Quote Originally Posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
What can you say about the way it sounds compared to other amps or other Crown amps you've listened to? Is there anything it does fabulously well? Is there something you wish it did better or not at all? Which preamp did you use with it?
Those types of evaluations have always been tough for me since I bought my first Crown over 50-years ago to replace a Fisher SA-1000. The McIntosh dealer I used for the Mac Clinics on my C20 had recommended Crown to me and gave me three to take home and try, D60, D150, and DC300. Back then my mind told me each increase in power gave me a "fuller" sound on the JBL 030 system which were my only speakers back then. My decision was based on cost as I was in high-school working summer jobs at a show warehouse, double-carrying golf bags back when they were leather and heavy on one of the hilliest golf courses I've ever seen to pay for my hi-fi and BMW. habit. 36-holes per day where on some holes there was a rope-tow to pull you from one green to the next tee. I still own the D150 and the C20—and the 030 in C35 cabinets. That's a preface in saying most of my experience has been with Crown amps.

Where my test setup is now I had everything running off a Crown Power Line Three and Crown SL2 preamp. The pre-amp developed an imbalance for which it will eventually go to AE Techron for a check-up and I replaced it with a spare Soundcraftsmen Pro-Control-Four, same as what I use in my main bi-amped 4345 system. (I also use a Crown PSL-2 and a JBL/Urei 6260 with L5s in our "Library" room. Both pre-amps do what a pre-amp is supposed to do in offering control over inputs without adding anything downstream, hence the Crown "straight-line" name.

Just like 50-years ago, what I heard when I first hooked up the SR-II was an increase in the fullness of the sound. I can't call it voicing and it has been rare for me to say power-amps that I've owned have any voice at all with the exception of my pair of Soundcraftsmen Pro-Power-Fours which to my ears have a bass-boost built in. I also own Adcom, Carver, and power amps, but the SC is really the only one that seems to color the sound. So I just don't use them. Probably perfect for subs, but I don't use those, either. I acquired the SR-II after I got my 250ti because I knew those really benefitted from more power. I have yet to try that combination but these 240ti are likely a similar situation. And they thrive on the SR-II, though I've never heard the 240ti before and this is the only amp I've tried them on so far.

I don't really see what I could want the amp to "do better". But every speaker system I've hooked it to sounds more "full" and I figured there might be some nuance lost with a big amp and some "sterility" based on those who have commented on the SR-II. The reality is there are nuances and subtleties heard through good speakers with this amp that make the music even more transparent, like looking past the veil into the individual instruments. The presentation, to me, is one of a more "live" sound, which is the point of High Fidelity. Even the lowly Pro-III Plus gain increased clarity with the SR-II. Now, of course, the amp loves to be played loud and increasing volume can alter your perception in any comparison, but it just sucks you in.

What would I want it to do better? I can't imagine what that would be. But given the limits of my amp experience over the years, I may just be ignorant of what I expect from any power amp. It will be interesting to hear what someone else experiences with the Studio Reference-II. And I may not have the audiophile jargon down enough to play this game. But I know what I like and so far this is the one.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go. Let us know what you think.