Features:

  • Class D amp with Crown ultra-efficient drive Core technology weighs less than 11 lb. (5 kg)
  • Higher DSP capabilities: more control; has band pass filter per channel
  • Increased lighting functionality; turn off all LED indicators except clip and thermal to reduce distraction in dark venues
  • Selectable input sensitivity; 1.4VRMS and .775VRMS options so that amp can be driven At full power
  • Set sleep mode after specified time without having to press a button
  • Input: balanced XLR (x2), ¼” TRS (x2), RCA jacks (x1 pair); output: ¼” speaker (x2)
  • Power: 550W at 2ω, 350W at 4Ω, 215W at 8Ω
  • Ac input voltage: 100 – 240VAC (10%), 50/60Hz
While researching replacements I had a choice between an audiophile replacement and something that would sound good enough at a great price

Day one. I've had intermittent issues with a 30 year old Yamaha MX600U due to an inadvertent physical impact. While researching replacements I had a choice between an audiophile replacement and something that would sound good enough at a great price. The crown was a great choice for what I need. The crossover allows me to have a sharper slope when combined with my Onkyo receiver, the adjustable input gain and gain controls allow good level matching and the low impedance drive capability matches well with the car audio 4 ohm DVC sub in a custom enclosure. I'm in the 12v industry. I enjoy sound quality, imaging, staging and a warped in bass slam. This amp has got me thinking of multiple subs to get the impact of what I feel in the car:-)

Five stars with a small caveat for home use

This is a really excellent little amp. I am using it in place of my receiver's internal amp to run a pair of small but suprisingly demanding speakers (Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 350s - they are listed as "compatible" with 8 ohms but the truth is they need something that will drive 4 ohms). With the internal amp in my receiver the speakers were clearly taxing it when the volume is pushed - not hard clipping but it would lose bass respones and get "screechy" sounding. The Crown simply loafs along with no issue at any volume level I've tried, and clearly has plenty of reserve. My ears will give out long before the amp does. Even with the input gains set at the 3 o'clock position and the preamp volume at noon, I don't feel the need to go any louder and the input level hovers around -30. So what's the caveat? The amp has a small but audible hiss when powered on. It is not affected by gain level or input (I tried it with my receiver completely off and the hiss remained). It is audible in quiet passages of music and movies. It is not unpleasant and resembles good master tape hiss, but - if you're a little compulsive about your audio it may stick in your craw. I've asked around and it's normal for these amps - just the price of gobs of cheap power I guess. If you use highly sensitive speakers it will definitely make itself heard. I am not deducting a star because the amp is designed to be used at output levels that would mask the noise in the first place. It's just something to consider for home users. I have never heard the fans, but as I stated I have never even pushed the amp that hard.

Incredible amp!

So I got 3 of these for a home theater setup with a Marantz 7704 preamp. The ability to duplicate the signal to a second set of speakers without concern of matching impedance is amazing when you have a multi-row theater! They are clean, crisp, and make almost no fan noise. Perfect for this application!

XLS1002

I have the amp bridged to two 8ohm towers so she’s seeing 4ohms bridged and putting out 1100 Watts. Super clean, super loud and zero distortion... I’m seriously impressed with this amp. It is extremely lightweight, where the hell are all these electrons coming from!? Buy it, crank it... love it, done.

Gread for installed system in multipurpose room.

Great for installed audio at large multipurpose room. Relatively quiet and no heat. Also nice in our old building to not be pulling huge currents from the AC power line during turn-on. Frequency and transient response are good. Very clean sound.

Great amp!!

I added amp to receiver pre-outs to power left and right front towers. Difference in sound quality is night and day. Sound is more open and fuller. I finally feel the towers are being powered the way they should be. Bass from front towers is harder hitting and deeper. I will probably buy another one of these crowns to power surround bookshelves.

Subwoofer Amp

I had a 12" JBL Venue Subwoofer and like many more users, it stopped working due to bad undersized shunt resistors, bad ventilation and bad circuit design. This led to many capacitors drying. I recap them all but, subistitued the resistors but never trusted them again. Searched for sub plates and subwoofer amplifiers, but there were always complain and/or equipment problems to those who bought it. I wanted a rugged amplifier, and since i feed it through "sub out" from my receiver, i could use the XLS1002 with the input sensibility adjusted to hometheater use. Adjusted it in bridge mode and set my receiver to output 0dB. The 12" driver is 8 ohms and capable of 500W max. Crown level was adjusted to 9 (10 is the max). I did it this way so if my kid touch the volume level, it wont explode the driver. Everything is great now! Excellent amplifier. Great for subwoofer usage. Precise and powerful. Did not have to deal with wood and subwoofer plates adjustments. Same price (bought it at $250) as the Dayton sub amplifier (that have more connections options that i dont use). Great interface and adjust options. New life to a 11 years old sub.

They call it crown because it's made for a king WOW thank you crown

Heaven on earth I've wanted one of these since 1970 talk about sound running 8 speakers and the modified base Tested it plugged into the iPhone and Tivoli Desktop radio first audio file quality! Pulled it later and ran it through my home stereo so cool this is the life!!!!!

Great amp

This is my second XLS1002. I have read many if the poor reviews and suspect that some people may have received a bad amp (every manufacturer has an error rate) or they did not go through and adjust the amps settings for their particular use. One amp is driving a subwoofer - totally does the job. The other is installed in a house of worship. Both deliver ample sound and I have plenty of reserve headroom.

Wanted one for years. Did not let me down.

I've wanted to try one of these for years. All I wanted was an amplifier I could wire like a car audio amp to give me some flexibility in a simple two channel home audio set up. Right now it's just driving a 12" 2 ohm duel voice coil sub. There is no piece of home audio equipment you can buy (reasonably) that can continuously drive a 2 ohm load. It effortlessly drives the sub at any volume and never sounds taxed in the least. I do have the gains turned up higher than I thought, but it could have more to do with the consumer grade components that are hooked to it than the output of this unit. I haven't had time to pull out components yet to really play with this, so it's currently paired to an old kenwood pre-amp - rolls mini crossover - highs to a denon 120w/ch surround receiver ran as a simple 4 ch amp bi wired to a pair of kef q100's - lows to crown and sub. It's a little busy, so it's hard to know if the higher gains are needed because the sub needs the power or if the input signal is lower than it should be. Regardless, it would be tough to buy a better sounding set up for less than a couple grand. The flexibility and clean power make this an easy 5 star item for me. It's music to my ears....

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