Crown amps

Just out of curiosity...where are you shopping? A stereo store or a D.J. store?

The reason I ask is that I had a friend that owned a store that had a stereo side and a mobile DJ side.

I asked him about the Crown Amps that he had and was informed that they were really intended for "club" atmospheres where chest thumping bass and high SPL levels were the most important thing.

So...anyhow...I went to read the reviews over at audioreview to find out what users had to say about the amps.

some things that I noticed were...

1. People seemed to be buying them for use as subwoofer amps.

2. Some of the reviews seem to have been written by the same person with the same associated equipment yet under a different name??? (This was their $4,000 reference amp) I dunno...things just seemed a little fishy...most EVERYBODY seemed to think that they were better than their previous Krells...go figure.

Have I heard crown?

Yes...in nightclubs/bars

Was I Impressed?

Not especially.

I'm not trying to belittle you for your choice, but having been hanging around Audiogon for 5-6 years now I would have to say that there is equipment that you would probably be happier with in the long run for similar prices.

Bryston, McCormack and Odyssey to name a few (in no particular order), seem to get alot of praise for their sound quality and reliability. I am sure there are others.

no...I'm not a dealer and have no affilation with any manufacturers yada yada yada

Well I am assuming it is the same amp as a CE series which I owned, but XTI has all the processing stuff built in which will also tax the power supply of this amp.. I am not sure exactly of the models so I am going of memory, but the CE is not a very stellar amp for home accept subwoofers and even when I used it for that it was Very noisey with the fans.

Ellery 911,
If you are refering to the Crown Macro Reference, which was
their greatest effort to date...I had 2 of them.It was reviewed,and used by many audiophiles.They were very
dynamic,powerful,clean,and clear sounding.A very different bird.And yes,they were better than most "audiophile"
amps at the time.The issue was that they just weren't
very "musical sounding".However,there is something about
that damping factor(20,000)that was captivating the way the
amp controlled a loudspeaker.My point is that(and in regards to this thread),to this day
I don't think anyone really considered that amp to be mid-fi.
So,can you get good sound with pro amps?
Sure you can...but there is a difference between good sound,and sound that brings you closer to the music(IMHO).

Ellery911...Your view of pro sound power amps may be a bit out of date...at least for some of them. Digital has changed things, and a digital pro sound amp sounds about like a digital audiophile amp, some of which are well regarded. In my case I have three CarverPro ZR1600 amps which perform superbly with MG1.6 speakers. Lately I have changed to driving the Maggies with Channel Island D-200 monoblocks, not really because of any sound issue but rather because I wanted monoblocks. (Five of them, one at each multisound speaker location). Truth to tell, the CI D200, which has been well reviewed in audiophile circles, is not noticably better than the ZR1600.

I have no experience with the Crown XTI-2000 but it could be the same story.

I'm going on my experience with their DC300a which by the way was also a touring amp. That is still one of the best amps I ever heard, and I have heard many including some tube amps. The more I look at some of these pro amps the more interesting they become. I live in Orlando and Disney World has an attraction called Philharmagic that is powered by Crown. The sound is absolutely top notch if your sitting in a good spot, four rows off the back wall center it's superb! I really am beginning to feel that these amps are one heck of a buy. Are they the best amp? No, but is the small difference in sound really worth all that money, probably not especially at 52 years old. I'm going to investigate these amps further, but I am finding it harder and harder to look back.