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Vintage Crown D 150A II Amp -- How good was it?

Hi,

I was cleaning up my spare bedroom and came across my old Crown D 150A II power amp. It was checked over by Crown about a year or so ago. Typical stuff -- old caps replaced, maybe some transistors. Anyway, I remember back in the 70s, the D 150 was considered to be a very good sounding amp. Some said even better than its big brother, the DC 300A. I keep it around as a spare amp.

For any vintage old-heads out there, any comments on how the D 150 compares to modern SS amps?
bifwynne
team212's avatar
team212
248 posts
 
Forget it--I had one of these in the 70's-D150--POS used to go DC without warning and took out a pair of speakers each time.

I fell for the big Sales pitch after they had the fire at the original factory
blah blah-help us rebuild buy our product-yeah right!

Avoid be warned.

Des
french_fries
815 posts
 
the Allman Brothers Band used stacked DC-300A amplifiers for their PA. I was in college at the time and i saw them hauling their equipment out the back after they finished playing. I don't think it would be a good choice for a stereo system these days. But they must have been pretty reliable amps or a group with a lot of bookings probably wouldn't be touring with them.
ericsch
751 posts
 
I still have my DC300A that I purchased new. I'v had it in my office for the last few years, but finally had to retire it because of big time transformer hum. When I bought the Crown back in the mid 70's, I mated it with a Mac C-26 (which I still have). The reason I didn't buy the matching MC2105 amp was because it was just a little too expensive, so I settled for the Crown. Big mistake, but I was young and on a limited budget.........
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Some of those early SS amps really were terrible, Never was a big fan of Crown even back in the mid 1970s. I found I liked the typical but lower powered Kenwoods, Pioneers, Yamahas etc. McIntosh was waaay to expensive. My buddies all of whom had stereos and were "into it" thought I was nuts for spending $550 for a pair of Klipsch Heresys (they would have been $600 but I didn't go for the $50 optionl grille covers.)
I have more vintage audio now then I oened when it was current It is a lot of 60s stuff. I found that I like Sansui more than the Kenwood Integrated KA-7100 that I owned and used continuously for the next 24 years. Heck, now I even own a McIntosh albeit a small old SS power amp. I wish I had one of those, back in the day, It sounds great with my Klipsch which I still own.
team212's avatar
team212
248 posts
 
Ha memories! --Mechans hit the nail on the head-- I dumped the 150 for a Mac 6100--great Amp-wish I still owned it!

Des
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