Crown PS-400

[toddalin]

Still looking to replace my ailing subwoofer amp and am tired of the excessive noise associated with "PA" amps with SNR ~100 (which is only 70-80 at 1 watt) and can have audible fans.

The PS-400 presents a nice alternative, extremely good specs and no fan, though it could use a little more power. I am willing to give up 2 dB of volume to get better specs elsewhere and not put up with the excessive noise.

My dellema is that while I typically run my sub (W15GTI) at 12 ohms, I sometimes run it at 4.8 ohms (W15GTI in parallel with 2235) and in bridged mono, the amp is only recommended to 8 ohms. I recognize that a quality amp should not have deleterious effects when pushed to a lower impedience, other than it gets hot and limits the current, or shuts down, if pushed to excessive volumes, that I'm probably not going to incur sitting in my living room 15 feet away.

Has anyone used this amp and do you have any comments? Can it reliably push a 4.8 ohm load to a reasonable level without frying either itself, or my JBLs?

Thanks

Specs on Crown:

http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/k1073-4.pdf

[pelly3s]

the crown k1 or k2 should work for you with whatever you need it to do. the best part is no fan. the ps-400 should do a 4 ohm load as do all crowns i have ever used. i havent had much experience with that amp at all so i cant honestly say but i figured i would recommend the k1 or k2

[toddalin]

the crown k1 or k2 should work for you with whatever you need it to do. the best part is no fan. the ps-400 should do a 4 ohm load as do all crowns i have ever used. i havent had much experience with that amp at all so i cant honestly say but i figured i would recommend the k1 or k2

Big $$$ difference though.

[Robh3606]

I have PS200's that I have run bridged. You can't run a PS400 bridged with a 4 ohm load. If you bridge an amp tyically you double the lowest rated load so in stereo they are rated for 4 ohms and up, bridged is 8 and up.

http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/k1073-4.pdf

Rob:)

[scott fitlin]

You shouldnt really run the PS-400 bridge mono 4 ohms, thats equivalent to 2 ohms stereo and the amp will thermal. However, it will do the load, and work, but youll need a fan, a sizeable one, to keep that amp cool. We used to do this with DC-300A,s years ago, until they came out with the PSA-2.

So, yes, with some effort, you actually can do it, but, it isnt the optimum solution. The optimum solution? An amp with enough power and the sound you want, and the ability to run in stereo.

[MJC]

Big $$$ difference though.
I don't know what a PS-400 goes for, but I bought a K2 off ebay for about $800. I use it to power two sub1500s and it could easily power four of them.

[Tom Loizeaux]

I love the Crown PS-400. I run mine at 8 ohms and would be concerned about 4 ohms/bridged.
Why not run it in dual mode, letting each channel drive and 8 or 4 ohm load?
Want to run your dual driver set-up in stereo?...get two PS-400s!

Tom

[toddalin]

I love the Crown PS-400. I run mine at 8 ohms and would be concerned about 4 ohms/bridged.
Why not run it in dual mode, letting each channel drive and 8 or 4 ohm load?
Want to run your dual driver set-up in stereo?...get two PS-400s!

Tom


98+% percent of the time it runs a 12 ohm load. It only has to push 4.8 ohms on rare occasion. I could actually put a fan on it and turn it on for those rare occasions. Hardly pays to buy two PS-400s to let one sit idle 98% of the time. And, would be a real pain to rewire the system every time for the 2% of the time it would be use.