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Crown XLS 1502.... real life test.

I was at guitar center yesterday cruseing the used pedal case and noticed they had the XLS1502 was on sale. With there 45 day return policy, that i have used with great success in the past, i bought the amp.

  With my Logan’s the crown was very clear and full. 525 watts at hand per channel brought the speakers to life. I adjusted the input to around 3 o’clock seemed to be a good match. I went thru a few cd’s and they all sounded great with Steely Dan winning the show...

  I put the Mac back in the loop and noticed the soundstage was a bit bigger and a good amount more subdude.

This was my first foray in the class D world and I was surprised at how good it sounded. At 329.00 its kinda hard to beat. I have no idea what the current measurements are but the XLS made the Logan’s sing. If i read the article correctly, doesnt the JBL Everest’s come with XLS amps? That’s the way it read... please correct me.

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon and the Crown is going back today. I haven’t bought the 10t’s yet... prob June is when I can pick them up... I will buy another crown then to use when I send the 7100 to a mac repair center to get a checkup... I have a gut feeling something is amiss with her. All in all I really enjoyed the XLS and in a blind test i feel it would hold up to many good amps that cost $$$$$.

  I want a 300 watt Mac but at 3-4 thousand dollars that is a big stretch for this retired chef... lol

BTW... the XLS was DEAD silent ... nothing!
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tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

Drivecore and Class I aren't necessarily the same thing.  I believe the Class I amps have integrated some of the Drivecore tech, but not all Drivecore are 'Class I'.  

The MacroTech i series and iTech series are the 'Class I' amps, the others are just Drivecore Class D, except for the XLI series, which is class AB.  

I may be leaving a few out because Crown has over a dozen different lines of amps aimed at different use cases (cinema, touring/live sound, commercial installed sound, studio mixing, etc) and many variations with different I/O options and varying levels of DSP capability.  


erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
So I found a white paper on Class-I. It seems, simply, like a balanced Class D.

http://educypedia.karadimov.info/library/137234.pdf

What I cannot find anything about is what exactly "DriveCore" is. Maybe this includes the reactive power handling circuitry? Hard to tell without actual patent numbers. 

Best,

E
tutetibiimperes
202 posts
 
@erik_squires 

The big thing with Drivecore is that it integrates almost the entire amp onto one chip.  You need a power supply and an input stage, everything else is on the chip including waveform generator, clock, drive stage, feedback, output stage, etc.  Harman says one Drivecore chip can replace 500 parts on a traditional Class D design.  

Apparently having everything run on one chip also allows tighter tolerances with the clock and waveform generator, allowing for better sound quality.  
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
The big thing with Drivecore is that it integrates almost the entire amp onto one chip.

Very interesting! :) This is along the lines of Ice Edge. I think TI Has also done a lot of work besides what they do for Crown/Harman. I mean, don't they have a whole line of Class D controller chips?
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
2,651 posts
 
Interesting reading on the white paper and here. Thanks to all erik and all for the enlightenment.
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