Follow @CityStreetMusic  

 This is the place for buying new and used pro gear, huge selection, new inventory daily, discount, guitars, bass guitar, acoustic, guitar, best, acoustic bass, bass, bass amps, bass amp, Yamaha, cheap amps, amplifiers, amplifier, used  amplifiers by Fender. New drums to sell trade used or buy electric & acoustic guitar amps amplifiers with accessories. Wood drumsticks, strings, pci interfaces,  software, recording, cables, cords, adapters, dollies, covers, cases, studio monitors, midi, digital audio storage, podcast, firewire, mixers, stereo recorders, in ear monitor, headphones, microphones, mics, preamps, mastering, reverb boxes, effects, sound modules, digital pianos. Gear like bags, electronic percussion, live sound, pa processing, stage equipment, portable sound systems, system, wireless, mic snakes, studio furniture, mackey, marshall, fender custom, guild. Power amplifiers for sound systems or home use in home theater systems for high end audio. Special deals on Crown amplifiers some refurbished models and B stock available in K1, K2, ITech 4000, ITech 6000 and ITech 8000 series, Macro Tech and more. Speaker cables and wire, audio interconnects and input cables. Are expensive speaker cables worth the price, can you really hear the difference between expensive and cheap speaker wires?

Crown K1 and K2 Two Channel  Power Amplifier User Information

The Crown K1 and K2 power amplifiers are examples of a unique product design from Crown Audio, just as the original DC 300 stereo power amplifier was in the 60’s. Crown is a leader in manufacturing high quality amplifiers used by many audio pros in touring sound systems, recording studios and by musicians to power their instruments. In the past 10 years Crown has phased out high end audio products geared for home use and the audiophile, although many Crown K1 and Crown K2 amplifiers are installed in home stereos and theaters.  The K Series amplifiers have been discontinued but are still popular because of their quiet operation, high power output and dependability. The silent operation of this amplifier is achieved by using BCA circuitry and a power supply management circuit design requiring no cooling fans even when the amp runs at peak power. The K Series has energy efficient (green circuits) features that are not offered in other models, when the amplifier is in energy saving idle mode it uses as little as 12watts of ac power, another example of Crown’s research and development advancements. 

Shortly after the first K Series amplifiers were introduced I purchased two K2 amplifiers and one K1 power amplifier to test in my home theater sound system. The two K2’s were hooked up in stereo mode and were used to power the front main and rear speakers. The main and rear speakers in this system are two way bass reflex enclosures with one 15” Altec Lansing bass speaker, Altec horn with driver and passive 2-way crossover in each. These speakers sound similar to Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater’s but have tighter bass and cleaner mids. The K1 was used to power the three subwoofers in the system-  two 15” TAD 1601a speakers and one 15” TAD 1603 speaker, each in a separate sealed subwoofer speaker enclosure with the amplifier operating in bridged mono mode.

After hooking up the K2, I was ready to compare the sound to the previous amp used in the system, a Powertech 2. The K2’s operated silent, the sound quality was very clean and the bass was exceptional. After running the K2’s for an hour the exterior case was very warm. Because this was the first time using the K2 amp I wasn’t sure if this was normal or if there was something wrong with the amplifier, connections or speaker wiring. I checked all of the cables, connections and continued to test the system for a few days. The temperature of the amplifier stayed the same every time it was in use. I called Crown tech support and they said this was normal of the K1 and K2 amplifiers. I also checked with other users and they concluded the same as I did. The technician explained that this is normal for this convection cooled type of amplifier as there are no internal cooling fans and the complete case of this amplifier is what dissipates the heat.

 K Series Amplifiers Characteristics. When the amplifier is first turned on there is a short delay as the amp performs a self test, automatic turn-on diagnostics.  While the amplifier is in startup mode the front panel LED’s light amber then green when ready. The K1 & K2 amplifiers have a BCA circuit design making them very energy efficient. When the amplifier senses no input program signal the amp powers down and when input signal is detected it turns back on within milliseconds. In the test system he cutoff was noticeable when using the K2 or K1 amp for mids and highs and less noticeable on bass or subs. Although the amplifiers were great sounding and had plenty of clean power, I wasn’t satisfied with the BCA circuitry for use on the main speakers. I tried the K1 for the subwoofers and the bass was clean, tight and punchy. I contacted Crown support to get more information about the shut down and power up cycle and how noticeable it was during listening to program music. The Crown technician said this cycle time was modified in later manufactured models, after 2001, and the original 6 second power down was increased to about 30 seconds which should eliminate cutting in and out during the length of a recorded song. I eventually replaced the amps when the Studio Reference Series amplifiers came out.

Specifications for K1 & K2 Amplifiers

Dimensions: Standard 19-inch wide rack mount, 3.5-inch height and 16-inch deep

Approximate Weight: K1- 32 pounds. K2- 38 pounds

Output power watts- K1- 2ohm stereo 750w channel, 4ohm 550w channel, 8ohm- 350w channel, 4ohn bridged- 1500

Output power watts K2- 2ohm- 1250w channel, 4ohm- 800w channel, 8ohm-500w channel, 4ohm bridged- 2500w

Inputs- one ¼” jack and one 3-pin XLR per channel

Output- two sets combo binding posts/banana plugs, spade or bare wire

Front Panel Controls- Level:  calibrated rotary control for each channel, Power:  on/off rocker switch.

Back Panel Controls-switchable input sensitivity for each channel, Y input switch parallels two input channels and an on/off bridge output switch which bridges the two output channels to double the output voltage. The K1 and K2 do not support PIP input panels.

Follow @CityStreetMusic  

Back to what’s the story, vintage bass, vintage amplifiers and drums. I can remember seeing some of these items in the music store during my teenage years. Things like- fender precision bass, mustang, Stratocasters, Telecasters, Musicman, Twin reverb amps, SuperReverb amps, Bandmaster, Dual Showman, Showman, Princeton amp, Tremolux, Fender Tweed amps, Jaguar, Gibson SG, Gretsch, Ampeg b15 bass amp, Les Paul Guitar, Fender Bassman amp, Fender Broadcaster amp, Fender Champ amp, Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, Fender Esquire, Fender Jazz Bass, fender Vibroverb amp, Fender Vibrolux amp, Gibson Tweed amps, and many many more. Like vintage Fender, vintage Gibson, ,amplifiers,acoustic guitars, Guild, vintage guild, buy, used, tweed amps, Fender Tweed amp, Gibson tweed amp. Bass, gibson, gretsch, precision bass. telecaster, stratocaster, twin reverb amp. Lexicon, reviews, review, home theater.