As much as I have mentioned McIntosh in these pages I've overlooked another american icon that has continued to flourish over the years, Crown. Based in Elkhart, Indiana they are mainly doing the professional sound reinforcement thing today. They are one of many divisions of Harman Audio.They have had a couple of innovations over the years, one significant being the invention of the PZM pressure zone microphone.
Like McIntosh (with the exception of Mac tube amps) they did not have the best reputation for sound quality, but the build quality was extremely rugged. They have made numerous models over the years, all solid state, I am mentioning a few of the more noteworthy here. Their first products were actually open reel machines, a few of which I have pictured below as well.
The D150a amp, 75 watts per channel and basically a smaller version of the 300.
Probably the most famous, the DC 300, one of the first high powered amps at 150 wpc to appear on the hifi market. Competition for the Phase Linear 400 and the Dynaco 400 at the time.
The IC 150 preamp. Actually had one of these for a short time, really sounded bad! The "IC" in the model number was extolling the virtues of the "integrated circuit " of which this was one of the first products to use them.
PSA/2 SA/2
Theses behemoths were about 300 wpc, the next series after the DC's. Think they weighed about 80 lbs! They would often blow your circuit breakers in multiple amp situations, and they also made a 220 volt version as well.
The Powerline/ Straightline series actually sounded good, built more with audiophiles in mind.I still have a Powerline Two in my studio, 50wpc, and I can remember bringing one home from JB back when I had Dahlquist DQ-10s and having it drive them with authority! Popping the top cover on these revealed a complete departure from traditional Crown designs.
There are numerous other Crown amps that I have not mentioned here, Macro Tech, Micro Tech, D60/75 and others.
.jpg)
As I mentioned at the top of this post, their first products were open reel machines. These truly were built like a shick brithouse! I had the 824 pictured above. These were modular in design, as the brochure above shows. You picked your transport, recording preamp, and options like a counter or wired remote if you wanted them. These were professional decks that competed with Revox and a few others at the time.
Lastly, Crown also made hybrid electrostatic speakers, the ES-224. With RTR elements in the top end, dynamic woofers in a separate lower enclosure. Never heard these, always wanted to. I think this is one area where Crown probably had it over McIntosh, Macs speakers were generally pretty bad.
Great Infos
ReplyDeletewww.themusic-in.com/
I own a pair of the ES-224's little brother, the ES-212s. Same woofer section on the bottom, and 12 RTR panels on the top. Crown actually sold more of the 212's than the 224s. Both systems were fantastic. Too bad that Crown didn't do a very good job marketing them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice review of Crown's legacy and distinguishing their short period and specific line of home audio amplifiers. I would agree that the DC-300, D150, and others that made Crown likely the most enviable amplifier manufacturer in the world, were professional products designed for ultimate construction and reliability while sounding the best an amplifier could under those circumstances. When it came to home audio, construction and reliability under the most severe conditions were not requirements, therefore when comparing "strictly" the audio quality without the other key virtues, Crown would appear to not be a better choice among other audio products. That is why Crown chose to address this and developed the Power Line Two, Three and Four amplifiers and Straight Line Two preamplifier.
ReplyDeleteThey were an extension of Crown's Macro Reference amplifier in the early '80's and a formal entry into the high-end audio market. The focus was primarily audio quality rather than the unnecessary design requirements needed for the most demanding reliability and rugged durability of their professional line. Long story short, after 2-3 years of production, Crown could not shake their well-earned reputation for professional products and had difficulty penetrating some audio critic's myopic sense of elitism. Crown essentially said fine, we had something to share here but that's ok. We don't need this and have been just fine for decades showing how real power amplification is done all over the real world so sorry to shake your little audiophile world. I remember going to specialty audio stores that sold Power Lines and Straight Lines along with Thiel, Conrad Johnson, and Acoustat. They were in high esteem and well regarded by those open enough to look past Crown DC-300's and D-150's.
I owned a Power Line Three in silver back in '83 to about '89 and to this day have no idea why I sold it. I had an Acoustat system with TNT-200 and TNT-120 power amps, later Counterpoint, SAE, and Perreaux amps. About 6-7 years ago I bought another Power Line Three in black like your picture above. Paired with my Conrad Johnson PV-5 it makes my Thiel and Linn speakers sing as well as anything I've ever used. The Multi-Mode circuitry is quite an amazing implementation as well as the full Class A at low power before switching to AB. And holding one of these things is the proper way to demonstrate what an amplifier with the heritage of a Crown is all about, as the construction is impeccable. It took making the mistake of selling my first one to realize I had all I needed all along, but that's always the thrill of the hunt for an audiophile so a good lesson learned. That said, I may still have other amplifiers come and go because that's what we do, but I've also gotten wise, and THIS PL3 is here to stay :-)