Crown XLS 2500 - the best amp value per dollar?

I am learning the same thing right now.

I have a W4S ST1000 that I thought was the cat's meow with Maggie 3.6's as the amp had the power to wake them up.

Got a pair of Thiel CS5's and the amp did not sound so good.

So in the last month I have tried a Pass x350 and a Levinson 533. Both are better than the W4S with the Pass having more texture & mellowness and the Levinson having tighter bass and cooler sound. Both capture more detail than the W4S.

I am currently auditioning a 15 year old Proceed HPA2  at half the price of the other two; and I am thinking that it has the most "live presence" and bass  of all four amps.

I thought I was having a problem with my Pass Labs X150 amp. Had some distortion on the right channel. So I decided to pull out a Crown  XLS 1000 amp I was intending to use for pro audio.  I am surprised how good this little amp sounds. Almost thought about selling the Pass amp, it is that good.
I listened to the Crown for two days and appreciated how well it presents the sound stage, imaging, nice natural warmth in the mids, bass nice and tight and clean, with a somewhat subdued high end.
Curious, I hooked up the Pass amp again to find out the little XLR copper jumper was dirty and cleaning it made the distortion go away.
After letting the Pass amp warm up again, I have to say it does sound better than the Crown.  The cymbals now have a see though quality the Crown amp tends to smear a bit.  The Pass amp had much better drive to the music (current output?).  The bass seemed fuller.  Not sure if the crown amp is just a little more detailed through the midrange, possibly.  The Crown seems a little warmer through the mids which I like, but overall the Pass is a better amp and not going into the Audiogon classifieds.  The Crown amp is spectacular for the $$$.  I don't believe you can do better for the bucks with these dollars.  I was hoping it was better than my Pass amp so I could pocket the extra change and apply those funds to more upgrades! Won't happen. I am running Eminent Technology VIII speakers with upgraded caps, a Supratek tubed preamp, and a Schiit Dac.  The rest of the system is up to par to easily identify any changes in my system.  Even power cord changes make a significant change in sound. (not to open that can of worms!)

Want better sound from Crown's XLS series amps?  Pair them with an airy-sounding tube preamp (CJ ET3).

1extreme, i believe the lesson learnt here is that Crown amps are very good if you chose wisely where to use them - as a brute amp to drive a bass cone/panel. Most of the time Crown amps are used in professional settings - studios, traveling bands, concerts, PA systems, malls, etc. 
In RMAF 2013 that I attended, Scaena was driving their stand-alone bass speaker (which had 3 12" or 15" woofers one-on-top-of-the-other) with a series of vertically stacked Crown XLS amps. I remember that Scaena demo as being very good sounding (was in the Hilton across the street).
They are class-D amps - that class-I designation is just marketing. The class-I, if i understand it correctly, is what Crown calls a "grounded bridge" circuit on the output stage. Usually you have the push output devices connected to +VCC or +B & the pull devices connected to -VCC or -B & the center is where the speaker binding post it & it is usually floating but in Crown amp's case, that center terminal on the black speaker binding post (NOT the red binding post - only the black) is grounded. Crown holds a patent on this particular design & claims that it allows all of the +/-B voltage to appear at the speaker binding post (unlike all other amps). They claim that is one technology that allows them to get these very high output powers. Just FYI.

So just over a year and a half since I started this thread. Cracks me up reading my personal evolution over that time.

@bombaywalla - you are so right. I almost sold the XLS 2500 but had put it away in a closet instead. I just pulled it out and connected it to the bass / low end of my Infinity Kappa 9’s and they really do well pushing the bottom end. It does very well at 3/4 gain. I wish all amps had a gain control per channel. It is so useful when bi-amping. The XLS 2500 also has a built in low pass active crossover setting so I can tailor it to just pass the low frequencies needed by the woofers.

I have tube amps (CAD 805AE’s) pushing the top ends of the Kappa 9’s and the combo is great. Seems kind of silly pairing amps on the top end that cost me a factor of over 15 times the amp on the low end but hey, if it sound good it sounds good.

The XLS 2500 is awful as a high fidelity amp for the upper end. But as a bass cranker bi-amped with a higher end amp on the top end it does just fine.