Members soul-x Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 ON the Contrary...the Crown amp was used a lot more on a fixed venue in a lounge for more than 10 years. The USA amp was kept at home and hardly used....and it is in mint condition.I got to compare both cos the owner of both amps wanted to sell both. The usage doesn't matter for this factor. In fact, if we're talking about electrolytics on an old device, no usage may be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 Actually power supply caps can last longer if used regularly than if "hardly used". EDT> Oops, soul-x beat me to it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 ON the Contrary...the Crown amp was used a lot more on a fixed venue in a lounge for more than 10 years. The USA amp was kept at home and hardly used....and it is in mint condition.I got to compare both cos the owner of both amps wanted to sell both. Makes no difference. They are different output topologies. That Crown amp does not suffer from this failure mechanism. They also have different high pass filter options internally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soul-x Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 Makes no difference. They are different output topologies. That Crown amp does not suffer from this failure mechanism. They also have different high pass filter options internally. And externally! The QSC has DIP-switch selectable 30 and 50 hz High Pass Filters. The CE does not have them. Entirely likely that those had been set on the USA. I know my amps would have them switched on. Stunningbabe, to make that bit clear --Do you know what the DIP switch settings are on the back of the QSC? There are switches on that amp that are actually designed to reduce the low end for speaker protection purposes. That's a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 The QSC actually has the higher input sensitivity among the two. That is unless the Crown is configured internally to its .775v mode, in which case the Crown would seem much louder for the same input.Unfortunately, The CE1000 has a very, very poor reliability record. I'm talking failure rates of half or better at this point in their life. My first amp was a crown CE 1000 that I bought because I heard the "Crown" name was excellent, it lasted three shows and started doing the blinky red light no post or power on thingy, granted it was used, but seem like very weak amps. I think they were more meant for the home heatre market vs pro audio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pro Sound Guy Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 WHy is it that 1 amp can produce more 'low' frequencies than another Amp that has the same wattage? What makes the 1st amp that 'edge' in producing stronger 'lows'? Better transformer? If you can picture one amp as an apple, and one amp as an orange howcan you compare the two? Circuit design, power supplies, OLD capacitors (someone mentioned the age of one of the amps)you will find that one 100 watt amp does not sound the same as another 100 watt amp. As an example I have heard guys on another forum comment on the XTI ampsand how they crap out before they indicate clip. One amp can be digital, one amp can be class A, one amp can be class AB. One amp can crap out and not run stable at high output. One amp can react different then another with difficult loads. One amp can not do well without really stable AC. The list can go on here. LOTS of variables here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted May 1, 2012 Members Share Posted May 1, 2012 In general, amps sound remarkable similar and if the gains are matched, I doubt that ANY of us here could identify one amp from another under most notmal conditions. Regardless of topology, provided they are working correctly and similarly configured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 In general, amps sound remarkable similar and if the gains are matched, I doubt that ANY of us here could identify one amp from another under most notmal conditions. Regardless of topology, provided they are working correctly and similarly configured. Andy...that being said...any Behringer power amp will sound the same too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Andy...that being said...any Behringer power amp will sound the same too? within similar ratings (Behringer does not rate the same way many other manufacturers rate) and while it functions, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thanks Andy....as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 SB-----------if you're concerned about which to buy, I would look at reliability over any perceived low-end performance advantage. A little EQ can make up for that but it cannot increase reliability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 SB-----------if you're concerned about which to buy, I would look at reliability over any perceived low-end performance advantage. A little EQ can make up for that but it cannot increase reliability. thank you Sir. that makes a lotta sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 They dont make 'em like they used to. According to my Dad...things were built to last way back in the 70's and 80's. Cars were over engineered to ensure safety above all. Power amps can last like forever. Houses were built with solid materials that can withstand the test of time. Fast forward to today : Easily 90% of the things we use no matter where we are..are made in China. Yes? Chinese use inferior materials and cheap labour to ensure 'profit above all'. Most American co's have to shift their factories and plants to China to survive. Yes? My question is : I know Peavery is well known for being super reliable...but that was when their stuffs were made in USA, right? Even Peavey is now made in CHina, right? Surely there ARE a lot of differences in quality as compared to USA made ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 I dont wanna buy a Peavey if it no longer is as reliable as their USA made ones. I might as well be better off buying used Made in USA Peavey gears ya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lonotes Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 They dont make 'em like they used to.According to my Dad...things were built to last way back in the 70's and 80's. Cars were over engineered to ensure safety above all. Power amps can last like forever. Houses were built with solid materials that can withstand the test of time. And according to my grandfather, "They sure don't make 'em like they used to. Thank god." He was an auto mechanic for most of his life, and ran his own repair shop in northern Ohio from the late 40's to the early 70's. During that time it was quite common for engines to require a complete overhaul at 25-30k miles. 