Is my amp the problem?


I recently decided to bi-amp my speakers so I purchased a crown xls 1002. (225w 8 ohm). I am driving a 10 woofer. It sounds horrible. I can't seem to get it to put out much power despite its rating even when I make all the right adjustments. Its a class D amp. Is that my problem? It just doesn't seem to have any Ba**s. Lol. Advice is appreciated.
jimbones

Taking almarg’s comments...

Emotiva XPA-1 unbalanced input impedance: 23.5k ohms -- means (23k x 23.5k) / (23k + 23.5k) = 11.6k ohms combined.

Parasound A21 unbalanced input impedance: 33k ohms -- means (23k x 33k) / (23k + 33k) = 13.5k ohms combined.

So, comparitively speaking, the increase of impedance when using these amps directly instead of using the miniDSP for low-end will significantely improve the impedance load on the Modwright preamp. That and the fact that these amps are just stronger in controlling the woofer in general would lead me to think that it’s better just to drop the miniDSP out of the mix. I would just use the passive crossovers in the speakers unless you wanted to use something like the Bryston 10B to do BOTH the high and low amplifiers.

Actually, looking at the Crown XLS 1002, it has a built-in low pass crossover as part of its DSP.  You can setup a Linkwitz-Riley 24dB/octave low-pass crossover point anywhere from 30 Hz and 3,000 Hz.  See page 8-9 of the manual.  It does not publish the input impedance, but it -might- be better than using the miniDSP.

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/2554_1431029566/5055568_XLSDC2_MNL_PRINT_050615_original.pdf

Good comments by Auxinput.  I just noticed something further about the Modwright amp.  I had stated its input impedance as being 23K, because the impedance is indicated on its webpage as "Min. 15K 50Khz; 23K 1Khz," and I considered the 50 kHz impedance to be irrelevant.  Although I wondered a little why he would bother specifying a 50 kHz impedance.  However I now see that its manual (in contrast to the webpage) indicates an input impedance of "Min. 15K at 50Hz [not kHz]; 23K at 1Khz."

So that makes it all the more important to avoid requiring the LS100 to drive a low input impedance device in addition to the Modwright amp.  My suggestion at this point is that you communicate with Dan and ask him what minimum load impedance he would recommend be used with the LS100.  While you're at it, also ask him to clarify if the amp's specified input impedance applies to its balanced input or its unbalanced input or both.

Regards,
-- Al
   
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Uh- all good suggestions, but before you do anything else, check to see that the woofers are in phase.

That is to say, if the red connection on the back of the amp is connected to the plus terminal of the speaker, that such is also the case with the other channel. This way both speakers are pushing and pulling in unison. Otherwise they are fighting each other, and you would have some pretty 'blah' bass!