Crown XLi3500 Two-channel, 2700-Watt Bridged 8Ω Power Amplifier. Professional DJ, PA, Stage Amp. Black

This amp is a very good deal for the price in my application. I am utilizing this amp as a power amplifier to drive a pair of really current hungry Magnepan 1.4 speakers. I recently purchased a pair of used Magnepan 1.4 speakers for $250. These are rated at 5 ohm impedance, which is getting on the low end for most general purpose home audio equipment. My current system was being driven by a Marantz SR 7007 receiver which can deliver 125 watts into 8 ohms and up to 195 w into 6 ohms. But it is not rated for the 5 ohm load I'm looking at driving. So, it didn't seem the power supply on the built in power amplifier would be sufficient to meet the current demands if I wanted to turn the volume up and really test out these speakers. I.e., the low resistance speakers would pull more current than the power supply in the receiver could reasonably deliver at higher volumes or peaks which could potentially damage the amplifier or cause it to overheat.So, I have been looking around for a good power amplifier which was rated down to 4 ohms or less to ensure I would never have any problems. Unfortunately, when you get into home audio amplifiers with this kind of power supply, you really are going to have to pay quite a premium on the amplifier. While, I think these speakers could have benefited from the current that could come from a high end audiophile amplifier and the more sophisticated amplifier design, I just was not looking to spend $1,000++++ to get that kind of power.Enter the Crown amplifier. I had a friend who does the audiophile hobby on a budget recommend the Crown amps as a good bang for the buck. After spending a week reviewing them and really looking around, I though it was a good investment to at least try this amp out for my needs.... especially using Amazon as I could easily just send it back if I wasn't fully satisfied. So, what could it hurt?I ordered the amplifier Sunday and with free Prime two day shipping, I received it Tuesday. I hooked this right up to the pre-outs on my Marantz receiver and set the gain on the Crown to maximum output after I tested it low outputs on the receiver and power amp to check for any obvious issues (I'll explain why I turned the gain all the way up on the Crown in a second) and then turned the volume up on the Marantz.... it sounded great! Just very clean sound. I then did a few quick tweaks on subwoofer crossovers and got a full range signal going to the Magnepans for the first time. I would wager that the sound and detail on this low budget system would beat out systems costing MANY times what I've invested.Now, I have learned a few lessons through this process that I'll try to summarize so that others can learn quicker than I did.1. You need to take some time to really check and know what the pre-amp output is coming from the device you will be feeding into the Crown power amplifier. The Crown has a switch to allow its sensitivity to be set to 1.4 v or 0.775 v. 1.4 volts is really mostly a characteristic of pro gear. The 0.775v is more representative of home audio equipment. My Marantz puts out 0.4 v therefore the setting of 0.775 v is great for my application (the difference between 0.4 v and 0.775 isn't too large and can be compensated for by getting a higher wattage rated amplifier).But why is this important? The pre-amp signal is sent as a variable voltage with a maximum voltage that the preamp circuit can reasonably produce without clipping. If you push the volume on your preamp too high and ask it to send a signal in excess of the capabilities of the pre-amp circuit you will get a lot of distortion and clipping of the signal which is a very quick way to kill your equipment. You want to avoid this at all costs. If the pre-amp signal going to the power amplifier is much higher than the power amplifier's sensitivity rating, you can be asking the power amplifier to amplify this signal too much and exceed the power rating of the power amp and get signal clipping if you turn the volume too high. So, you really want to understand this mating and get it reasonably close. If you get it way too low, you will never get the full output that the power amplifier is capable of even when all the gains are set to maximum on the power amp and the pre amp. This would be okay if you select an amplifier that is oversized for what you really need for your speakers.So, my application falls into this category. My receiver only puts out 0.4 v and I have the power amp set to 0.775 v. My speakers are rated up to 200 w RMS I believe. So, I really don't want to be sending around 400w into my speakers anyways, which is probably in the ballpark for what the Crown XLi1500 puts out into a 5 ohm load. Speaking to Crown technical support, I should still reasonably get up close to 300 w into these speakers with my set up.... which is PLENTY of power.In general, you want to consider purchasing an amplifier which is rated a bit higher than your application anyways so that you always have power reserves in the amplifier when operating to avoid clipping (and just don't go crazy with turning the volume up too high). This helps ensure you have a clean sound and plenty of headroom to not damage your amp. BUT the Crown has separate gain dials which you will likely want to turn down if the amplifier is likely to send a lot higher power into your speakers than the rating of your speakers so that you don't blow those either. Basically, you want to set the gain on the power amplifier for your needs and never touch the gain again. (many installers even lock these knobs or take them off completely so that the end user can't adjust them and damage their equipment). All of your volume control should be coming from the pre-amplifier circuit by adjusting the voltage on this signal. In my case this is the volume knob on the Marantz receiver.As I noted above, I have turned the gain all the way up on the Crown for my application as this allows me to get up to the 200-300w range for peak signals.... which is going to allow me to really maximize what these speakers are capable of without having to really stress the pre-amp circuit in my receiver and cause clipping. You want to have a nice balanced output on both outputs so no single piece of equipment is overstressed and asked to operate outside of its recommended range.So, if you keep these basic concepts in mind and do a bit of research for your application upfront, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results. Happy hunting!!!Uodate: I have actually revised a bit of what I stated above. I have turned the gain down to about the 2 o'clock position on this amp to try to keep the RMS power loading closer to the rating of the speakers. The amp still has plenty of ability to send higher power to these speakers at peak loads.... I think.Either way, I have other speakers in my 7.2 system running off the power amp section of the MARANTZ. utilizing the built in Audacity room calibration with the power amp at these levels really seems to give a nice balance between the gain settings at the preamp in the MARANTZ and the output from the MARANTZ and the Crown. So, I now have plenty of power going to the Magnepans and has a nice balance with the klipsch speakers being powered off the MARANTZ. Overall, just a great product!UPDATE: So, the original Crown amp is still going strong to power my front Magnepan speakers. I literally have zero complaints about this amplifier for the price. Just to prove why, I just bought a second one to power a pair of outdoor speakers that are installed in the ceiling of my new screened in porch. Works amazingly well there. I only need to turn this amp to about the 12 oclock position to get more than ample volume out of these Elac in ceiling speakers. They sound phenomenal.