50K was unheard of. Now, 100k mile warranties are the norm. Bodies used to rust out completely in 3-4 years. Now, with modern treatments, they still look like new at 15 years old. And as far as the 70's and 80's are concerned, that was the era that the phrase "planned obsolescence" became a part of the common vernacular because cars (and other items) were actually designed to fail after a certain point. Manufacturers had realized that failure actually drove new sales, so it became a design element that was predictable. History is not always as rosy as we remember it, and when looking at products from any era that have survived to the present day, keep in mind that you're looking at a survivor. Most of its contemporaries didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sibyrnes Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 If you buy based on quality and not price, modern amps are better than ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted May 2, 2012 CMS Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 They dont make 'em like they used to.According to my Dad...things were built to last way back in the 70's and 80's. Cars were over engineered to ensure safety above all. Power amps can last like forever. Houses were built with solid materials that can withstand the test of time.Fast forward to today : Easily 90% of the things we use no matter where we are..are made in China. Yes?Chinese use inferior materials and cheap labour to ensure 'profit above all'.Most American co's have to shift their factories and plants to China to survive. Yes?My question is : I know Peavery is well known for being super reliable...but that was when their stuffs were made in USA, right?Even Peavey is now made in CHina, right? Surely there ARE a lot of differences in quality as compared to USA made ones? With all due respect to your Dad, he's wrong. I was an auto mechanic many years ago. Cars are so much more safe and reliable now than then, it's not even a contest. Tires? Used to las 10,000 miles if you were lucky and treated them well. Today, 60,000 is not unusual (I had a set last 120,000 on a Nissan Sentra). Engines used to need a complete rebuild at 100,000 miles or so....today, figure a quarter-million miles. And safety isn't even arguable at all. ABS brakes, SRS (airbags), traction control, active braking, traffic sensorr systems. Not even close, and that's only the high tech stuff. Regarding Made in China: Chinese factories producing export goods are capable of very nearly any standard of quality required by the purchaser. If your MIC gear is crap, it was ordered that way by whoever retails it. Peavey is a good example of gear that has good quality even when MIC. Behringer is a good example of gear that has spotty quality and is MIC. And Peavey's reputation during their exclusively MIA period was bad at first and improved tremendously. They only moved some manufacturing to China in order to remain viable thanks to Behringer and a few others lowering the bar to lower prices to cater to the Wal-Mart mentality of price before all else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Made In China no longer carries the stigma it once did. Those folks caught on to successful manufacturing techniques years ago. Of course crap can come from China just like anywhere but I wouldn't hesitate one minute to buy MIC Peavey amps. (and I haven't) I own 7 of the IPR's and they are really good amps. I am fairly certain the QSC RMX line is also MIC. Nobody can question the quality of those units. SB-------in your country (Malaysia I think?) what products are available to you? it appears you're trying to put together a system. Is there a used market in your area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Quality is a function of the design and the attention to manufacturing details. There are amp products today that are 10x as reliable as those from 10-25 years ago, but good designs and good manufacturing narrows the gap no matter when the units were built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soul-x Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Quality is a function of the design and the attention to manufacturing details.There are amp products today that are 10x as reliable as those from 10-25 years ago, but good designs and good manufacturing narrows the gap no matter when the units were built. Modern amps are also a lot less self-destructive in the case that something does go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thank you gentlemen for making this girl a lot wiser now about power amps. Your selfless and generous advice matter a lot to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted May 2, 2012 Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Modern amps are also a lot less self-destructive in the case that something does go wrong. Generally, but unfortunately not always. Some topologies are less self-destructive than others, these are the topologies that I tend to favor personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stunningbabe Posted May 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 2, 2012 Generally, but unfortunately not always. Some topologies are less self-destructive than others, these are the topologies that I tend to favor personally. What are the 'topologies' in your opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.