Crown vs QSC amp: any thoughts?

[waggs098]

So I have a crown CDI 1000 that I have been using to power my DVC sub. It has been working well. I have each channel powering the separate voice coils so its running 2ohms per channel.

I now have a QSC RMX 1450 amp to try.

Both amps are rated for 700 watt per channel into 2ohms at 1% thd. The crown is a class D amp. The QSC is class a/b.

Just curious if anyone thinks which amp would be better. I'll need to open and clean the QSC then test on some cheap speakers to make sure its good to go. Its quite dirty at the moment.

Just sparking a small conversation. I know "just try it and let us know what you think". Anyone by chance used the QSC for sub duty?

Thanks
Justin

 

[ernieb1536]

So I have a crown CDI 1000 that I have been using to power my DVC sub. It has been working well. I have each channel powering the separate voice coils so its running 2ohms per channel.

I now have a QSC RMX 1450 amp to try.

Both amps are rated for 700 watt per channel into 2ohms at 1% thd. The crown is a class D amp. The QSC is class a/b.

Just curious if anyone thinks which amp would be better. I'll need to open and clean the QSC then test on some cheap speakers to make sure its good to go. Its quite dirty at the moment.

Just sparking a small conversation. I know "just try it and let us know what you think". Anyone by chance used the QSC for sub duty?

Thanks
Justin

I don’t know if you could tell the difference using for sub duty as long as it handles the load properly, full range I would suspect most likely the class a/b would sound better .that where I would think you would notice any differences .

 

[waggs098]

I don’t know if you could tell the difference using for sub duty as long as it handles the load properly, full range I would suspect most likely the class a/b would sound better .that where I would think you would notice any differences .

Thats what I was kind of thinking also. Its not like I'm driving the amps real hard for my home stereo so their isn't much strain on them.

 

[swechsler]

I tend to agree with @ernieb1536. Most audible amp differences are subtle, and being used only for bass, it will be even more difficult to hear the difference.

I look forward to hearing your results, though.

 

[twiiii]

I have preferred class A, AB, or etc rather than class D amps. But at low frequencies there may be other considerations or unknowns that will be of more concern. I always liked the QSC amps with their own form of limiting to prevent clipping which can easily destroy HF drivers easily or give snapping sound driving subs.. See which amp starts sounding mushy first before clipping. Maybe the speakers can't take that kind of power sounding compromised. Just be careful and give the amps plenty of space to breathe fresh air and dissipate heat. The QSC is rated to have much lower distortion, but it is not a true 2 ohm amplifier. Yes they rate at 700 watts but only at 1000 HZ with low distortion so that tells me the power supply isn't strong enough to guaranty full bandwidth performance and requires more power from the wall receptacle than 15 amps.. The Crown is also a more advanced amps with its digital programming capabilities via computer. But if you are into pure analog, you may still prefer the QSC. I did. But speaker being 2 ohm could be a deal breaker for the QSC. Neither amps has the peak head room, signal to noise, or lower distortions of great Hifi amps. But for Sub work only that maybe of no concern.

I'd rather have a Bryston or one of the older Crown Series 1 Reference amps my self that were class AB. If you ever get a chance to Try a Mcintosh MC2600 or MC 602 for spin you might be surprised. No one can easily afford a new pair MC601's or MC611 that can put out over 1000 watt peaks and over 850 watts meeting specs across 2 ohms.

 

[highend64]

So I have a crown CDI 1000 that I have been using to power my DVC sub. It has been working well. I have each channel powering the separate voice coils so its running 2ohms per channel.

I now have a QSC RMX 1450 amp to try.

Both amps are rated for 700 watt per channel into 2ohms at 1% thd. The crown is a class D amp. The QSC is class a/b.

Just curious if anyone thinks which amp would be better. I'll need to open and clean the QSC then test on some cheap speakers to make sure its good to go. Its quite dirty at the moment.

Just sparking a small conversation. I know "just try it and let us know what you think". Anyone by chance used the QSC for sub duty?

Thanks
Justin

For sub only amp, both would work well. For QSC I like the older powerlight series amp if you can find one at a good price. For Crown I like the older Macro Tech. Keep in mind almost any pro amp will have a cooling fan. Crown also have the K series which does not have one but hard to find.

I would suggest for a dual voice coil configuration, I would bridge the sub in series for a 4 ohm load this way both coils are getting the same signal.