View Full Version : FS: CROWN XLS1500 Class D power amp - 300wpc !
jandl100
19-03-2015, 21:20
This really is a very good amp. :)
RCA and XLR inputs.
Banana and/or spade speaker connection.
http://www.crownaudio.com/en-US/products/xls-1500
Limitless power, excellent detail and rez, treble sweet and pure, supa-dupa bass.
There is a fan, but you won't hear it, it's whisper quiet.
What's not to like?
A1 - Pretty much as-new, except I have attached four rubber feet to base as it is intended to be bolted onto a rack!
Original box and packing.
£200.
Scalford meetup on 29th March?
Or £12 to UK courier.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii114/jandl100/DSCF5944_zps8433b1c1.jpg (http://s262.photobucket.com/user/jandl100/media/DSCF5944_zps8433b1c1.jpg.html)
Only moving it on as I seem to have been on an amp buying spree and I have another arriving tomorrow. :doh: :)
_____
Note - Restek pre-amp not included. :nono:
jandl100
21-03-2015, 07:34
Price drop ! - now £200 :thumbsup:
I can't - got too many amps now anyway...
I'm really pleased you liked this amp Jerry. Amazed in fact :)
Good luck with the sale and hope someone will take the gamble you did :)
stewartwen
21-03-2015, 13:43
Nice amp Jerry, if I only had some spare cash.....................
jandl100
21-03-2015, 18:09
swapsies? :)
man, another one I won't get :scratch:
It did seem good hooked up to my speakers for the very short time we had it going.
I was going to buy it but the wife won't have it in the lounge (didn't tell Jerry that). Not as pretty as the Luxman!
Ninanina
21-03-2015, 19:25
I was going to buy it but the wife won't have it in the lounge
I'd change the wife :doh: :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
She won't let you have the amp, be she has no problem with those huge Apogees?? :eek:
Marco.
No they in a dedicated listening room:)
Ok, so why not put the Crown in the dedicated room, along with the Apogees? Just use a long pair of interconnects.... :eyebrows:
Marco.
Got anymore fab ideas?:)
I do wonder what the "reviewers" would make of it if you shoved it in a pretty box with Devialet written on it.
Might need to flatten it with a hammer first:D
Just stand it upright behind the rack, or out of sight somewhere?
swapsies? :)
What you interested in Jerry?
jandl100
21-03-2015, 22:51
What you interested in Jerry?
hifi
... I'm a boxswapper - I might be interested in anything. :)
hifi
... I'm a boxswapper - I might be interested in anything. :)
I guessed as much. Think I'm becoming that way myself. How about a nice squeezebox touch with linear psu and booster? Mine is now surplus to requirements.
I wouldn't use it in the hifi though, I'd use with a microphone preamp and and smallish PA speakers for vocals in a rehearsal space.
jandl100
22-03-2015, 07:43
Hi Rich
Oh - I forgot about streaming audio!! - not for me, thanks. :)
Unless it's a Pi..... ;)
Marco.
jandl100
22-03-2015, 07:59
Could be, Marco, could be. :lol:
Anyway - the Crowned One, blessed be he, is now SOLD to an AOSer. :)
Awesome! :)
Btw, have you ever tried an amp (or amps) at a similar price point to your MBLs, i.e. giving them some 'quality watts', more in keeping with their calibre, thus reducing your system's 'mullet status'? ;)
For me, with the amps you've been using, unless I've missed something suitably high-end you've had, you're unlikely to have heard what those MBLs are truly capable of.......... It's not ALL about the speakers, you know!! :eyebrows:
Marco.
jandl100
22-03-2015, 08:23
Ah right yes - mullet status :lol: :lol:
See my latest post in my gallery blog, where I posted something relevant to that earlier this morning. ;)
I'll transfer your post there as it is relevant to the ongoing Jerry System Saga. :)
Lol - cool. I think you know where I'm coming from, though. What are your speakers new, something like £20k? And what's the most expensive amp you've used with them to date? ;)
For me, you need to start upping the ante on the amp front! :)
Marco.
jandl100
22-03-2015, 08:45
Lol - cool. I think you know where I'm coming from, though. What are your speakers new, something like £20k? And what's the most expensive amp you've used with them to date? ;)
For me, you need to start upping the ante on the amp front! :)
Marco.
Carry on this convo on my Gallery blog ;) - some questions already answered!
hornucopia
22-03-2015, 10:51
Jerry-knows the difference between the cost of things and the VALUE of things!
Hi Rich
Oh - I forgot about streaming audio!! - not for me, thanks. :)
No worries Jerry...:)
Lol - cool. I think you know where I'm coming from, though. What are your speakers new, something like £20k? And what's the most expensive amp you've used with them to date? ;)
For me, you need to start upping the ante on the amp front! :)
Marco.