Surprisingly heavy, given than many current power amps are featherweight class D designs. This amp owes most of its gravitas to an oversized toroidal transformer. The binding posts are not great, and do not easily allow spade terminals. The inputs however are comprehensive and have both RCA and balanced XLRs. As mentioned elsewhere, the dummy blank plastic plugs inside the banana-sockets can be easily removed by tapping a screw into the center hole, and after the screw has bitten into the plastic, simply pulled out.I tried using both the speaker binding posts and the speakon outputs (after connecting my speaker cable to a high quality binding post-to-Speakon connectors). The Speakon outputs are not only considerably lower in volume, but sound worse than the binding post outputs. Through the Speakons the sound lost clarity and drive with dynamics and bass precision being quite dramatically downgraded.Once hooked up you have to choose the input sensitivity....for me the 0.75V gave a better range of gain. Although there is a switch that allows bridged monoblock operation, I did not try it since the existing 400+ wpc is way more than sufficient. The amp sounds great....lots of upper end clarity and crispness, natural midrange and deep punchy tight bass. There is never any signs of running out of steam, even at the highest listening levels. Out if the box, the soundstage was vague and ill-defined- which improved dramatically after about 2 days running in.For the price, you will be very hard pressed to find any amp that is better all round. Yes, $10,000 amps are more tactile and layered- but you need to spend an extra $9500 to get there.

This amp flat out makes me happy. It didn't cost an arm and leg, but it sure delivers the goods. As you can see in the photo, I've used an older AV receiver as a pre amp, and an eq to dial in my vinyl and cut any boomy bass when it decides to show up. As for speakers I have a pair of newly acquired 8 ohm 350 watt monsters with 15 inch woofers. I had a vintage 125 wpc consumer amp before the Crown. It sounded good, but it just needed some more kick. I knew something was missing. I'm not a rich guy, so I try to stretch a dollar as far as I can...I just couldn't get all crazy with expensive amplifiers. After much research, I pulled the trigger on the Xli 1500. I picked it up asa used ( like new) option and saved quite a bit. I literally cannot find anything wrong with it! It came out the original packaging with all the swag...it has full warranty so I'm not going to sweat it one bit. It hit my door for under $225...once I hooked it up I realized it was worth every penny. Speakers just came to life big-time! Bass is kicking mids and highs are on point. It was absolutely the right choice for my situation. The sound quality was so much better, I was stunned. I read about fan noise concerns...I cannot hear the fan at all...even when I turn it down and try to hear it. I'm an airbrush artist and my system is right next to me, within reach, all day. I like to sit and paint and be able to put on an album or adjust the tone ect. without getting up. I hear no fans, I hear absolutely no hiss, it's never even gotten warm. Ive played it all day every day for a couple of weeks now. Absolutely no regrets or concerns. I play every type of music...Rock, metal, reggae, rap, new wave, classical, some county, anything really. I'm able to dial in a good sound in all styles be it at low volume, and get things absolutely bumping when the mood strikes. Plenty of power guys!! It all sounds awesome...you don't have to spend a million bucks to have a powerful, great sounding system...(but you can If you want to I suppose). Crown amplifiers have a new customer for life...give them a try!