The new Crown Amplifiers

So I got the new drivecore XLS amps in.  They are pretty sweet.  8-10 lbs for serious power.  Cheap per watt, and the drivecore technology is amazing.  Voltage tolerant, they don't care if your 110 is nasty, or swings from 90-125.  I don't think Crown is putting enough emphasis on that aspect of these amps.  There's a proprietary chip built by TI that monitors all aspects of the amplifier.  Impedance, output, supply voltage, temperature, everything.  They are bulletproof, literally.  I got sold on them at NAMM, where an old school salesman who believed only in big iron was totally sold on them.  Because of the drivecore chip.  It is a revolution in amplifier control, and overcomes all the objections to switch mode amplifiers, because it responds and corrects any changing conditions.  None of the other new amps on the market have anything like it. 

They did, however, make 1 mistake.  You can only run a high pass or a low pass on a channel.  Not both.  Which for direct radiator boxes is no big deal.  For horn loaded subs, it's problematic.  You need both.  So my suggestion is still to run outboard crossovers.  Use the internal limiters, (which are very very good) and all the other powerful dsp available.  You can set the crossovers in the amp to steepen the slope for extra protection. For tops you don't need any outboard processing.  I think the best setup for the bucks would be an xTI for subs, XLS for tops. Then all you'd need are the amps and their built in dsp. 

I think it was a conscious decision on Crown's part, otherwise XLS would have killed the xTI line.

DIY in general

If there's one thing I've noticed that real DIY'ers will tackle about anything.  It's not so much the end result I think that gets our juices running,  it's the process, the work it self, the planning, overcoming obstacles, just getting it done.  We like making ourselves into quivering wrecks over some project that is just kicking our ass.  Whether it's speaker building, fixing a car (I don't do cars anymore, at all), working on a house, building a pc, it doesn't matter what the project, we just like the work. 

So at my place, cabs and audio have taken a back seat for a while.  Unless somebody orders some boxes ;-)  Here's the current project, and it's a doozy.  We're 2 weeks in just scraping and prepping the porch. 
House Paint Album

But I'm an anal bastard when it comes to paint.  If you do it right, it will last 10 or 15 years.   Do it fast and cheap, you're lucky to get 5.  But isn't that true about everything.  Doing anything right is hard, slow and wears you out.  Quick and dirty never gets it right. 

It takes a deadline

I just got done with a pair of t39's.  Including the new self powered amp.  I finished impedance testing and setting the dsp about an hour before the show I wanted to use them for.  They'd been under construction off and on for a couple of months, I dithered around on them. Only when the time was getting close I knew I needed them did I bear down, every evening after work, every day off, just about every spare minute to get them done.  There was quite a bit of custom work to do on them, so they took a while.  Plus I experimented with a few new techniques on these for proof of concept. 

Why does it always take a deadline?  I just don't get it done unless I have one, either manufactured or real. 

Oh yeah, 4 DR250's, 4 t39's, completely self powered system.  2 DDC520's running the whole show.  Sweet.  Pics before long on Bill's forum and my site.