crown powertech

has anyone had any experience with these ,cant find anything on search? ay comments at all would be very appreciated !thanks

unfortunatley not ,no shortage of oppinions on them!

Power-Tech, Powerbase and, CSL are exactly the same amplifier.

The Macro-Tech & Micro-Tech are the exactly the same amplifier.

The Power-Tech 3 and, Macro-Tech 2400 offer the same power supply in terms of strength. However, the Macro-Tech 2400 offers more output Transistors, which enables it to sustain 2-ohm use longer than the Power-Tech 3 (Powerbase 3, & CSL 1400). This is why the Power-Tech 3 is not rated at 2 ohms per channel.

In the smaller versions, the Power-Tech 2 & 1 are worse than the Macro-Tech 1200 & 600 and, performs terribly when compared in 4-ohm loads.

The Power-Tech's 1 power supply is very weak in which, it will offer horrible noise if driven hard into 4 ohms per channel Stereo whereas, the Macro-Tech 600 will manage a dead short with an 8-ohm driver attached to it for 2 hours before it shuts down.

The best out of the Power-Tech series is the 3 (Powerbase 3, CSL 1400) however, like the Macro/Micro-Tech 2400 it generates a lot of heat so external cooling is required. Having a minimum of 3 sitting in your rack will dissipate enough heat to make one assume one the amplifiers are overheating while idling for 30 minutes. You could only imagine what five would be like.   It also needs an ample amount of current as well. If you starve the amplifiers they will not deliver their stated specs.

The Macro/Micro-Tech 2400, Powerbase 3, Power-Tech 3 in addition to the CSL 1400 offer 15-amp breakers (120-volt versions use 30 amperes) total, and are prone to draw a lot of current if/when needed.

 

Best Regards,






Edited by Elliot Thompson - 26 June 2009 at 3:55pm

I have had about 10 of them in rental stock ( PT2 and PT3).. The older Powertech series were sold as Amcron Geodyne series in some parts of Europe ( Denmark included )..
I have only had 2 failures with these during the 8 year period I had them - one was DOA - and was replaced.. The other had a blown OP stage due to overheating ( school musical production, and the teachers decided to camouflage an amprack by wrapping it in black plastic and not telling me about it.. Thermal protection failed and the amp died..

Like the Macrotech series, they were not the best sounding amps on the market, but they did the job, and are still doing the job today - I retired a fair number of them into school installs etc. ..

One important point: Keep the air filters clean, but do not remove them while using the amp.. If your filters are clogged the amp will start distorting considerably when it gets hot... Dont run the amp without filters as it will fill the amp with crap and make it overheat..

If you can get them in decent condition its not a bad buy... I bought 4* PT3 used from another rental co about 10 years ago.. Paid about 350 + VAT each iirc..
/p

Just bear in mind that bridge mono means 8 ohms only. If you try to operate it under 4 ohms bridged mono, it will shutdown.

Best Regards,

Sounds like it needs a trip to the menders! Whereabouts are you? I repair Crowns (amongst other things) but there may be other people on here who are closer to you.