Hey all, it's been a while. I'm back because my Crown XTi 2000 died out of nowhere, no lights, no nothing. I pulled the ceramic fuse, and if I'm using my meter correctly, there is still continuity. I was told that when ceramic fuses blow, they look blown and darkened, and mine is still pretty white. I contacted and am waiting on Crown for troubleshooting advice, recommended repair shops near me, and hourly rate information. I'm afraid however that the diagnosis and repair can add up quickly enough where it would be more prudent to just buy a new amp.
So I'd very much like to hear your 2 ch pro amp recommendations. I'm looking to spend considerably less than I did last time. I'm disappointed that the bought as new Crown died before my refurbished Onkyo 805 preamp, and refurbished NAD 7ch amp, as these units are considerably older as well. I usually baby my equipment by having each amp turned on in succession with long enough intervals for the caps to charge before firing up the next unit. However, I believe the amp was in the on position when I found it dead. It is not on a UPS; the voltage at my residence is extremely stable, however perhaps when the AC kicked on, it provided some sort of brownout that could kill an amp? I'm not versed in electricity/electronics.
I liked that the old Crown had the BandManager to EQ the sub. I'm not crossing my fingers that your recommendations would have anything at all like that, but it would be a really nice bonus.
My biggest complaint about the Crown was the blindingly bright lights, without any option for adjustment. As it's on the rear wall facing forward into the mostly bat cave of a front projection setup, I had to liberally use black electrical tape. Window tint didn't have a chance, even other colors of electrical tape had no chance.
I never heard the fans ever once kick on.
Because my sub is highly efficient, and that I listen well under reference levels, I don't believe I need much power, and believe I can even downgrade in this regard.
I briefly browsed a bit of Yamaha, Crown, and QSC offerings. The Yamahas are more than I want to spend. The Crown XLS 1000 is certainly less than I spent last time, but to be honest I would prefer to even spend less than this. The QSC GX3 is similarly priced, and I like that it doesn't look like the panel has lights with the power of ten million lumens, which is a good thing.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Because of the early death of the amp, I'm even a little bit more wary of buying used than I already was, but perhaps that shouldn't be a great concern; feel free to assuage.
P.S. I just now see the long XLS thread as I'm about to post here. It was started over two years ago, and I'm not inclined at the moment to read through all of it, so forgive my ignorance regarding this particular line.
