CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

dturco · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:25 pm Post subject:

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Thats odd. They are shown in stock now. Unless its because of where your getting it from.

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

Got the amp today...Looking at the way it's put togther you can tell it's a lower cost unit, but it does work and give me what was after. Now with music there isn't a touch of clipping while playing very loud. Considering the final cost was about 1/2 of what you see them advertised, I'm happy with the upgrade. It is however bitter-sweet...built in China, not Elkhart.

Mike

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:32 pm Post subject:

When Peavey was in town, I had a long talk about reliability, etc with the engineer that was up. While he completely sidestepped the question of 'how long are your amps expected to last?', I did get some interesting info:

-with Peavey, anything over $500 (their cost, I guess) is made in the US. Everything else is made in China. Apparently he says that the Chinese have zero respect for intellectual property. For example, if they get 5000 pieces of plastic made, the Chinese will make 10,000, and will sell the other 5000 themselves. Suing them won't get you anywhere, and even with one of their engineers living there to do QC, they still do it.

beun · Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 676

Switched mode supply, Class D amplifier and a very interesting positioning of the output transistors.

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

beun · Joined: 28 Jun 2006 Posts: 676

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:13 am Post subject:

That's a very common practice in power amps, I've seen that a lot.

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Personally I like class A amps but as usual you get what you pay for and they make a great heat source in the winter !

Your screwed in the summer months though.... Wink

papalek · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1536 Location: Longs SC

I have 2 Crown CSL1400's set to bridge mode to power my subs and they will totally rock. If I push the system hard you can start to smell the voice coils heating up on the subs but the amps never stop. I just love the pro gear.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:16 pm Post subject:

Craigo87 · Joined: 21 Jan 2011 Posts: 3 Location: NW

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 5:26 pm Post subject:

I hvae no beef with Bryston, I've posted the story a few times about my old sales rep getting some 18.5 year old Brystons in on trade, I got two, he got two, and while all of them worked, he sent his to Bryston for an overhaul. He got a full quote back, recommending some 'non warranty' upgrades, like changing the main filter caps which were still fine, but old, which he did, etc.

For $180 or something like that, he got fully modded and upgraded 3Bs, c/w the spec certificate, original shipping boxes, and front panels that were used, but had far less nicotine stains on them. Completely impressive.

My only comment regarding the older amps is that IMHO you did certainly pay in the original price for the 20 year warranty and the fact that they were made in Canada. I repaired a bunch of 4Bs out of warranty, and there certainly was little to distinguish them from other North American made amps back in the 80s and 90s.

Now, Bryston has changed the way they assemble amps since then of course, and the newer series of amps have always been eye candy at CES in the last few years.

I give them big kudos as well for answering my someone snarky email when they were paired with some esoteric speaker cable company at CES one year. I had always regarded Bryston as a no BS company, so I was surprised when they went with some cable company that claimed the world with their 'superior' cables.

The return email went something like 'yeah, that was a mistake, it wasn't our idea'.

Big thumbs up for that honest response. Smile

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:25 pm Post subject:

Ummm.... Craigo.... I don't mean to be adversarial here, but do you work for Bryston or something? Even if you're a big fan, I'm trying to figure out why you'd even bring up Bryston in this context. I can't say it really makes a lot of sense. It's a little like a thread about somebody considering a Corvette Z06 to replace they're older 350z, and dropping in and saying, "Duh! Just get a Ferrari! It's WAY BETTER! Oh, and if you can't afford a new Ferrari, just get a used one - they're reasonable!" Ummm... Hey, great idea! Why didn't I think of that? Rolling Eyes

Here's the thing: The thread is about the OP using a Crown prosound amp - $699 MSRP/$399 street - in a home theater, and whether he should try one. He did. Why? Because it's a TREMENDOUS value! Even if he did pay street price (he didn't), he got an amplifier that will drive his 4-ohm PSB's with 525w of nice, clean power.

The Brystons - even used - aren't even going to be in the same ballpark in terms of bang-for-buck. For instance, I got THREE brand new Crown XLS-202D's with a 3-year transferrable warranty, each with more power than a 3B ST and for far less money than the SINGLE used 4B ST on Videogon! If decided I had to have Bryston amps (versus Crown), I wouldn't be using separates at all... I'd be using my AVR to power my speakers.

Look, I know Bryston builds an awesome amplifier, and a 20-year warranty is truly amazing. But, for some of us, Bryston simply isn't even in the running on cost alone - even used! If I had a LOT more disposable income, I imagine I'd consider Bryston - along with several others. There are lots of great amplifiers out there besides Bryston. ATI has always been a favorite of mine... Powerful, excellent sound, excellent build quality, and nice (but not Bryston nice) warranty at seven years.

I'm just saying I think we have to consider budget and application in these discussions. Two-channel setup on a less-restricvtive budget? Bryston's great. HT on a modest budget where bang-for-buck is high on the priority lest? That's a negative, Ghostrider.

Hey, Curt... Why don't you bring up your "nobody can tell the difference between two good low-distortion amplifiers" bit? Craigo will probably have a blast discussing that one! Twisted Evil

33 to go,
SC

Ile · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 6:27 am Post subject:

XTi series sounds interesting with integrated processing.
http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/xti2.htm

MikeEby · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 5237 Location: Osceola, Indiana

XTi does look good...Probably be more expensive than the low end XLS amps but the programable EQ sounds cool. I recently picked up 2 more XLS-1500 to use for my center and surrounds. I'm also connected directly to the Asus Xonar Essence ST eliminating the Per/Pro. I think it sounds a bit cleaner. I'll probably put the Pre/Processor up for sale because I never used the switching as my single source is the HTPC. One thing I love about my system is everything is driven analog including the projector so there is no HDMI handshake delay or issues.

One nice thing about using the pro amps are the pots to adjust the level for each channel. This makes trimming levels for room calibration really easy.

Mike