Crown XTi power amps?

[craigb]

Hey Y'all,

While I've salivated over the PLX2s, I've seen these (the XTis) on the Crown site. They are lightweight and use some digital control. A search turned up nothing - so I thought I'd check with the TB collective conciousness to tell me why these would or wouldn't be good as a lightweight amp in a bass rig.

Crown XTi specs

XTi-1000 275/500/700W stereo 17lbs $499
XTi-2000 475/800/1000W stereo 17lbs $699
XTi-4000 650/1200/1600W stereo 17lbs $999

reasonable shallow at 12.25". Drawbacks I've seen on a quick scan - XLR inputs only, uses digital control of bridging, etc. But on the plus side it has a built-in crossover (if you are biamping or using it for PA as well).

So what do the amp experts thing about these?

Price/power ratio seems about inline with the PLX2 '04s (at least with an 1804 and a XTi-2000) but these are 2Ohm stereo, 4Ohm bridged amps.

[Passinwind]

Dunno how I've managed to miss this series. The built-in DSP looks extremely cool. Especially the EQ section.

[iualum]

The Crown looks mighty interesting. I'm looking for a new power amp. The XTi might be it. Sure would like to hear a review.

These must have just become available. When were they first shipped?

[Ryan L.]

I just noticed these in the latest AMS catalog. They look pretty interesting. If I decide to go with a pre/power setup, I may just have to give one a try, unless there are some drawbacks to them that someone happens to know about.

[Bassin' 'Round]

The specs read very nicely. Prices seem to be in line. And, well, sorry, but to me at least, they look great cosmetically. I could live with XLR inputs.

Are there ever any Crown managers/employees who post here? Maybe they could give some XTi info.

[Vinpaul]

Id be real keen to find out about these amps too....

[tommysalami]

The Crown XTI is a new series to replace the CE amplifier which is going to be discontinued in 2006.

[iualum]

I think these only started shipping in January. Anybody got one? Anybody ordered & waiting to receive it? I've found a place that will do the 4000XTi (3200 bridged @ 4 ohms) for $870. Got an itchy trigger finger for that price.

[Quadzilla]

What place was that? Thanks!

[Bassin' 'Round]

Sorry, gone for a while. Check out www.rmcaudio.com . That's the price they quoted me.

[hexbass]

Ooh a light weight replacement for my Micro 1200?

[4Mal]

These do look pretty cool. I wonder, can teh delay time get short enough to do time alignment of the horn & woof drivers of a 2 way cab ... I have no idea the scale of that interval but it must be very, very small.

[seamonkey]

Wow - these look great.
They seem to be Crowns "Class-D" (PWM) entry.
Lightweight, efficient (low heat ), great performance - and great price!

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by 4Mal

These do look pretty cool. I wonder, can the delay time get short enough to do time alignment of the horn & woof drivers of a 2 way cab ... I have no idea the scale of that interval but it must be very, very small.

Yeah, that's the intended purpose of the delay. You also get user presets for different cabs, and it's all editable by USB from a computer, or from a menu interface in the amp itself.

Mal, you should buy one of these so I won't have to.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Wow - these look great.
They seem to be Crowns "Class-D" (PWM) entry.
Lightweight, efficient (low heat ), great performance - and great price!

Crown has had several PWM amps (K series, iTech) in their line for quite a while. None of those are nearly this light or cheap though.

[iualum]

Someone please buy one & tell us about it! If not, I think I'm gonna have to do it myself, lol.

[fdeck]

Is there anything like this in a preamp, i.e., DSP with USB interface for feeding a traditional power amp? I only ask because the concept looks really neat, but I don't need that much juice.

[seamonkey]

Originally Posted by fdeck

Is there anything like this in a preamp, i.e., DSP with USB interface for feeding a traditional power amp? I only ask because the concept looks really neat, but I don't need that much juice.

