Crown XLS 2500 - the best amp value per dollar?

Want better sound from Crown's XLS series amps?  Pair them with an airy-sounding tube preamp (CJ ET3).

1extreme, i believe the lesson learnt here is that Crown amps are very good if you chose wisely where to use them - as a brute amp to drive a bass cone/panel. Most of the time Crown amps are used in professional settings - studios, traveling bands, concerts, PA systems, malls, etc. 
In RMAF 2013 that I attended, Scaena was driving their stand-alone bass speaker (which had 3 12" or 15" woofers one-on-top-of-the-other) with a series of vertically stacked Crown XLS amps. I remember that Scaena demo as being very good sounding (was in the Hilton across the street).
They are class-D amps - that class-I designation is just marketing. The class-I, if i understand it correctly, is what Crown calls a "grounded bridge" circuit on the output stage. Usually you have the push output devices connected to +VCC or +B & the pull devices connected to -VCC or -B & the center is where the speaker binding post it & it is usually floating but in Crown amp's case, that center terminal on the black speaker binding post (NOT the red binding post - only the black) is grounded. Crown holds a patent on this particular design & claims that it allows all of the +/-B voltage to appear at the speaker binding post (unlike all other amps). They claim that is one technology that allows them to get these very high output powers. Just FYI.

So just over a year and a half since I started this thread. Cracks me up reading my personal evolution over that time.

@bombaywalla - you are so right. I almost sold the XLS 2500 but had put it away in a closet instead. I just pulled it out and connected it to the bass / low end of my Infinity Kappa 9’s and they really do well pushing the bottom end. It does very well at 3/4 gain. I wish all amps had a gain control per channel. It is so useful when bi-amping. The XLS 2500 also has a built in low pass active crossover setting so I can tailor it to just pass the low frequencies needed by the woofers.

I have tube amps (CAD 805AE’s) pushing the top ends of the Kappa 9’s and the combo is great. Seems kind of silly pairing amps on the top end that cost me a factor of over 15 times the amp on the low end but hey, if it sound good it sounds good.

The XLS 2500 is awful as a high fidelity amp for the upper end. But as a bass cranker bi-amped with a higher end amp on the top end it does just fine.

@boomzilla , BINGO!

I’m running An XLS 1500 on Martin Logan CLS 2 and it’s pretty damn good. Impressive amp.