the entire amp onto one chip.

Very interesting! :) This is along the lines of Ice Edge. I think TI Has also done a lot of work besides what they do for Crown/Harman. I mean, don't they have a whole line of Class D controller chips?
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
So I found a white paper on Class-I. It seems, simply, like a balanced Class D.

http://educypedia.karadimov.info/library/137234.pdf

What I cannot find anything about is what exactly "DriveCore" is. Maybe this includes the reactive power handling circuitry? Hard to tell without actual patent numbers. 

Best,

E
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
Besides the usual suspects, there are a couple of companies who have taken on some sort of hybrid approach, in some cases closely resembling earlier work by Bob Carver.

NuForce, Yamaha’s EEEngin and NAD which uses a curiously unusual hybrid designed by Hypex. The last is unusual in that all the other amplifiers I know of from Hypex are pure Class D designs. For Bruno to put together something like that for NAD is a fairly rare and obscure thing.

I believe that, like Carver, they rely on Class D to move the voltage railes, and put a relatively small Class-A amplifier between them. This combination has relatively very high efficiency (compared to Class A), small size. On the other hand, things are much more comlpicated, and it is unclear to me that the little Class-A section in the middle can perform much better than the rails.

I will say I’ve grown quite fond of my NAD 3020D though. :) Also, NAD uses a variety of approaches to their Class D amps, relying on nCore for HT amps for instance, so I'm not making blanket claims for NAD here. 

Best,

E
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
Hey @roxy54

The Crown amplifiers use their own DriveCore technology. They call it Class I or BCA (Balanced Current Amplifier)

https://www.crownaudio.com/en/technology

Without seeing the schematics or at least a block diagram it is very difficult to tell how different it is from traditional Class D which have at least a few common modules. So far all I read is "patents, yada yada, proprietary design yada yada..." 

I will say this, based on the pictures, they sure do look extremely light and small even when compared to Class D designs.

Best,

E
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
Does the Crown XLS  1502 sound the death knell for all the overpriced big buck amps? I am curious!

The death knell has been sounded every year for the past 30 years, so no.

However, the more inexpensive options audiophiles have, the better a system they can assemble for little cash, which is a great thing. My goal is to listen greatly, not to spend greatly.

Best,

E
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
Hey @maplegrovemusic

I'm really curious about your experience and listening with the Hypex. Can you elaborate a little?

Best,

E
erik_squires
15,803 posts
 
Interesting! I'd also be interested in what you think of the Yamaha EEEngine amps. :) Kind of a digital / linear hybrid approach.

Best,

E
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