You can pick up one from CAD
http://www.cadaudio.dk/cadpwmmodules.htm
http://www.digiamps.com/

[BassNit]

Hello To All,I finally decided to post up!I'm always here checking out what you guys have to say.I've made some purchases base on the opinions here on this forum.For the most part your wisdom/opinions have guided me in the right direction.I'm back to playing BASS and have acquired some nice equipment,thanks to you guys.Anyway...I recently purchased a XTI 1000. I run it in mono mode to drive my El whappo cabinet.I'm running it from the line out of my EBS TD650 head(the 650 drives a Epifani 4ohm 210 cabinet).The XTI seems to be a state of the art amp in regards to technology.The amp has parameters to setup sub and sub synth settings.The amps xover is set up for channel 1 to do a sub and ch 2 to do an high output driver.It has user presets for building and saving your own setups .The amp is lightweight,sounds good,drives without showing signs of clipping.The one thing I have noticed is that the amps fan kicks on when driving the cabinet.Seems to me to be a top contender.I was looking at the QSC PLX 1602,but for the price I paid for the XTI, I couldn't buy a used 1602.I perfer Crowns sound for lowend anyway.Nice product Crown!

[tommixx]

I believe these are based on the I-T Series...I have 4 I-T6000's running a 2 Pair of JBL SRX725s and 2 pair of JBLSRX728s...These things R O C K !!!! Onboard DSP out the yazoo including auto time alignment and phase correction and all crossover and limiting parameters for the JBLs and a BUNCH of others already in the internal DSP. Does self diagnostics and continuous load monitoring WHILE passing audio...very cool stuff. They sound great and have a damping factor greater than 5,000 from 20hz to 100Hz! Talk about a seriously tight bottom! This is one of the better sounding amps for PA use I have ever heard. I have not put one on my Bergantino to test...to tell you the truth, I like the 750/NV610 match so much I never really thought about it... I have NOT had the opportunity to check out the XTis but if they are even remotely close in terms of capability they are probably off the chain! I am heading to Richmond on Monday and if I can find one I will check out the XTis and report back...by the way, before you start thinking about the I-T series they are really expensive, from around $4K list for the 4000 to almost $8K list for the 8000. I picked up my 6000's as B stock (Crown Demo units essentially brand new) from a friend of mine for a tad under $2400 apiece...he doesn't have any more (or I would probably ahve gone and got those 2!!) If you get a chance I would check out the XTi and take em for a test drive.

Here are some specs from Crown on the I-T series and the XTi may have some similar features:

The Crown I-Tech Series offers amazing power, light weight and ease of use for touring sound and installed sound applications. Onboard DSP provides a wide array of signal processing, greatly reducing the need for rack components and rack wiring. Onboard DSP features 24-bit, 96 kHz A/D and D/A converters. All models are compatible with the HiQnet Network and TCP/IQ networking. Digital audio and HiQnet/IQ control signals connect to the amp via a single CobraNet cable in optional CN models, coming soon. Pushbutton DSP presets simplify the setup for various loudspeaker arrays. The Global Power Supply works anywhere in the world, and offers PFC (Power Factor Correction). It is a switching power supply for reduced weight. I-Tech amplifiers have the highest output voltage in the industry (200V peak), which provides clean transient peaks. The 3rd-generation patented Class-I (BCA®) circuitry couples power efficiently to the load and allows low AC current drain. A front-panel control screen shows advanced diagnostics and status information.
Features

* Unmatched power in a 2U lightweight chassis.
* Global power supply with Power Factor Correction.
* Onboard DSP.
* Connects to Harman Pro HiQnet and Crown TCP/IQ™ network (CobraNet input available in optional CN models, coming soon).
* LCD control screen allows easy setup, diagnostics, and DSP presets for various loudspeakers.
* Hi-Q Net - compatible.

Frequency Response (at 1 watt, 20 Hz - 20 kHz): 0.25dB.

Signal to Noise Ratio below rated 8-ohm power, A-weighted:
>105 dB

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) at full rated power: < 0.35%.

