[mmiles]

Ever since my rock and roll youth I have always liked the Crown product.


As an adult I am now more into home theater than 2 channel listening.


I have been to many shows (CES and CEDIA) and snooped popular forums such as AVS for more information on amps. The question that I have is why don't (assuming users don't) use pro audio gear like the CROWN K1 (it would take 3 units) for an HT amp? It looks like the specs are somewhat close such as freq. response, s/n ratio, slew rating, damping factor.


You can pick up three of the above for $3,000 or so while a leading high end amp (at least to me) from McIntosh, Parasound-HALO, Lexicon, Krell etc is 2-3x that amount.


Comments?


Regards,

Mike Miles

 

[Llamas]

 This has been discussed some, recently.

 

[EC]

 and here

 

[dsmith901]

You can get the Gemstone 7 channel amp for less, and its probably a better amp, based on reviews.

 

[AcuraCL]

I can't ever remember a time when I was at a club, or a wedding, or anywhere else that pro amps were used, when I said, "Dam, I want MY system to sound like THAT!"


That's why.

 

[tubeguy44]

Quote:

Originally posted by AcuraCL I can't ever remember a time when I was at a club, or a wedding, or anywhere else that pro amps were used, when I said, "Dam, I want MY system to sound like THAT!" That's why.

it wasn't the amps....


it was the speakers..... just like in a home situation, speakers have the most influence on the sound......


pro amps can do a great job in home theater applications..... and depending upon the size of the room and speakers being used - a much better job than many consumer amps.....


IMHO three crown K1 amps (or three carver professional ZR1600 amps) will outperform most consumer amps in terms of power, headroom, and impact.....


maybe not the most delicate of amps for super soft listening levels on music applications, but for home theater - pretty hard to beat!!!!



cheers!

 

[b curry]

Certainly a valid question and maybe a well kept secret. Problem is the subjectivity of the topic... Has to be right up there with the arguments as to whether the world is flat or round!


The funny part is most of the recorded music and video we listen to or watch is mixed using the "pro" gear many find fault with. Go figure?


By the way, Lexicon actually is a "Pro" company. They have been around over thirty years making processors for recording studios. Some of Lexicon's amplifiers were made by Crown.

 

[tubeguy44]

Quote:

...By the way, Lexicon actually is a "Pro" company. They have been around over thirty years making processors for recording studios. Some of Lexicon's amplifiers were made by Crown.

i believe that all the new lexicon amps are now made by crown.....


cheers!

 

[tubeguy44]

and if you go up into the extreme high end of pro amps you will find amps that will sound better than 90% of all consumer amps.....


here's one for ya...

http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/studref.htm


the studio reference series amp are really incredible..... now - they are not cheap.....

Quote:

Reference 1 $6,164.00 Reference 2 $4,427.00

cheers!

 

[DMF]

 Top of the Crown amp line

 

[b curry]

DMF, we did that one HERE yesterday!


Maybe CES will get here sooner than latter so we'll have something new and interesting to talk about!

PS - I was thinking about starting a thread to compare the Carver Professional ZR1000 to the Crown BF-6000 SUX.

 

[DMF]

Yeah, I know. I was there. Thought the OP might enjoy learning of the true breadth of the Crown line, though.

PS - I'd read such a comparison!

 

[b curry]

Good point!

PS - well I was thinking that with the power rating of the Crown, the "head room" would be substantially more than the ZR1000. This may result in more defined "inner strings"...

 

[klipsch]

b curry

 

[BuddF]

One thing missing in this post I think is the fact that the pre/pro will have a far larger affect on the sound than the amp. Granted tubes sound different than Solid State, but when dealing with similar amps the sound is VERY hard to differentiate. So between the speakers AND the source components is part of the problem with the wedding scenario. The amp as long as it doesn't add extreme amounts of floor noise will just do its job.

 

[tubeguy44]

Quote:

Originally posted by BuddF One thing missing in this post I think is the fact that the pre/pro will have a far larger affect on the sound than the amp. Granted tubes sound different than Solid State, but when dealing with similar amps the sound is VERY hard to differentiate. So between the speakers AND the source components is part of the problem with the wedding scenario. The amp as long as it doesn't add extreme amounts of floor noise will just do its job.

i see we have another person in the camp of "all amps sound the same".....

 

[mtdking]

I have heard a Pass Labs X5 amp and it was the the best amp for the price ($4500) I have ever heard. It is only 125x5 and it will blow the doors off my Sunfire 405x5 for sheer power and dynamics. I tried that amp on my system and I could not believe my ears at how much better it sound over my current amp. The X5 will under my Christmas tree this year....

 

[GOLDEN-EAGLE]

tubeguy44


Do you know the retail of the Crown K1? It looks very interesting.



Golden-Eagle

 

[tubeguy44]

here it is..... suggested retail....
Quote:

K-1 $2,207.00 K-2 $2,649.00

http://www.crownaudio.com/retailprice.htm


they usually sell for about half that or so at many different online vendors....


cheers!

 

[GOLDEN-EAGLE]

tubeguy44


Thanks for your reply and the link. I was looking through their amp selection, I came across the XLS series. I was wondering how would you compare this series to the K series?


Thanks again


Golden-Eagle