Anyone using Crown amps?

ZLTFUL

leftwinger57 wrote: »

Loved the list of studios that ZLTFUL provided but there were some way more heavy hitters that need noteable mention. My problem is I do not know what these studios used except for 1 and these are not in any order.
1. Columbia Recording Studios--N.Y.C. where the late Phil Ramon did most of his work and I did speak to him and they/he used McIntosh in both the the studio and his home. Dylan,Super Session,Miles Davis
2.Walley Heider--S.F.
3.Criteria Sound--FL.--Tom Dowd producing
4.Muscle Shaols--Alabama for all the southern boys w/ that great backing band
5.Electric Ladyland Studios---enough said--Eddie Kramer at the controls
6.Western Recorders--L.A.--for the Beach Boys and most of Capitol Records heavy hitters of the mid to late 60/70s
7.Record Plant --Sausolito Cal.---Van Morrison,Fleetwoodmac, many others
8. Then you have the Stomes Mobile that they did rent out to other groups.
Of course there were hundreds more all over the place but these were very famous in their day.

All studios have gear listings on their websites. Sometimes you have to dig a bit. Usually, go to the page for the individual studios and they should have a gear list link.
Like I said, gear is VERY important to the producers and also the musicians. Some insist on only being recorded/produced/mastered/post produced on very specific gear.

I didn't see any Crown gear on any of those you listed that actually have sites.

Again, I am going to re-iterate that I have nothing against the modern gear being used in a strictly home theater environment when placed outside the actual room and paired with appropriate speakers. My only argument comes when people try to claim that they are something that they aren't.

Denzel

I used to work in the pro sound business... we had Crown MA-2400, MA-3600 and MA-5000VZs (all Macro-Tech series) that powered all of our cabinets. Built completely different than amps used in the HiFi field. Low distortion, ridiculously high wattage and could handle ridiculously low ohms (like 2 ohms or less consistently). Crown pioneered the large pro audio rigs of the 80's and 90's. Probably 75% of the touring rigs for concert sound used Crown for those two decades... still lots in use today. You needed many rolling 18 space ATA racks and plenty of heavy, heavy AC feed for your distribution systems. The BIG Crowns (like the MA-5000vz) could easily pull a 30amp circuit. So to make along story short, they are great amps, just for a different application. Sorry to ramble, but this was my line of work for about 15 years. I like my ADCOM GFA-555s, they do my SDAs good justice IMO.

EndersShadow

Face wrote: »

Using 1 XTi1002 and 3 XTi2002 in my 2 channel rig.

Face, show me some pics of your system.... I am VERY interested in it lol...

Habanero Monk

Face wrote: »

Using 1 XTi1002 and 3 XTi2002 in my 2 channel rig.

Had a chance to play around with the XTi 4002. Well built amp and found nothing harsh, muddied, bright etc about it.

The DSP function kicked ****.

Dropthebeat

I hooked up my friends crown xls amp to my rta 11 and it sounded horrible compared to my nad amp and even my yamaha receiver . They lacked a lot of bass . But everyone has different tastes

txcoastal1

Let me throw out this scenario

I am a believer of having of having multiple systems as an audiophile as some music sounds better/different on some systems than others. I just have these moods so I switch systems. I have a garage/desktop system that I can stream music, play poorly recorded music and not flinch or pick it apart.

I have another rig that plays jazz, blues, and classical very well. My Dynaudio system lays right in the middle but excels with vocals.

I have played with pro-gear but it has it harsh peaks or thin in the mids.

Maybe we can can blame some poorly recorded music or music in general on what type gear it was recorded on. Maybe the system we have at home needs to match the most of the crap that is recorded.

All music can only sound its best when recorded fairly well or as well it's recorded ....You can spray perfume on body odor but it's still gonna stink.

Face

Habanero Monk wrote: »

Had a chance to play around with the XTi 4002. Well built amp and found nothing harsh, muddied, bright etc about it.

The DSP function kicked ****.

The DSP function is great and they definitely aren't bright. But, I'm still glad I'm only using them on high efficiency drivers and only from 450hz and below. With low efficiency drivers, the fans kick on and they are far from quiet...even with upgraded fans. FYI, these amps are A/B, not class D like their other products.

Here's a pic:


The enclosures still aren't finished, hence why they look that way. Still want to try one or two more test enclosures before saying "I'm done".

Mystery

Face wrote: »

The DSP function is great and they definitely aren't bright. But, I'm still glad I'm only using them on high efficiency drivers and only from 450hz and below. With low efficiency drivers, the fans kick on and they are far from quiet...even with upgraded fans. FYI, these amps are A/B, not class D like their other products.

Here's a pic:


The enclosures still aren't finished, hence why they look that way. Still want to try one or two more test enclosures before saying "I'm done".

Longhorns...

EndersShadow

Face wrote: »

The DSP function is great and they definitely aren't bright. But, I'm still glad I'm only using them on high efficiency drivers and only from 450hz and below. With low efficiency drivers, the fans kick on and they are far from quiet...even with upgraded fans. FYI, these amps are A/B, not class D like their other products.

Here's a pic:


The enclosures still aren't finished, hence why they look that way. Still want to try one or two more test enclosures before saying "I'm done".

DANNGGG MAN! Those look sexy. Not a chance in hell I could rock those with the glossy black horn, but they look darned fine!

Habanero Monk

Face wrote: »

The DSP function is great and they definitely aren't bright. But, I'm still glad I'm only using them on high efficiency drivers and only from 450hz and below. With low efficiency drivers, the fans kick on and they are far from quiet...even with upgraded fans. FYI, these amps are A/B, not class D like their other products.

I have the 4002 setup to drive a MBM and LLT sub. Fan setting is turned to low and it doesn't come on even when you are getting blown out of your seat. I don't know if that due to it's being a higher wattage amp and only using for 100Hz on down.

Nice looking setup BTW.

[Deleted User]

Cannot disagree w/ any of that. I do know my punk music sounds harsh, brash, and snotty on my Emo.

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Let me throw out this scenario

I am a believer of having of having multiple systems as an audiophile as some music sounds better/different on some systems than others. I just have these moods so I switch systems. I have a garage/desktop system that I can stream music, play poorly recorded music and not flinch or pick it apart.

I have another rig that plays jazz, blues, and classical very well. My Dynaudio system lays right in the middle but excels with vocals.

I have played with pro-gear but it has it harsh peaks or thin in the mids.

Maybe we can can blame some poorly recorded music or music in general on what type gear it was recorded on. Maybe the system we have at home needs to match the most of the crap that is recorded.

All music can only sound its best when recorded fairly well or as well it's recorded ....You can spray perfume on body odor but it's still gonna stink.

BlueFox

rednedtugent wrote: »

Cannot disagree w/ any of that. I do know my punk music sounds harsh, brash, and snotty on my Emo.

Isn't that how punk is supposed to sound?

nooshinjohn

BlueFox wrote: »

Isn't that how punk is supposed to sound?

Obviously the Emo is the problem here, as punk music is known primarily for smooth vocals, liquid midrange loaded with micro-details and bass that is tight, fast and articulate.

Zentish

I still have my Crown Powerbase-1, but don't use it very often since the fan noise is a little annoying even in the garage. I hauled it all over town for 10 years while I was a DJ. It's not tight nor very clean, I mean 0.1%THD is not very good these days. But it got dropped, rolled out of the back of a truck, left out all night on a porch, an inverter on a tour boat tried to kill it once, but it still works and like someone posted earlier, hooked up to some crappy custom boxes I built 20 years ago can rip the face off of most anything anyone leaves lying around their garage.

I think that's what they were built for, survival. That and face-melting.