Crown Gear Just Works

[Blue Shadow]

I had some of their gear. Had issues that proper connections fixed in one case when a friend had the amp. Bought some untested and it was fine. Even that D-150 off the bay, untested and worked just fine. When I was cleaning it inside, noticed an unsoldered connection to the fuse. Been like that since new. A former Crown employee says that happens. Soldered it and all still good.

I picked up a Crown SL-1 preamp at one of the annual get togethers in the area from an aker. I got it because I could use the power connector on the back to power some Crown phono modules I have for the DL-2 preamp. Cleaned up that unit set the power to +18 and -18V per spec. Then a phono module for the SL-1 showed up on another board. Bought that and tried it, no joy. Even after recapping the module didn't work.

So today I go about checking out that SL-1 power supply with one of the other phono units and it does not work either. Investigating the connector, a 14-pin unit the powered pins were not in the correct locations. Someone had moved the 18V supply from pin 3 to pin 1. This was done possibly because ground is at pin 4 and it appeared there was some missing chunk of the connector housing that would insulate these.

I got the power connected to the connector on the preamp in the right spots and then tried the DL-2 phono module. worked just fine. Got me to thinking that the one I have for the SL-1 probably works, too. After digging deep to reassemble this unit, using info from my poor notes, the schematic and board layout from the DL-2 manual I got it all back together.

What do you know, this one works, too. Crown gear, just works. And now I have finally seen the IOCs flash on the preamp, driving the bench receiver. Nice to have some gear out there that has withstood the rigors of years of use and still work just fine, until someone goes in and messes with it.

 

[BMWCCA]

Crown gear, just works.

Like an old BMW!

I wonder how many of us there are that fell in love with Crown gear and BMWs around the same time?
Bought my first BMW in 1971. My first Crown amp ("naked" D150) shortly thereafter. Still have it. Still working!

 

[Blue Shadow]

John, concours chairman NCC, was all over BMWs as well as the manager of the Hi-Fi House where I worked and a couple other friends back in the mid-late 70s. I chose a Mazda Rx-7 which was a great car for me at the time. I didn't get into the Bimmers until BMW finally brought in the higher performance bigger cars and bought the 535 you know I own. The Hartge came much later. I bought my first Crown on FTC Power Amp Regulation Day in Nov 1974. Liked em since. Buying quality sometimes saves money in the long run. All the gear in the above post were inexpensive, down right cheap for what they are. But they don't break or burn up.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Clarence C. Moore pre Harman era, Crown always works reliably. Even dropped off pickup truck into mud, hosed off and dried. That is real Crown Tough, and what the brand is engineered and built on. AE Techron same way.

 

[KingBubba]

As the head audio tech at the theater I used to work in; "If you don't want to use a Crown as an amp, you can use it as a hammer and still be able to use it as an amp later.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I think Crown was advertising accurately with this early cover of a reel to reel brochure:


It lists:

Durability
Ruggedness
Simplicity
Dependability
all before
Superb Performance.

Well said.

 

[sberger]

And their current line of pro amps sound great. Easy way to get quality power for not much money.

 

[LexDM3]

I worked for GE in a materials testing lab while in grad school in the late '70s. We used Crown DC-300s to drive big electromagnets to fatigue test steam turbine blades at their resonant frequency. Those Crowns, magnets and blades howled along 24/7 until one of two things failed - the turbine blade or the Crown. The Crown usually won. I replaced some outputs in the DC-300s but they could take a licking.

I now have three Class D Crowns, two XLS2000s and one XLS2500. Nice rigs.

And to reinforce the other part of the thread, I'm a former BMWCCA member ('73 2002tii, '98 M3) but my only current BMW is a '73 R75/5 motorcycle. It's as reliable as those old DC-300s.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Former Crown XLS-2000 owner here. Current Com-Tech 810 owner. Heavy iron for when I want to touch the sky, which is often.

I'll go against the grain and say I will never own a BMW again. I had a 2002 Alpina, 635CSi, and a 328i over the years. Lovely looking and driving cars all but money pits all.

 

[toddalin]

My PSA-2XH started to make noise and the protection circuit started coming on. I use this bridged in mono to drive my sub. It turned out to be just a dirty pot on one side of the 15 +- volt low voltage board resulting in a reduced voltage. I "wiped" both pots several times and reset the voltages from 15.05 to 14.95 so the pots would sit in different spots. Has worked perfectly since.