....And what did we find, me and my cohort?
Two Crown XLS-202's sharing hardly anything in common. I've learned from restoring my old tube radios how tonality and other characteristics can be changed or modified by the substitution of individual components such as capacitors, diodes, and especially tubes. Even though the values are the same, different manufacturers or even the era when they were made makes a huge difference. I also learned more re-building my vintage Les Paul guitar....I bought old caps on eBay with the same values as the originals, but the vintage ones had it all over the newer ones in the way of sound. I guess it has to do with every internal element of the particular component.
Looking over the Crowns, the circuit was the same, but most of the major components were different. I still wonder about the volume issue....I can't pin that one down. A prior post has given me some insight, but a definite answer still eludes me.
Tube power amps are in my mind as these Crowns will serve duty in my theater system later on down the road.
I thank you for your responses. Jeenie.