Expensive amps an arbiter of quality? To do what that Crown supposedly does with old fashioned brute-force power supplies and old circuits would cost considerably more I grant you and expensive casework even more. Making such a good amp for relative peanuts (ok, in China I believe) and with such a good sound according to Jerry is an amazing feat IMO and remember, these amps are designed for 24/7 thrashing in a PA style application...
[edit] ... and I now know that once exalted early 1990's big expensive Krell power amps almost always need an expensive cap replacement by now (the caps are huge), yet these and older Crowns go on for decades ;)
See the recent contributions on Jerry's Gallery thread, Dave, as this subject has been continued there....
I'm afraid that I'm not a fan of the Crown amps I've heard so far, which to my ears have all majored on brute force at the expense of musical finesse [and sounded tonally monochromatic], although I'm sure the one that Jerry's just sold was different, as he wouldn't have used it (or liked it) otherwise :)
Marco.
The old 'D' series that I run are fine - and we've done direct comparisons at hifi dave's place (original D-150 and late mk1 DC300A, un-serviced, compared to current Croft and Albarry). I know that some of the 1990's Crowns are PA amps pure and simple and this is why Jerry's findings on this cheapie power amp are so re-assuring ;)
It's that emotionless/insipid/cold/lifeless/monochromatic 'PA amp' sound that I hate.
I appreciate that the Crown amps you use (and Jerry has used) may well sound different to those I've had experience of, which just weren't my thing at all, and exhibited everything I hate about solid-state technology, done badly!
Marco.
It didn't really sound like I expected it to. It doesn't sound powerful even though it is. Nothing like the dynamics\obvious drive you'd get from a Parasound A21. It is quite mildly natured.
For £200 it is not bad at all.
I am currently using one of these and I see no reason to change, massive bargain at this price, don't let the looks put you off this is a seriously capable piece of kit
jandl100
22-03-2015, 11:47
See my latest comments on my Blog thread :)
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?1236-New-speakers-and-amps&p=631031#post631031
It's that emotionless/insipid/cold/lifeless/monochromatic 'PA amp' sound that I hate.
I appreciate that the Crown amps you use (and Jerry has used) may well sound different to those I've had experience of, which just weren't my thing at all, and exhibited everything I hate about solid-state technology, done badly!
Marco.
Marco I have this discussion all the time with my brother in law who is an audio designer in the games industry. He can't understand why I use hifi gear when, in his opinion, pro gear performs better and is usually better value.
I explain to him there is some merit in what he says but that we are both fundamentally looking for different types of sounds.
Anyway, sorry for the thread drift Jerry. I reckon this would be great amp with a tube pre in a hifi setting. Good luck with sale.
jandl100
22-03-2015, 11:54
It's sold Rich (see above) so thread drift is not an issue. :)
It's that emotionless/insipid/cold/lifeless/monochromatic 'PA amp' sound that I hate.
...which just weren't my thing at all, and exhibited everything I hate about solid-state technology, done badly!
Marco.
Ah, but you once owned Naim - ooops, I'll get my coat :lol:
The HH VX300 I'm custodian of was a 'studio,' rather than a PA amp and this sounds honest, but rather matter-of-fact/deadpan. Had the steep sub 20Hz filter been removed and maybe the wiring loom simplified for 'domestic use,' the 'expression' would have come back I reckon, as there's a nice big over-rated power supply and again, this one lived powered (and used?) 24/7 in an editing suite with LS5/9's for twenty odd years before Genelec actives replaced them in a major refit a few years ago...
Ah, but you once owned Naim - ooops, I'll get my coat :lol:
Lol! Indeed... However, I have to be honest and say that, although it wouldn't be for me now, I really enjoyed the Naim system I had for about 6 years, and don't regret owning it one iota, although I regret the money I spent on it [circa £30k]! :doh:
Furthermore, with Spendor SP100s on the end of it, rather than Naim speakers, much of the bad points of the Naim 'sonic signature' were ameliorated, and the net effect certainly sounded much better than that produced by any Crown amps I've heard :)
The HH VX300 I'm custodian of was a 'studio,' rather than a PA amp and this sounds honest, but rather matter-of-fact/deadpan.
You see, I would detest that kind of sound, and certainly couldn't live with it. IME, it's precisely what pro-audio amps do wrong. They have precious little subtlety and sound musically bland!
I like a sound that is full of life/expressiveness/colour (in the right way, not coloration)/texture/musicality, and most importantly that stirs my senses and sounds real! The best valve amps, IME, do that WAY, WAY better than any pro-audio amp I've heard, or indeed any SS one.
Marco.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2026 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.