So I spoke with a representative from Crown this afternoon about a) our little experiment and b) the issues that have arisen from it. The rep told me that using pro amps in a consumer fashion isn't new, at least not to the Crown employees, for many of them employ pro amps in their personal home theaters. As to the noise floor, treble harshness etc that seemed to be the result of the amp I chose to experiment with, the Crown XLS 1000.
The XLS 1000 is the most stripped down amp Crown makes/offers and because of such doesn't benefit from such niceties as a lowered noise floor, cleaner power delivery etc. Jumping up in price $100 gets you the XLS 2000, which has a lower noise floor (3dB lower) as well as better control up top, not to mention 100 plus more Watts in stereo. The rep was convinced that had I used the 2000 amp in my tests my findings would be different and to prove it he's sending me three to do just that. Also, he instructed me to keep the gain controls off and fix the input difference between consumer and pro gear via a limiter (though you don't have to) from the likes of dbx (also a Harman company) who I just so happen to be speaking to tomorrow morning.
So what are the 1000s good for? Well, they're still going to be more than capable subwoofer amplifiers or as amplifiers for the bass section of any bi or tri-amp loudspeaker system, however for high frequency fidelity Crown recommends the 2000 or 2500 models.
