I've had some other class d amps I did not like at all.
Crown XLS 1502.... real life test.
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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I have an xls and a dci4/300. The DCI new is around 2k but you can find them used for CHEAP like I did. Crazy damping factor and tons of power. The bass is better and highs less grey than the XLS. Super fast as well. I think for the right speaker it's a really great amp. I've had some other class d amps I did not like at all. |
@peter_s I use an XLS 2502 to drive a pair of Aerial SW-12 subs. When the plate amps failed on the subs (as they invariably do), rather than spend almost $2k on repairing I pulled the amps and bought a single 2502. I also bought a miniDsp 2x4 HD to provide some EQ. This setup works great. The XLS has inbuilt hi/lo pass features so you can get away without the miniDSP if price is an issue. |
I believe drivecore is a system on a chip crown developed that reduces part count and drives mosfets for class d. It can front end many of their products, so huge cost savings. I am quite happy with my 1502–Its smooth and has more slam and bass that my Bryson which is very good. I am no longer an audiophile as I don’t care about soundstage or the finer points of this and that. Just good clean fun for me now—it just sounded better to me. I like the balanced inputs and use a 30 foot cable from a bryston bp 25–its all very smooth. |
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