Crown Two-channel-450W at 4Ω Power Amplifier, Black, 450-Watts (XLi1500)

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.

This Crown XLI 800 is a top performer in our surround sound system. It is powering two Bic RTR 1530 frontally used speakers. We play a lot of music with the system, and it sounds great. This model is a basic amplifier without a lot of bells and whistles. It simply does what it is supposed to do at a very affordable price, which is just what I want from an amplifier.The XLI 800 is a silent runner with no floor noise or fan noise to be heard. With music playing it delivers with force and clarity. The whole system sounds better, since the receiver now only needs to power the surround and back surround speakers.It is very user friendly. Regular RCA plugs can be used from the receiver pre-outs to the inputs of the Crown. Binding posts offer easy speaker hook up.As others have mentioned, these Crowns do have protective plastic plugs inserted in the binding posts. Apparently, European style power cords could, in error, be connected to them. Instead, Europeans are advised to use the side slots for speaker wire connections. If you live in the United States you can safely remove the protective plugs. I viewed an on line video, which suggests removing the protective plugs using a small threaded screw. I used a sheet rock screw, turning it by hand until the screw threads just engaged the plastic plugs. The amplifier (of course) should not be connected to a power source, should you follow this approach. In my case, they all pulled out really easy.It has a sensitivity switch allowing it to be set at 1.4 volts or 0.775 volts. For most home systems the 0.775 volt setting will be just fine. You should check the rating of the pre outs on the receiver you plan to use.The only thing that worried me was how to set the gain controls. Technical support at Crown told me to simply turn them up to where the sound seemed best, which I did. I started by placing them around the 2 o'clock position and finally wound up leaving the dials at the 3 o'clock position.You do have to work with speaker placement and some receiver adjustments to get the best sound. I turned down the sensitivity of the receiver, as the sound seemed a bit bright. Each type of speaker is different, and you have to use your receiver adjustments, accordingly.It does have a center light on the front, some might find over powering. To remedy the situation, a small square of electrical tape will cover it. The tape matches the black color of the case, perfectly..If your speakers need some good solid watts per channel, to get them going, you can't go wrong with this Crown.Finally, these Crowns are built to take it. The case is heavy gauge steel. The weight is a hefty 25.1 pounds for this model. Although not trendy looking, the styling is more about quality and something that does not go out of fashion. That is all good. After all, I hear these Crowns last a long time.

Bought a xls1002 many yrs ago and it has worked great. Saw this and it fit perfectly for my needs (speaker testing - i design and build speakers). The 1002 is class D and i assumed the xli800 was too. Nope. It has a big toroid transformer and pushes 25 lbs. no worries, it still works. And it does, quite well i must say. Fans are super quiet, no hum at all even with single end RCA connection to preamp out (from my PC). Clean, clear sound. I checked the response and its flat from 10 to 20,000 Hz. I have no DA so cant verify distortion, but my ears tell me no problem, even at higher levels. For those of you with hum issues, i suggest learning about balanced and unbalanced input. Also, check supply power and make sure ALL equipment is connected to a single grounded source. No offense, but i find most DJs and musicians are not certified electricians - electrical matters require a certain level of skill. (I also build tube amps where grounding is of paramount importance as well as filament supply isolation). Ground loops can be very subtle and difficult to find. Get expert help if you can’t resolve the issue yourself. IMO, of course. ;-)

Arrived on time. Packed well. Looked new. Works well. Would buy again.