Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[synsei]

My component identification skills are consistent I see...

[User211]

I know what Jerry's next amp is and it is almost certainly more powerful than yours

[jandl100]

I know what Jerry's next amp is and it is almost certainly more powerful than yours

Now, now - it may not be my next amp, at the moment it is merely the next contender for the much sought after accolade of being my current amp of choice.

[Tarzan]

Now, now - it may not be my next amp, at the moment it is merely the next contender for the much sought after accolade of being my current amp of choice.

[jandl100]

It doesn't arrive til Tuesday next week, Andy.

[User211]

It is one very lucky amp. First it hits some MBL 116Fs and then Apogee Interstellas only days later...

[jandl100]

Despite the tumultuous mystery buildup - don't worry fellow AOSers - it's not a SLIC amp.

[User211]

Some nameless person preferred it to his Audio Research Ref 110

[jandl100]

And here it is --- the plush velvet curtains sweep back, a fanfare of trumpets tada-tadaaaaa --- the amazing SLIC amp --- no, wrong!



Accompanied and ably fed by my lovely Restek Consens pre-amp it's a Crown 300wpc class D semi-pro power amp jobbie.

Irritating flashing power LEDs neatly (?) covered by some blu-tac.

I've had it a day and a bit and haven't yet even tried approaching its outer dynamic envelope to see if my windows warp at high SPLs. I suspect they will - 300wpc should do a lot of shoving. But at low to moderate volume it is very very fine sounding amp indeed. I could live with this in the longer term, I have no doubt about that.

Better than my beloved NAD S300 integrated amp? - there's a smidgeon more high freq 'zing' to the NAD that makes things sound a touch more sprightly, there is a touch of class D smoothness to the Crown. And the Crown perhaps lacks just a bit in the spatial magic of the NAD/MBL pairing - the NAD is by far the best match to my speakers that I've yet heard. So do not waste your time watching the classifieds for the NAD.

With the pots wide open there is some noise through the speakers (curiously, I found the same with Behringer A500 amps) so they are at half setting, it's fine then.

Early days yet, but I suspect the Crown may be a medium term keeper as it sounds mighty fine indeed and it is just so nice using my Restek pre again - I do love that pre madly/deeply/irrationally!
Lessee how it gets on when the music steps up a pace or 3 dynamically.

I'll be taking it along to Justin's at the weekend to let it play with his new Apogee Interstellas.

[brian2957]

Had me worried for a minute there Jerry How on earth do you find these things . Did you have any information prior to buying this ? I usually read something on the forums about components which are well thought of , however I've certainly never heard of this . Kudos to you mate for bringing some exceptional , previously unheard of , gear to the masses