REVIEW: Crown CE-1000 Amplifier (SS)

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I hope to keep this short and post additional comments in follow-up reviews. I just have to say that this amp has surprised me. I expected it to sound a little harse for a sound quality amplifier, but it doesn't. In fact, this amp sounds as good as any I've ever heard before. I'll comment on 3 things; power output, sound quality, ergonomics:
1.) POWER OUTPUT: This amp is extremely powerful. As far as high volume output is concerned to due power output, consider the volume output comparable to most quality 150 watt amps... because 150 watts is much similar to 400 watts or more when limiting the sound output to just two tower speakers -- as I'm doing. Only so much volume can come from two speakers (as in my personal tests) but what the increased power adds to volume is sound control. Crown rates the damping factor as 400 (at 4 or 8 ohms ???) and that may be an understatement. 275W x 2 into 8 ohms is excellent power. The thing about this amp is that it beats home theatre amps to death. The oversized power supply in this amp allows it to deliver much more power into lower impedance loads. Do you not have enough volume? Just double or triple the number of speakers in each location in your HT setup and this amp will throw out more and more unrelenting power without ever showing signs of stress. Crown's extensive use of negative feedback in the gain stages of this amp allow for a very high realistic damping factor while maintaining great output into all loads. Yes, this is a pro-audio amp, but it also makes a great home theatre / music amp -- that's what I'm using mine for. I intend to use 3 Crown CE 1000s for all 6 channels (from the 6.1) of my HT setup. I will use a Crown CE 2000 bridged mono for some passive JBL pro-cinema cabinets. I have had to drive the amp HARD, for several minutes to even get the cooling fan to kick on. To all those out there who worry about the noise of cooling fans on pro audio amps -- forget about it. In HT use the fans will likely never kick on, and if they do, it's a small price to pay, if it's even noticeable. This amp plays so clearly that it's hard to realize just how much volume you are experiencing. It is amazing... next...
2.) SOUND QUALITY: You read it here first -- although this amp is Crown's entry level amp -- in a "pro audio" company -- it has impeccable sound quality. Yes, although I won't go as far to say that the Crown CE 1000 blows away the likes of Mark Levinson, Nelson Pass Labs, and others -- it definitely rivals them, if not beats them, in sound quality. I have tested this amp on many great SQ speakers, such as Paradigm Reference, B&W Nautilus, and Monitor Audio Gold Reference among others. My intial worries with a pro amp is that it will sacrifice a little distortion in favor of increased output -- this is not the case. Although Crown rates their THD as (up to) .5% at 1 kHz to achieve maximum rated power output, it should be noted that at levels slightly under full power output, this amp exhibits THD levels well under 0.1% full bandwidth, maintaining more than 90% of full power output. Distortion due to amplification artifacts with this amp is INAUDIBLE. The CE 1000 is as transparent as any amp you can buy at any price, except for perhaps one small nag. The CE 1000 only rises its input about 105 dB off the noise floor, which is great, but I personally prefer amps that can acheive a signal rise over 110 dB off the noise floor. If you use shielded, balanced input cables, you will have no worries with this. Here, the one small *true* problem with the CE 1000 -- in order to pack this much power into a value line product, Crown has used a sloppy power transformer which actually produces a bit of audible buzz, but only when putting your ears up near the amp. Some audiophiles may dismiss this as a flop in quality, but I appreciate seeing an affordable price on such a fine product. This transformer throws out imense power (about 1.5 kVA for just 2 channels!) and the buzz doesn't make its way into the audio signal path, so all is well. Back to the sound quality -- with solid state circuitry, THD greater than .1% can be detected by some, and this concerned me. What concerned me more is that often the odd-order harmonic distortion specs -- the ones that add to dissonant distortion we perceive -- is not posted by most manufacturers. This holds true with Crown, so I decided to measure it for myself. Catch this, the 3rd and 5th order harmonic distortion is completely inaudible with this amp!!! Although no amplifier leaves the audio signal completely uncolored to some degree, I can assure you that the Crown CE 1000 colors the audio signal as little as any amp out there unless you drive it to its limits. Like most pro audio amps, the CE 1000 features a power compression circuit, but so far I have not heard this amp kick that feature in. I believe (but not sure) that it is a user-defeatable feature. On the topic of unintentional power compression -- this is gonna peeve some of the home audio amp lovers out there... The CE 1000 (and most similar pro audio amps) exhibit MUCH less power compression artificts than any home amp that I have ever tested. Yes, a "rack full" of Crown CEs will destroy even a Bryston 9B HT amp in terms of precise detail! If you are not familiar with this concept, power compression (in one aspect) refers to an amp's ability to pick out all details of an audio signal, amplify those details, and not "glaze over" some details in favor of capturing others. The Crown CE 1000 excels at this. I have found no home amp in the past decade (or beyond) that can equal this aspect. For instance, during the beach storming scene in Saving Private Ryan, the Crown