Damping Factor (20 Hz to 100 Hz):
> 5000.

Common Mode Rejection (CMR) (20 Hz to 1 kHz): > 50 dB.

DC Output Offset: < 3 mV.

Input Impedance (nominal):
20 kilohms balanced, 10 kilohms unbalanced.

Maximum Input Level: +15 dBu or +22 dBu, depending on input sensitivity.

Latency (analog, digital inputs): 1.13 mS analog, 1.81 mS digital (96 kHz).

A/D, D/A Converters: 24-bit, 96-kHz Cirrus Logic.

Digital Input: AES/EBU, 16-24 bit, 32-48 kHz. Onboard sample rate converter. Optional CobraNet input coming soon.

Network: Onboard TCP/IQ, compatible with standard 100-Mb Ethernet hardware.

DSP: 24-bit conversion with 32-bit, floating-point DSP processing. Bypass mode available. Has 64 assignable filters with 9 different filter types. Includes all-pass filters, over 2 seconds of delay available per channel, and dual uncorrelated-noise and sine-wave generators.

Load Supervision: Monitors the average impedance on the output of the amplifier. If the impedance falls outside the specified high/low limits, this function alerts the user via the front panel display, and via the IQwic software when amp is on an IQ Network.

Error Reporting: Reports clip errors, thermal errors, fault conditions and load monitoring errors for each channel via the front panel display and via IQwic software when amp is on an IQ Network.

Attenuators: Speed sensitive, continuously variable rotary encoder, 0.5 dB steps, range 0 to 100 dB.

Load Impedance
(Note: Safe with all types of loads):
Stereo: 1/2/4/8/16 ohms.
Bridge Mono: 2/4/8 ohms.

Input Sensitivity: Adjustable in 0.1V steps from 1.4V to 9.7V.

Voltage Gain (referenced to 8 ohm rated output):
I-T4000: 37.0 dB to 20.3 dB
I-T6000: 37.9 dB tp 21.0 dB
I-T8000: 39.3 dB to 22.5 dB

Advanced Menu: Attenuator Limits, Attenuator Link, Clip Limiter, Peak Voltage Limiter, Average Power Limiter, Pink Noise Generator, AES/EBU Input Trim, Input Source, Maximum Analog Input, Meter Display Type.

Monitor Menu: Speaker Load, Thermal %, AC Voltage, Operating Time, Firmware, Manufacturing Info, Networking, Thermal Errors, Clip Errors, Low Limit Load Errors, High Limit Load Errors, Line Voltage Errors.

Two high-current, 50A Neutrik Speakon NL4MLP (mates with NL4FC or NLT4FX), one per channel. Two pairs of high-current, 60A color-coded 5-way binding posts (for banana plugs, spade lugs or bare wire). Two male XLR passive analog loop through. XLR active/re-clocked AES/EBU digital loop through.

Analog Input Connectors: A 3-pin female XLR connector for each channel.

Digital Input Connector: A 3-pin female XLR connector that accepts a digital signal in the AES/EBU format.

Ethernet Connector: This connector accepts an RJ45 connector for IQ TCP/IQ networking and optional CobraNet transport from a standard network cable. Built into the connector is a yellow LINK ACT indicator that shows network activity, and a green 100 Mb indicator that shows a 100 Mb network connection.

Cooling: Dual-zone, microprocessor controlled, continuously variable speed fans, front-to-back airflow.

Front Panel: Cast aluminum with integrated handles.

Dimensions: 19 in. (48.3 cm) W x 3.5 in. (8.9 cm) H x 16.2 in. (41.1 cm) D.

Weight: 28 lbs. (12.7 kg) net, 36 lbs. (16.3 kg) shipping.

Included Accessories: Rear rack ears with integral EZ-Rack pin, rack screws, operation manual, power cords, foam air filter.


Happy Hunting!

Peace,

T