Crown offered a kit for knob delete which consisted of a tube to push the attenuator shafts inside the faceplate and some dummy knobs that snapped in the holes left by removing original knobs and pushing the shafts inside. Love to see what they did to yours.Originally Posted by hjames
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
I have not picked it up from what appears to be a recycler type biz, but I plan to go there on Friday,
Here's an image from the ebay ad - looks like gromets or collars on openings in the front panel where I'd expect the shaft from the volume pots to protrude.
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Carver TFM-25, VonSchw VR-4, Heath AS-1348, JBL L212 (2pr)
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, UREI 809A, JBL B460
Would they happen to be like these?:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/32518563330...Bk9SR6jO857dYQ
Reaaally cheap units there, but I've stayed away as I noticed the knobs & shafts are missing. Although I had two PS-400's very briefly that I had to send back due to issues. But I had the cover off of them to adjust DC offset before I put them into my shit stack. While I was doing that I noticed there are just tiny allen head screws which lock that shaft in place. I tried contacting the seller of those cheap 400's to ask about that and didn't get a response. So I took that to be an indicator of their customer service and so decided not to buy from them. Plus, it would drive me bonkers to not have the knobs, and part prices are usually outrageous compared to full units.
Probably a good idea to take an iPod or some other portable source with cables and adapters to the Crown 1/4" input jacks and a pair of headphones. I've done this when buying Crown amps in-person as they all have monitor jacks for headphones (1/4-inch) on the front panel. Of course having functioning input attenuators helps but just keep the iPod volume down so you don't blow your ears out!
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
Thats them. Basically a 45 minute drive from me, close to where I grew up in Maryland.
Phil's comment on carrying an iPhone and large headphones to test it is a good idea -
I did something similar when I bought some large UREIs 811Cs in West Virginia ...
(the seller hauled them over from Ohio - we met midway, I hauled them home in my CRV).
But when my contract job ended shortly afterwards, I sold them in a panic ...
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Carver TFM-25, VonSchw VR-4, Heath AS-1348, JBL L212 (2pr)
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, UREI 809A, JBL B460
Don't know about them new-fangled iPhons. I'm sure you've got an old iPod with a real output jack on it around somewhere!
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
Sound like you haven't gotten too far...
The again, I was born about 30 minutes from where I've ended up myself.
Bummer.
Widget
I took this photo last night and sent it to Heather.
Figured it might have some historic value posted in this thread, too:
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
Ah, well if that was the case with the seller's amplifiers, you'd still see the shaft just sans knob. Collars are still there, but no shafts with these. I suspect either the shafts were removed to prevent tampering in their original installation or that these have become parts units and have more going on than what meets the eye. Unfortunately for me, they did not reply to my message about that. Although perhaps that is unfortunate for them, as I'd have bought two if they could have told me they work and are actually just missing the shafts. Once you pop the top cover, you can still adjust them. However, I am OCD and that would kill me. Not to mention I've never seen those for sale so not sure what four shafts & knobs would run a fella. Probably cheaper to buy a complete amp.
Yeah, Phil sent me an aside that Crown recommendation is to set Vol at 12:00 and control vol with preamp etc ...
Pretty much what I did with the JBL/UREI amps on the 4341 system and similar power amps I've had in the past.
Still making my mind up whether I'm going to pick them up today.
But I promised Emma a stopover at a tropical plants shop, and an authentic type jewish supermarket/deli in Montgomery County ...
Agreed - thats what I would have expected. But, the one amp just needs 2 shafts.
I've got a dremel so maybe I can fab up a pair of shafts if they're actually not there - and I have plenty of knobs with setscrews that go to 11
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Carver TFM-25, VonSchw VR-4, Heath AS-1348, JBL L212 (2pr)
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, UREI 809A, JBL B460
Couldn't resist. Just picked it up at the library to watch this weekend.
https://youtu.be/IHCmkV27200
We went by their facility, but, there were signs on the door that it was not a public space, and some guy with a heavy russian accent said go to the loading doc
and he'd bring the amp there for me to pick it up. Frankly, I wasn't going to pay for it unless I could at least run some signal through it and make sure it was actually working.
That didn't look to be happening - didn't seem like they were going to offer me a place to plug it in.
I think he was trying to be friendly, but it felt like customer service was lacking!
"I got a bad feeling about this ..." so we just got back in the car, just bailed, and left the amp with them.
Sadly, the Jewish grocery store I remember was under new owners and nowhere near its former glory (the deli no longer existed no ruebens!) ...
But the tropical plant shop afterwards was very cool - A large number of greenhouses behind a rural house ...
I got a mid-sized Pony Tail palm plant, and Emma found a prayer plant and a succulent.
Yeah, Phil sent me an aside that Crown recommendation is to set Vol at 12:00 and control vol with preamp etc ...
Pretty much what I did with the JBL/UREI amps on the 4341 system and similar power amps I've had in the past.
Still making my mind up whether I'm going to pick them up today.
But I promised Emma a stopover at a tropical plants shop, and an authentic type jewish supermarket/deli in Montgomery County ...
Agreed - thats what I would have expected. But, the one amp just needs 2 shafts.
I've got a dremel so maybe I can fab up a pair of shafts if they're actually not there - and I have plenty of knobs with setscrews that go to 11
2ch: WiiM Pro; Topping E30 II DAC; Oppo, Acurus RL-11, Carver TFM-25, VonSchw VR-4, Heath AS-1348, JBL L212 (2pr)
7: TIVO, Oppo BDP103D, B&K, UREI 809A, JBL B460
Parkway Deli on Grubb Rd in Silver Spring can get pretty close but I don't know anyplace in Mo Co that one can find a real NYC style Rueben. Sticky Fingers in Columbia Heights made a pretty good vegan version, proof once again that eating vegan should never be confused with eating healthy.
To be clear, Crown's recommendation through their (now-defunct forum) was always set the amplifier input attenuators so that the normal listening range of your system could be achieved somewhere around the middle range of your pre-amp volume control. Now this may be assuming that your pre-amp's volume control is at unity gain at 12-o'clock, which may not be the case for many consumer pre-amps.
I always figured it was safer anyway in case someone cranked up the volume and then switched inputs or something like that. It generally works out in my systems where the Crowns or JBL/Urei amps get set to 12-o'clock anyway.
". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers
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