there is got to be some joke in your post or at least this is the way i see it ...
Your amplifier has a gozillion troubles next to the Perreaux and only a few design innovation but most of them is how to make the amp to produce more power with less supply which also equals to loads of distortion capacitors inside are dead all ready since placed horizontally
and when your amplifier shelf destructs after the famous trans motor fails which actually costs almost 200 usd retail prize
if then this will fail from bearings you will never know and the all amplifier will boil before protection clicks
happened already 6 times in 5 years and my shop is small and my country is small so not so many Crowns exist here of that era
When the time comes and it will need a repair its a nightmare to rewire the board disconnect almost anything to replace small capacitors that are dead already...
So NO !!! you have an amplifier in your hands that is a different design than the conventional amps but other than that it cannot be compared to the above amplifier to any qualities except may be more dirty power ....
Your amplifier has a gozillion troubles next to the Perreaux and only a few design innovation but most of them is how to make the amp to produce more power with less supply which also equals to loads of distortion capacitors inside are dead all ready since placed horizontally
and when your amplifier shelf destructs after the famous trans motor fails which actually costs almost 200 usd retail prize
if then this will fail from bearings you will never know and the all amplifier will boil before protection clicks
happened already 6 times in 5 years and my shop is small and my country is small so not so many Crowns exist here of that era
When the time comes and it will need a repair its a nightmare to rewire the board disconnect almost anything to replace small capacitors that are dead already...
So NO !!! you have an amplifier in your hands that is a different design than the conventional amps but other than that it cannot be compared to the above amplifier to any qualities except may be more dirty power ....
no comments here .... from my point of view when it comes to design an amplifier you always have to give something to get something else .... given that there is a lot of high quality amps out there the difference between them will be what you described above choices between simplicity and quality or choices between safety and quality ... got your point though thanks for the input
Kind regards
sakis
I think this points up the huge difference in viewpoints from those who design, those who listen, and those who repair.
Sakis, a very good commentary. I actually agree with A. Wayne, not such a wonderful sounding amp, but everything easy to work on and very solidly and conventionally designed and built. Good amp to own - a Mercedes, rather than a Jaguar.....
Hugh
Sakis, a very good commentary. I actually agree with A. Wayne, not such a wonderful sounding amp, but everything easy to work on and very solidly and conventionally designed and built. Good amp to own - a Mercedes, rather than a Jaguar.....
Hugh
I would have to respectfully disagree with you there. If you are talking about building the perfect amplifier, that is a different matter but when you say proper you normally take price into account. How much does a Perreaux 350 cost? I picked up my Crown for $75, made $50 worth of upgrades, and nearly tripled the quiescent current. Now it really sounds sweet (especially since it includes native support for balanced audio).
I spent a couple weeks combing over the input board, power supply, and output boards while I was repairing three of these and everything is arranged very well. There are no electrolytic capacitors in the signal path and the number of electrolytics used is very small. There are also 8 output transistors and 8 driver transistors that help to even the load. The amplifier is silent when not playing and music from my computer is highly detailed. DC offset is +/-1mV!!!
The filter capacitors (originals from 1994) were still functioning, although bass definition was reduced. Still, these were more than 16 years old so I don't blame them for drying up a bit.
I made the following upgrades:
-Replaced the stock Philips 6300uf filter capacitors with 9900uf, 100v banks of Cornell Dubilier capacitors. The stock ones were physically larger because they had to withstand 125 volts of electricity for 70 volt mode!
-Replaced all of the electrolytics (10 total not including filter capacitors) with new, high quality models.
-Swapped out the ceramics in the signal path with film versions.
-Added 22uf paralleling capacitors across the leads of the filter capacitors
-Cleaned the inside of the case and upgraded the power supply thermistors with hardier versions.
-Boosted quiescent current from 15mA per transistor pair to 35mA per pair.
Anyway, sound quality now rivals that received from the improved headphone amplifier I built for my brother. There are also far less wires to mess with than those in the Perreaux and I rebuilt one Crown completely in a few hours. Finally, the output transistors are laid out on much larger heatsinks with much greater heat dissipation area. As I said before, the fan on the fanformer hardly ever turns on. It hasn't yet for me even with the quiescent current nearly tripled.
