Crown DC 300 Enters TECnology Hall Of Fame

[BMWCCA]

I thought this announcement on Crown's web site appropriate to post here on Crown's 60th Anniversary. Thanks Gerald!

http://www.crownaudio.com/gen_htm/press/pr157.htm

NEW YORK CITY - November 2007 -- As a fitting cap to Crown International's 60th anniversary year, the DC 300 amplifier, first introduced 40 years prior in 1967, was inducted into the TECnology Hall Of Fame on the opening day of the 123rd AES Convention in New York City. Gerald Stanley, Crown International's senior VP of R&D and the original designer of the DC 300, was on hand to accept the award.
Presented by the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio, best known for its production of the TEC Awards, and hosted by the AES, the Fourth Annual TECnology Hall Of Fame ceremony was emceed by George Petersen, executive editor of Mix magazine and director of the TECnology Hall Of Fame.
Petersen prefaced Crown's award by remarking, "[The DC 300] was a classic that really ushered in and defined the era of the modern power amplifier. And 1967 was a perfect time for this product to come out. Suddenly there were rock concerts that were high SPL--very loud--and needed great amplification. Live sound systems were coming into vogue. Listening levels in recording studios in 1967 started going through the roof and somebody needed to produce an amplifier that was loud enough to take care of this. And even 40 years after its introduction, there are so many of these DC 300s still in service, it's an amazing testament to Crown reliability." (more...)

[SMKSoundPro]

Love my Crowns!

[Krunchy]

Funky!

[Fred Sanford]

There's one lying dormant here, just waiting to find its Special Purpose. It's a little newer than Krunchy's pic, but not a whole lot. It got nudged aside by a Urei 6260.

je

[stephane RAME]

The family

[scorpio]

The family

Bonjour Stéphane,
I remember seeing your system in the NRDS, at the time you were using a passive network. Seems like you have moved to active filtering, is this the case? If so, I'd be interested to know how you are rating the noise (or silence!) from your amps in this configuration. I'm hunting for an amp that would be quieter than what I use today (a simple small Trends TA-10) fro my mid-high, I see so many of you with amcron that I am tempted, only I am wondering if they would be quieter or not.

I'm sitting about 3m away and when no musinc is playing can hear the faint hiss from the amp, it's not worrying much as it's not a buzzing sound, more like tape hiss, so not intruding, still I'd be interested in something 'quieter'.

Merci pour l'information,

Scorpio - en fait Stéphane également,
Bonsoir!

[stephane RAME]

Good evening, the photo of these amps, when I had the time or a pair of JBL4430 in bi-amp and a tweeter JBL2405.
Stéphane

Bonsoir , la photo de ces amplis , date de l'époque ou j'avais une paire de JBL4430 en bi-amplification et un tweeter JBL2405.
Stéphane

[midlife]

Funky!

One of these early run DC300s just sold on eeebay for $400. It was 99% pristine, and appeared as new. Love the bold styling!!! !!!

[BMWCCA]

This stuff fascinates me! What was someone doing with this in a box all these years? Lost inventory? Purchased on a whim and stashed away, forgotten? OCD collector, like the rest of us?

Anyway, here it is, and I have no idea what it's worth. No matter; it's cool!
http://ebayitem.com/370230132403
Oh yeah, the buy-it-now price is $989.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I HAVE RECENTLY OPENED UP A SEALED WAREHOUSE THAT IS STUFFED WITH OVER 20,000! PIECES OF BRAND NEW, AMERICAN MADE PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT, ALL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY PACKAGING, A VERY RARE, INCREDIBLE FIND, A TIME CAPSULE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS!

THIS AMAZING COLLECTION OF THE FINEST QUALITY NEW ITEMS INCLUDES ALL TYPES OF: ELECTRONIC TEST AND MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT , BROADCAST VIDEO / AUDIO EQUIPMENT, INDUSTRIAL / COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT / PARTS, POWER AND HAND TOOLS, ETC!

YOUR PURCHASE IS FOR A VERY RARE FIND! BRAND NEW (FROM THE 1980'S), GUARANTEED NOT DOA, CROWN BRAND, MODEL DC-300A, STEREO AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIER COMPLETE WITH ALL ACCESSORIES AND OWNERS MANUAL, ALL IN ORIGINAL FACTORY PACKAGING (SEE ALL OF THE PHOTOS FOR DETAILS).

