2. amps-preamps
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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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captbeaver

Showing 5 responses by tutetibiimperes

tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
I've been powering my Infinity Intermezzo 4.1ts with a Crown XLS 1502 and I've been happy with it.  The price can't be beat, it puts out a ton of power, and it barely gets warm even after a spirited listening session.

Are there amps out there with better specs?  Sure, though the specs on the 1502 are very good, and there's nothing else out there I've seen that comes close to matching them with the same kind of output, efficiency, and low price.  

The Everests don't come with amps that I'm aware of.  The JBL M2s can come as a 'system' with the Crown iTech series of amps though, that may be what you're thinking of.  The iTechs aren't the same as the XLS though.  The XLS uses the joint Harman/TI developed 'drivecore' chip amps, the iTech uses something Harman calls 'Class I BCA' which, to my limited understanding of the technical data, reads like a hybrid of Class A and Class D - Class D operation but with constant power delivery to both sides of the output stage.  The iTechs also have much higher power output, much more advanced DSP, considerably higher idle power draw, and a much higher price.
tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@kclone 

The Crown line is Harman's pro-equipment line of amps, so not a lot of features designed for home use.  That doesn't mean they don't sound great, but they don't do integrated amps, preamps, etc, that's all left to Mark Levinson.

I do find it a bit odd that they don't have a series of home-oriented gear at a lower cost.  They used to market that under Harman/Kardon along with their receivers, but they seem to have pretty much pulled entirely out of that market.  

I have my XLS 1502 paired with an Emotiva PT-100 preamp.  It's inexpensive, very well built (aside from a cheesy remote), and does everything I need a preamp to do, may be worth checking out.
tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

Drivecore and Class I aren't necessarily the same thing.  I believe the Class I amps have integrated some of the Drivecore tech, but not all Drivecore are 'Class I'.  

The MacroTech i series and iTech series are the 'Class I' amps, the others are just Drivecore Class D, except for the XLI series, which is class AB.  

I may be leaving a few out because Crown has over a dozen different lines of amps aimed at different use cases (cinema, touring/live sound, commercial installed sound, studio mixing, etc) and many variations with different I/O options and varying levels of DSP capability.  


tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

The big thing with Drivecore is that it integrates almost the entire amp onto one chip.  You need a power supply and an input stage, everything else is on the chip including waveform generator, clock, drive stage, feedback, output stage, etc.  Harman says one Drivecore chip can replace 500 parts on a traditional Class D design.  

Apparently having everything run on one chip also allows tighter tolerances with the clock and waveform generator, allowing for better sound quality.  
tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

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.

To my understanding TI's role in the Drivecore chips was primarily in the manufacturing stage.  Harman designed the technology but didn't have the experience in manufacturing ICs so they turned to TI to handle that part.  
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