Review of Crown XLS 1502 Class D amp

Price of 2502 is always exaggerated on Amazon.
Mintoo Electronics in Bhagirath Palace, Delhi is authorized dealer of Crown and JBL amps. They retail it for 28300/-. Anyone looking for one can give them a call.

Prices do vary a lot on Amazon. When I was interested prices would vary from 28.5k to 33.5k.

Twice I bought from Amazon seller VMT for 28.5K and both amps were defective. Other seller were selling same amp for about 33.5 that time.

When I saw its price 29.5 listed by Paras Pro I had to buy it.

May be VMT is selling repaired pieces or he is a high volume seller.
 
Prices do vary a lot on Amazon. When I was interested prices would vary from 28.5k to 33.5k.

Twice I bought from Amazon seller VMT for 28.5K and both amps were defective. Other seller were selling same amp for about 33.5 that time.

When I saw its price 29.5 listed by Paras Pro I had to buy it.

May be VMT is selling repaired pieces or he is a high volume seller.
I got it from VMT as well. so far so good.
 
Just wanted to know if it has any affect on the sound itself apart form hiss or background noise.
In the XLS series of amps the setting of 1.4v or 775 mv is to ensure compatibility across a wide range of preamps. For instance my Yamaha C2 peamp. made in the late 70s specifies around 1.0v unbalanced audio signal out via RCAs. Now if the 1502 setting was at 1.4v, the overall audio sonics will sound wimpy. But at 775 mv setting, the sensitivity of the 1502 is lowered, thus ensuring it amplifies the full audio sonics of the C2 preamp. Which also means you DO NOT have to increase 1502's gain knobs drastically.

BUT.... Lowering the input sensitivity on the 1502 (& connecting via unbalanced RCAs) means getting closer to the inherent noise level of the 1502.
In a real world scenario, this is of no consequence, especially if you use speakers that are rated around 86 db SPL of efficiency. But what if you have speakers rated at 95 to 100+ db SPL efficiency? Chances are you MIGHT hear a bit of hiss when there is no audio playing. & you MIGHT hear this hiss only at higher levels of amplification/gain. Again NOT a killjoy at all by any yardstick of "Listening-In-The-Real World" measurement.

Which is why a complete balanced connection between the source & this amp would be ironclad, awesome. BUT not in all scenarios - Like my experience of sterile, flat sound between the direct connection of Oppo 105D & 1502 (balanced outs & ins) & playing with both gain settings of 775 mv (Very Loud) & 1.4v (In sync with gain). No hiss, no noise, nothing at all, black, silent. And yet the music in this setup chain was NOT engaging.
On a whim I also connected the Chromecast Audio directly into the RCA inputs of the 1502. Again, it was ok. Mind you, the CC Audio outputs a perfect analog line-out signal of around 1.2v & despite toggling between the 775 mv & 1.4 v setting, it was not engaging. Ergo, one has to treat the 1502's gain knobs as just that to control gain. It's assuredly not a preamp by any standard.

The fun will be to connect the 1502 using a preamp like the Schiit Freya that has balanced outputs & hear the audio sonics. I reckon they will be very good.
Hopefully someone will post that on HFV forum.

Are you planning to sell it?
Count me in...

@aarmath very good review ; I played dsd from Cxn v2 as digital preamp and streamer, also with AP preamp but never felt the discordance due to high bitrate files. What did you experience exactly?
The VFM appeal of crown XLS series overshadows its many drawbacks, it works great for HT.
I got my hands on additional 24-Bit/192 khz files. I heard the songs via direct XLR connection between the Oppo & 1502 as well as through the Yamaha C2 preamp via unbalanced RCAs. And unfortunately, the problem persists on three fronts -
- There's a VEERRY subtle change in the time domain.
- & from time to time theres this wee audio hiccup in the songs as if some buffer somewhere is not flowing the binary information in sync. They are not so frequent, BUT enough to killjoy the experience.
- Overall audio sonics are louder, borderline harsh.

The same songs on the Yamaha B2 are sheer bliss. Then again the question that begs to be asked is how many folks listen to 24-Bit/192 Khz on a regular basis?
 
The same songs on the Yamaha B2 are sheer bliss. Then again the question that begs to be asked is how many folks listen to 24-Bit/192 Khz on a regular basis?

When you said Oppo connected via XLR, is that analog balanced output from Oppo driving the Crown? Or is the XLR carrying AES/EBU digital signal?

If yes, by the time the Oppo sends out analog balanced signal, it is already in the analog domain and so 24/192 is no longer relevant.

How is the 24/192 file played in the Oppo? Can you play the same file on another player (like a laptop running foobar) and check whether it's playing alright or with stutters? Or can you listen to the Oppo with a headphone?
 
When you said Oppo connected via XLR, is that analog balanced output from Oppo driving the Crown? Or is the XLR carrying AES/EBU digital signal?

Crown xls amps do not have any digital in including AES etc.
Amps have analog in in the form of rca and xlr.
 
I have a question regarding this and hoping you or FM Tuff can kindly clarify. is there a difference between leaving input sensitivity at 1.4v and turning up the gain knobs on front vs 775mv with gain knobs lowered to match the sound level?
I have tried it both ways and kept it at .775v as i am using rca out. At 1.4v it sounds a bit wimpy.
I bought it at 33k when it was hot commodity from VMT and they would not budge from that price. Also it cam with 3 years warranty. @aarmath is given 6 years warranty which i am not sure he has mentioned. And almost 10k less from the price i got.
Sad to see that home audio companies have just 1 year limited warranty on their products even if the pricing is much higher than pro gear.
 
When you said Oppo connected via XLR, is that analog balanced output from Oppo driving the Crown? Or is the XLR carrying AES/EBU digital signal?