sounds at least 10x more articulate than your average Sony HT receiver, and at least 4x more articulate than HT amps from the likes of ATI, Anthem, Parasound, Bob Carver Sunfire, and McIntosh. It is simply amazing. Also, the bass response is better with this Crown rack mounter. Whereas most HT amps feature a huge toroidial power transformer to be tapped for 5 amplifier channels, the Crown is a 2 channel amp so each channel pulls from much greater power reserves -- from a huge IE type transformer. You will notice better bass control and volume ability. The high frequencies from this amp are just as open and airy as you could ever hope for. The CE 1000 produces an enormously wide, tall, and realistic soundstage. I can only imagine what the "high end" equipment from Crown can do -- ie. the Studio Reference amps. To sum this part up, NO audible distortion, NO audible coloration, NO lack of detail, NON-stop reliability.
ERGONOMICS: Hmmm, let me start with cost comparison just for fun. This amp retails for $730 and can be had at large pro audio vendors for $500 to $600. I bought mine for $369 plus shipping (NEW) fresh from the factory in Elkhart, Indiana ($369 is a wholesale price). Let's do some simple math. A fine HT amp from popular vendors such as say... the ATI AT1505 ($1700) or the Anthem MCA-5 ($1400) or maybe the Outlaw Audio Model 750 ($1100) all offer 5 channels of amplification for the prices listed... but at power levels of 150 watts per channel, 170 wpc, and 165 wpc respectively. With the Crown CE 1000, you can purchase three for as low as $1,208 shipped to your door and have 6 channels of amplification at 275 watts per channel (8 ohms), 450 wpc (4 ohms) or 560 wpc (2 ohms), or use the Crowns in bridge mode and have up to 3.3 kW of total output power. Which would you prefer? I also like my amps to weigh a lot. The CE 1000s are only 32.6 lbs. each, which is a little on the low side for my preference. Aside from naturally lighter weight technologies like switching amps, I like the hefty weight to signify a quality build and more importantly, a hefty power transformer inside. The appearance of the CE 1000 is just manly, beefy -- it commands respect sitting next to other electronics. The cooling fans can be a tad bit intrusive during soley dialogue scenes, but not many movies' DD and DTS tracks can even begin to stress this amp. Here's something you'll love about the CE 1000: There are precision gain controls on the front of the amp, which do two things. First, it allows you to have more control over independent channel gains in a multi-channel system. Two, you DON'T HAVE TO PURCHASE a pre-amp to drive this unit unless you want to. The gain control knobs can be removed and the empty holes filled in with supplied black plastic plugs -- set it and forget it! The analog outputs of most home equipment have transfer ability to 4 dbu or greater, so full (or nearly full) output can be had from the CE 1000 feeding its inputs directly from the outputs of home CD players and DVD players. The back panel is laid out cleanly too. You get *balanced* inputs in the form of XLR, barrier strip, and TRS inputs. You also get Neutrik Speakon 4 pole speaker outputs -- this feature was new to me. I have finally fallen in love with Speakon type output terminals! The CE 1000 can route BOTH discrete output channels onto one Speakon connector since the model "NL4" Speakon connector has 4 conductors. Your channels are still independent and intact, yet you only need *one* speaker cable for those dreaded long runs. Sure, you still have the same amount of wire, but it's easier to run one long cable than two separate ones. Special "add-in" output modules can be purchased for the CE 1000 and 2000 to convert their Speakon type output terminals into 5 way binding post terminals or barrier strip terminals if you prefer. In addition, this amp has cool (what I think is cool) diagnostic LEDs on the front panel. Also, an RJ-11 phone jack in included on the back of the CE 1000 so you can add your own remote diagnostic circuitry to notify you from afar if high THD levels arise, or if shorts, faults, or other anomalies occur. Pro audio rack-mount amps are rock solid! The CE 1000 was designed to be pushed beyond its limits in smoky, foggy, even damp, hot, hostile environments and still not skip a beat. The rugged outer construction allows it to be dropped, kicked, beat, and spilled upon and never die out. It has protection against short circuits, overheating, thermal runaway, damaging distortion, turn-on transients, and more. This is important to me because I want to use this amp for as long as possible. I don't want anything that can't be ported into better sound systems later on down the road. The Crown CE 1000 is a breakthrough in audio fidelity that is before its time -- but just in time for us! I encourage all home audio/ home theatre enthusiasts to discover pro audio amps in their own installs so they can experience the joy that I have with mine. I have only had this amp for about 1 month now, but I doubt it will ever be replaced, and with a 3 year fault-proof warranty, I doubt that I will ever have to replace it. If anybody has negative comments about the use of pro audio amps in their systems or have good things to say, please post! I am also considering purchases from pro audio amp manufacturers like Crest Audio, Peavey, BGW, QSC, and Mackie to name a few. Thanks for reading this!

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Topic - REVIEW: Crown CE-1000 Amplifier (SS) Review by Kevin172 at Audio Asylum - Kevin172 04:44:19 05/25/01 (2)

Crown CE-1000 Amplifier (SS) - Rich 09:11:56 05/25/01 (1)

Re: Crown CE-1000 Amplifier (SS) - Kevin172 04:07:46 05/28/01 (0)

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