Topic: Crown DC 300

[woodybear]

just scored a pristine crown. apparently this is the first solid state crown made and i would like to use it as the power stage to one of my stereos. what would be the best way to go from -10 to +4? i'd like to be able to hook my TT, cd player, etc. to a mixer sans, power amp. any ideas?

[rokpunk]

DC300's were good amps in their day (literally 40 years ago), but be aware that they are notorious for having leaking filter capacitors in their power supplies. They are not cost effective to fix, so just be aware of that before sinking too much time or money into this amp. I don't know the answer to your specific question, though.

[Church-Audio]

just scored a pristine crown. apparently this is the first solid state crown made and i would like to use it as the power stage to one of my stereos. what would be the best way to go from -10 to +4? i'd like to be able to hook my TT, cd player, etc. to a mixer sans, power amp. any ideas?

Any amp that is over 30 years old should really be recapped and as has been stated the main filter caps are prone to dry out and lose there value the other side effect of a dyed out cap is a dead short in the power supply that will blow the amp up So I would have the caps looked at. As far as input sensitivity the best person to ask would be Crown they can tell you what the input level in mV is required for 0 db and at what line level that would be at +4 or -10 I suspect the amp is -10 but again dont quote me on that. There is no standard. Its a very warm sounding amp I also like the Bryston 4b because it sounds alot like the amp you have. Its a great amp I would put a few bucks into it. Recapping the amp is not that expensive but the big caps are getting harder to find in that can size. As I remember they are 40,000 uF or so.



Chris

[kskreider]

A buddy of mine gave me one too.  The problem was that it sat forever first.  It lasted about 3 months before I blew it up.

[Church-Audio]

A buddy of mine gave me one too.  The problem was that it sat forever first.  It lasted about 3 months before I blew it up.

The problem with old electronics that includes tube amps or anything that has big electrolytic caps in it. Is that when they sit they dry out. When you operate them they dont dry out as fast. So many times you will find old electronics that have been used all the time in good working order but stuff that has been in a basement and never used in poor electronic condition.

Chris

[kskreider]

Chris, do you think that it is worth repairing?

[Church-Audio]

Chris, do you think that it is worth repairing?

Hell yeah.... For sure its a great sounding amp and if you recap it before the caps take out the output transistors its a great amp! But get a good estimate first. I would send it to Crown. They love working on there old gear and nobody can do a better job them they can and they will only repair or replace what needs to be repaired or replaced. You would have to spend at least $600+ on a Used bryston or a Halfler to get a sound that is anywhere near this amp. Its very warm and musical sounding to my ears.


Chris

[kskreider]

This thing weighs a ton.  I just went to crownaudio.com and found the service manual.  Read the first line as that is what happened to me.  A poof of pure white smoke.

http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/legacy/dc300-sm.pdf

Sorry for the light threadjacking woodybear

[woodybear]

no sweat. all info is good info. As of now the amp operates properly. i used it for playback from pro tools and it killed my newish halfer.

[Church-Audio]

This thing weighs a ton.  I just went to crownaudio.com and found the service manual.  Read the first line as that is what happened to me.  A poof of pure white smoke.

http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/legacy/dc300-sm.pdf

Sorry for the light threadjacking woodybear

In the 20 years of servicing audio gear I have never seen a more extensive service manual. Wow more companies should do this.

[kskreider]

Crown won't touch it.  I called AE Techron off the their site, who Crown claims does their legacy support.  AE won't touch the 300, but only the 300A.  Robert claims replacement parts are obsolete and the newer replacement parts cause oscillation problems.  $75/hour with the usual NTE of $250 and I would have to get it to Indiana.

I called CAE Audio in San Mateo who is also listed on the Crown site so I don't have to ship the beast.  He echoed everything AE said but said they would look at it for $125/hour.  I told him about the poof of white smoke and after he stopped laughing he said dust probably fried the motherboard but they would not know until they opened it up.

[rokpunk]

There was a time about 3 years ago around here that a local sound company sold off about 20 DC300's, for $100/ea.
I'm guessing that he still has some left. I'd be real surprised if Crown will still work on this amp.

[Chuck]

The Crown DC 300 was the holy grail when I was a kid. A friends dad had one. We used to listen to old Yes, Genesis and Grateful Dead records for hours through Advent (not sure which model) speakers. You are getting good advice about the capacitors in that amp. If I had one, I'd clean it up, put it on the shelf in my listening room and admire it.

[woodybear]

ok so i just got the 300 back from the shop. $200 worth of recapping later and i'm SUPER pleased. to say i'm blown away is an understatement.

heaven = wilco's a ghost is born>grado blue cart>marantz 6100 TT>mcintosh mx-117>crown DC 300> JBL L100S>me. 

[Chuck]

Congrats!

[Tim]

nice! Congrats

[woodybear]

the hafler i referred to was a newer hafler. to my ears the 300 has a much larger dynamic range.

[woodybear]

no sweat. now mind you it was one of the transnova numbers, not the high end stuff.

[DSatz]

The Crown DC 300 was the first high-powered amplifier on the U.S. hi-fi scene in the early 1970s. For most people with component stereo systems, 20 to 40 Watts per channel was the norm until this monster came along with 150 Watts per side. It was very useful if you liked to play music loud and had acoustic suspension loudspeakers such as AR, KLH or Advent--they had the deepest and flattest bass response, but were inefficient (power-hungry) by comparison with "tuned port" loudspeakers.

Then came the Phase Linear 700 power amplifier ... 350 Watts per channel ...

[Church-Audio]

The Crown DC 300 was the first high-powered amplifier on the U.S. hi-fi scene in the early 1970s. For most people with component stereo systems, 20 to 40 Watts per channel was the norm until this monster came along with 150 Watts per side. It was very useful if you liked to play music loud and had acoustic suspension loudspeakers such as AR, KLH or Advent--they had the deepest and flattest bass response, but were inefficient (power-hungry) by comparison with "tuned port" loudspeakers.

Then came the Phase Linear 700 power amplifier ... 350 Watts per channel ...

You mean "flame Linear" dont you

[Scooter123]

That was the core of our system in the 70's.  God I loved that power amp.  We had racks of them. 

Shures > Mavis boards and preamps > JBL

Then the toys--Eventide 3-channel 400ms delays and Phaser units

I'd love to have a couple and and biamp my home stack right now.  I'd rack mount those babies.