Hi
Over the years, I have owned several crown amps. The first being a Power-Tech 1, my impression of the Power-Tech 1 was that it was designed for DJ systems and while it had a very clean sound. The dynamics were not at all linear. It tended to exaggerate the dynamic range, almost like it had an expander circuit built into it. DJs must like it because it makes everything sound real loud. But, it’s not a “HIFI” kind of sound.
In upgrading to a K1 and I found that the sound to be much more natural, with a much more linear dynamics. At the time, it was driving my old 030 system and surprisingly the K1 had a much wider frequency response the Power-Tech 1 amp. More bass and more high end as well. The very high damping factor of the K series provides for a very tight and punchy bass sound, with excellent control over the drivers. And a K2’s higher voltage drive and power handling tends to tighten things up a little further.
I have since upgraded to a much larger quad amplified speaker system. And I am currently using a K2 to drive 15” woofers, a K1 to drive 10” mid-bass drivers and an array of 3 crown D-75A amps the for HF and UHF drivers.
I can recommend the K series amplifiers for driving sub-woofers, woofers and mid-bass drivers. But, I really can not recommend them for HF and UHF drivers.
For a very brief period, I did try to use a K1 to power JBL 2446H drivers. And surprisingly the K1 had grainy, almost metallic like sound. It was almost as if I could hear the switching of the transistors, it had an odd pixelated kind of sound. And the other problem that I encountered is that the amplifier wanted to go into sleep mode. The sleep mode issue is never a problem with lower efficiency drivers like woofers. But, with the 2446H’s 113db per watt efficiency, they just did not use enough power to keep the amp awake. So, the HF horns would not cut in for the first few seconds of a song.
For the HF and UHF drivers, I have found that the Crown D series amps have a much smoother and cleaner sound than the K series. And considering how rarely the green “signal present” light turn on in the D-75A amps, I suspect that the D-75As are actually running in a pure “Class A” mode and they are only switching over to their “Class AB” amp mode during the loud passages, which might be another reason why the Crown D-75A amps sound so much better than the K series.
So, I don't think switching amps and HF and UHF drivers are a good mix.
Baron030