If yes, by the time the Oppo sends out analog balanced signal, it is already in the analog domain and so 24/192 is no longer relevant.

How is the 24/192 file played in the Oppo? Can you play the same file on another player (like a laptop running foobar) and check whether it's playing alright or with stutters? Or can you listen to the Oppo with a headphone?

Yes, it is in analog domain and shouldnt be relevant. And yet, strangely it is. Like I pointed in my post, the Oppo playbacks 24/192 Khz music perfectly through the Yamaha B2 or the A-S2100.
Will check if I can get my hands on another source player for 24/192 & see if this anomaly pops up again.
 
Yes, it is in analog domain and shouldnt be relevant. And yet, strangely it is. Like I pointed in my post, the Oppo playbacks 24/192 Khz music perfectly through the Yamaha B2 or the A-S2100.
Will check if I can get my hands on another source player for 24/192 & see if this anomaly pops up again.

Is the DSP filters (low-pass, high-pass or band-pass) on? After A-D conversion at 48Khz sampling in XLS drivecore 2 amps, the digital signal is processed by the DSP and selected filter is applied and then the processed signal is convered to analog maybe with a passive 2-pole reconstruction filter before amplification. This seems to be brickwalling the bandwidth to 48Khz. Does the Yamaha amp in resamples the analog signal in any way?
 
Is the DSP filters (low-pass, high-pass or band-pass) on? After A-D conversion at 48Khz sampling in XLS drivecore 2 amps, the digital signal is processed by the DSP and selected filter is applied and then the processed signal is convered to analog maybe with a passive 2-pole reconstruction filter before amplification. This seems to be brickwalling the bandwidth to 48Khz. Does the Yamaha amp in resamples the analog signal in any way?
On the passive 2-pole reconstruction filter in the Crown, that could be an influencing factor.
Both the Yamaha amps - B2 & the A-S2100 - are pure analog stereo amps.
 
I got my XLS 1502 after watching this guy :p
I am also dying to buy this, connect it to the iFi audio zen blue and hook my Quad S1s, just for the sake of it :) but I think now I am going to have a lot of trouble justifying that :)
 
I am also dying to buy this, connect it to the iFi audio zen blue and hook my Quad S1s, just for the sake of it :) but I think now I am going to have a lot of trouble justifying that :)
How come?
Btw, i have been doing a lot of listening with the crown and i’ve dome to appreciate it for what it is. Despite having the “class d” sound to it, its got a very neutral presentation which makes my PM6006 sound rather coloured in comparison (not in a bad way but you can immediately detect which frequencies are boosted and recessed in the pm6006.)
 
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How come?
Btw, i have been doing a lot of listening with the crown and i’ve dome to appreciate it for what it is. Despite having the “class d” sound to it, its got a very neutral presentation which makes my PM6006 sound rather coloured in comparison (not in a bad way but you can immediately detect which frequencies are boosted and recessed in the pm6006.)
I already have too many speakers and too many amps. :) The whole idea of going with C20s and AL6000 was to get rid of the larger stuff, get rid of other unused stuff :D however I have added a few things, without reducing any. Another AMP and I will have to find somewhere else to live. Definitely.
 
I already have too many speakers and too many amps. :) The whole idea of going with C20s and AL6000 was to get rid of the larger stuff, get rid of other unused stuff :D however I have added a few things, without reducing any. Another AMP and I will have to find somewhere else to live. Definitely.
Aren’t we all in that boat? Coincidentally, we just happened to be looking for new accommodation today and i was told to only look at houses that have a separate room to house my stuff so that it doesn’t clutter up the living room...
I’m not opposed to the idea as i can go ballistic now and won’t have to factor in decor while making purchasing decisions. ;)
 
Aren’t we all in that boat? Coincidentally, we just happened to be looking for new accommodation and i was told to look at houses that have a separate room to house my sruff so that it doesn’t clutter up the living room...
I’m not opposed to the idea as i can go ballistic now and won’t have to factor in decor while making purchasing decisions. ;)
i th
Interesting - the guy makes some bold claims. Very interesting.
i think this review is a lot more accurate in summing up the performance of the crown(except that it does not accept banana plugs, which it does)

 
Latest Amazon India price update for the XLS 1502 is Rs. 26,000.
VMT - Retail (Mumbai) exhausted its stock of 1502s completely (which were retailing at Rs. 23,000).
The only batch they now have are of XLS 2002s retailing at Rs. 28,500.
I will not be surprised to see the prices climb up once VMT exhausts this batch as well.
 
How audible is the fan sound ?
Does hiss sound exist like other class D amplifier both for subwoofer & main speaker ?
Please reply crown xls 2502 owner.
 
How audible is the fan sound ?
Does hiss sound exist like other class D amplifier both for subwoofer & main speaker ?
Please reply crown xls 2502 owner.
The fan is not at all audible. Even in a room with an ambient noise level of say 45 to 55 decibels.
BUT if room temperature (minus signal, minus AC, minus fan) moves northward of 39 deg. Celsius, the fan spins up rapidly and that's when it gets audible. This spin up lasts for about two minutes until it spins down to silence.

As a Class D amp, there is no hiss if you use the balanced XLR inputs. This means the connecting preamp should have balanced XLR outputs.
If you use unbalanced RCA output of your source to the amp's input RCAs, there will be hiss.
BUT this is audible ONLY if you placed your ear right up to the speaker cabiner next to the tweeters. This hiss can further be negated by reducing the gain on the Crown amp & using the source preamp's volume to amplify the music signal.
There is absolutely no hiss for subwoofer use. Switching frequencies have no issue with low frequency signal reproduction. The uphill task for a Class D amp is from the mids to high frequency reproduction.
 
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