IMPORTANT NOTE #2: TO PREVENT LEAVING FINGERPRINTS OR OTHER CONTAMINATES ON THE PRISTINE ORIGINAL FINISHES, WE ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES WHEN HANDLING THESE NEW PRODUCTS!

IMPORTANT NOTE #3: THIS NEW POWER AMPLIFIER WAS SLOWLY POWERED-UP WITH A VARIAC (AS SHOWN IN THE PHOTO) TO PROTECT THE CIRCUITRY AND THE ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS PRIOR TO TESTING OF THE UNIT!

THE CROWN DC-300A STEREO AUDIO POWER AMP IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE FINEST EVER MADE!

[Doc Mark]

Greetings, Friends,

Well, I decided to stick my toe into the deep waters of buying a Crown DC-300A on FleaBay! Did the deed today, and at $349, may have paid a little more than I have seen others going for. But, the one I decided upon looks much nicer than most of the others, and the seller had very high positive feedback, so I went ahead and took the plunge!! The "new" Crown should arrive in just a few days, and that will be fun! I'm hoping to use it for whichever subwoofer system I end up building first: 1 - a pair of 2235H's, in 4.5 cubic foot boxes, tuned properly, electronically crossed over at 90HZ; or, 2 - a single 2242HPL, in an 8 cubic foot enclosure, tuned properly, and crossed over in the same manner, and at the same frequency. If I use the 18" JBL, I'll run the "new" Crown in it's bridged mode, and that should be MORE than enough power for the listening I usually do!! I know that, whichever system ends up being built first, either one of them will SMOKE my current subwoofer "system", which ain't much, in truth!! Great for low level listening, but horrible if you ask too much SPL from it!!

I'm thinking about going for one more nice Crown, if one pops up, and then go from there. I'm also thinking about adding a second Crown VFX-2A crossover to the one I already have, and then maybe doing a three-way system, added to the Audio Control electronic crossover that my sub uses. Hummm.......!!??!! I also still have my old, original Crown DC300, and have contacted AETECHRON about going through it and cleaning it up a bit. Sounds like they are good folks over there!

Thanks for all the great info on this site, Friends! It's a pleasure to dig around for the myriad gems to be found here!! Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[Doc Mark]

Hey, Guys,

My "new" old Crown DC-300A arrived today, safe and sound! The seller shipped it, from Las Vegas just yesterday, so that is about as good as it gets in quick shipping!

The bad news is that this amp is dinged up a bit more than I'd hoped, and the cap on the power supply coil is dented in a good bit. Oh, well.... The good news is that it does, indeed, work, and I'm running my two "subwoofers" with it, right now! Seems to be pretty balanced, one channel to the other, and it sounds very smooth, and almost "sweet". But one interesting thing has popped up: My old Harman Kardon HK870, 100WPC power amp, is actually LOUDER than the Crown, which is has more RMS power!! How about THEM apples????!!!! The HK amp is "high current capable", which means it can put out far more than it's rated power, for those brief transients that needs more juice. I don't know what it's power ceiling is. But, the Crown, if I remember correctly, puts out about 178 watts per channel, before it gets into clipping trouble. No clipping from either amp, but the HK is definitely a little bit louder than the DC-300A, which I find very interesting! I'm going to test it further, in a few days, with some Pro Sound Reinforcement gear, and see how loud the Crown actually can play. Right now, it's doing well, and isn't even warm yet, even though it's been playing for a bit, now.

Any thoughts about this interesting anomaly? Also, I have never used such an amp in it's bridged/mono mode, and I have no paperwork with this "new" Crown. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks, very much, Gentlemen, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

[Fred Sanford]

Lots of "paperwork" for that amp here:

http://www.crownaudio.com/gen_htm/legacy/legacamp.htm

Good luck,

je

[jbl4ever]

[BMWCCA]

Even a couple of D130s (or something close) and maybe some 075s in the picture for the JBL fans. That's a bunch of PSA-2s, for sure! Most likely the D-series and PS-series are still working though!

[johnaec]

My old Harman Kardon HK870, 100WPC power amp, is actually LOUDER than the Crown, which is has more RMS power!!

How do you mean "louder"? Did you run them both up to clipping? Volume controls mean nothing...

John