I don't mean to be argumentative, but I wouldn't put down an amplifier that has a fundamentally sound, innovative design but that can be upgraded to sound amazing easily and cheaply! After these upgrades, I get 250 watts of CLEAN power per channel!
Hi Sakis,
Do you have service manual for this amplifier,or schematic maybe?
If you do, pls e-mail it to me at audiobard@yahoo.com
Thanks
Do you have service manual for this amplifier,or schematic maybe?
If you do, pls e-mail it to me at audiobard@yahoo.com
Thanks
My P3A that is an amplifier that produces barely 60+60 watts already has inside 60.000 niponfarad .... do you produce 2X250 W with a couple of 9.900 ??? i don't think so
the transformer inside the Perreaux is almost 1KW for a 2X350 W amplifier inside the crown there is no chance that the trafo is bigger than 500 W .... so 2X250W clean power just forget it
I respect your opinion but i totally disagree with you .... Amplifiers like the one you own focus on producing cheap dirty power not quality ....
the transformer inside the Perreaux is almost 1KW for a 2X350 W amplifier inside the crown there is no chance that the trafo is bigger than 500 W .... so 2X250W clean power just forget it
I respect your opinion but i totally disagree with you .... Amplifiers like the one you own focus on producing cheap dirty power not quality ....
Now listen to this !!!!
The amp is already repaired and tuned according to my opinion still i wanted the manufacturer's specs to ensure that my tuning is proper ,,,,It took them 12 hours to reply my email ( mostly cause the difference of time ) Nice polite and service minded people ..I am thrilled with them !!!
kind regards
sakis
The amp is already repaired and tuned according to my opinion still i wanted the manufacturer's specs to ensure that my tuning is proper ,,,,It took them 12 hours to reply my email ( mostly cause the difference of time ) Nice polite and service minded people ..I am thrilled with them !!!
kind regards
sakis
Hi Sakis
I haven't heard about this before. What is the problem with placing electrolytics horizontally? I can only think of leaking electrolyte, but surely decent quality capacitors will be properly sealed (unless enough pressure builds up for them to start venting)?
Regards - Godfrey
caps placed horizontally
If caps placed horizontally degrade because of electrolyte migration, does this mean that axial lead electrolytics are bad by design?
But isn't the same thing going to happen to vertically placed caps: the electrolyte will migrate down as well, the portion with denser electrolyte will just be a shorter cylinder while the top of the separator would be drier, same problem just different shape of the dried out part of the separator.
~ mirlo
If caps placed horizontally degrade because of electrolyte migration, does this mean that axial lead electrolytics are bad by design?
But isn't the same thing going to happen to vertically placed caps: the electrolyte will migrate down as well, the portion with denser electrolyte will just be a shorter cylinder while the top of the separator would be drier, same problem just different shape of the dried out part of the separator.
~ mirlo
I can only answer this:
since this is bugging me for very long time and since in my company we replace an average of 6.000 electrolytics per year as a rule of thumb i can tell you that the capacitors placed horizontally regardless if axial or radial present more problems than the ones placed vertically
This though has to do with audio and also has to do with long or very long run .
Most of these questions that i placed in trusted manufacturers regarding the orientation and the long run issue where answered with the phrase :
"""Read our specs, our capacitor is covered by a spec sheet that says 6.000 hours"""" no further information .....
In some of the amplifiers i work with capacitors inside are 30 years old so i don't actually think that Nippon made tests ...for so long life .....
since this is bugging me for very long time and since in my company we replace an average of 6.000 electrolytics per year as a rule of thumb i can tell you that the capacitors placed horizontally regardless if axial or radial present more problems than the ones placed vertically
This though has to do with audio and also has to do with long or very long run .
Most of these questions that i placed in trusted manufacturers regarding the orientation and the long run issue where answered with the phrase :
"""Read our specs, our capacitor is covered by a spec sheet that says 6.000 hours"""" no further information .....
In some of the amplifiers i work with capacitors inside are 30 years old so i don't actually think that Nippon made tests ...for so long life .....
Says who? The plates are wound, the electrolytic would cover in a similar fashion in both modes.
Anyways this is the first most have heard about placing caps sideways as being bad. Hardly something to be concerned with.
Please, a Pete Daniels gainclone has more mustard then that thing.
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