Crown XLS 1002 suddenly showing Thermal LEDs and cutting out

[GabrielPhoto]

Hi!
So I just got a 1002 yesterday to replace the Aiyima 07 max I was using (two of them) to run two Dayton BST-300ex. I setup one shaker per channel (4ohm shakers).
Everything was doing great, better than the Aiyimas.
Today after doing some tests I went upstairs to do other stuff and then came back down a few hours later to keep testing.
Unfortunately this time, during the same test I was doing earlier (Godzilla vs Kong), the amp started to cut out and go into thermal protection during the bried demo scene. I ran the same scene MANY times almost back to back before while tuning the shakers via MiniDSP so not sure what happened here.
I swapped RCAs and Speaker cables too just in case but still the same.
This was an open box from Amazon but at least this didnt come up at all yesterday or today until now.
Maybe I got a lemon (maybe why it was returned?)
I may just go with the 1502 or the Xli1500 for extra headroom just in case.
Or just get an NX3000 which I have been pretty lucky with my other ones (a couple of nx6000D )
Thoughts?


PS I ordered the xli 1500 which seems to have a lot lore headroom if the Wilson audio tests in YouTube are accurate so if it's a case of pushing too hard, I hope that takes care of it.

 

[dlaloum]

I purchased a pair of XLS2500's about 15 years ago... used. (so they are probably 17 years old now)

They have run flawlessly from day one, and are currently powering my mains, with substantial daily use...

Sounds like you may have got a lemon.

I would definitely go for the 1500 as a minimum - the circuitry for the 1500/1502 and up is higher grade with lower noise/distortion specs...

If buying used, you might as well go up to the 2000/2002 or 2500/2502, as there is almost no difference in typical pricing. (15 years ago I paid US$250 for each XLS2500 )

 

[LTig]

Hi!
So I just got a 1002 yesterday to replace the Aiyima 07 max I was using (two of them) to run two Dayton BST-300ex. I setup one shaker per channel (4ohm shakers).
Everything was doing great, better than the Aiyimas.
Today after doing some tests I went upstairs to do other stuff and then came back down a few hours later to keep testing.
Unfortunately this time, during the same test I was doing earlier (Godzilla vs Kong), the amp started to cut out and go into thermal protection during the bried demo scene. I ran the same scene MANY times almost back to back before while tuning the shakers via MiniDSP so not sure what happened here.
I swapped RCAs and Speaker cables too just in case but still the same.
This was an open box from Amazon but at least this didnt come up at all yesterday or today until now.
Maybe I got a lemon (maybe why it was returned?)
I may just go with the 1502 or the Xli1500 for extra headroom just in case.
Or just get an NX3000 which I have been pretty lucky with my other ones (a couple of nx6000D )
Thoughts?

Might be a lemon. Electronic devices usually either fail within the first 10 hours, or after 10+ years.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Thanks guys. I will report back tomorrow about how the xli 1500 did.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

I purchased a pair of XLS2500's about 15 years ago... used. (so they are probably 17 years old now)

They have run flawlessly from day one, and are currently powering my mains, with substantial daily use...

Sounds like you may have got a lemon.

I would definitely go for the 1500 as a minimum - the circuitry for the 1500/1502 and up is higher grade with lower noise/distortion specs...

If buying used, you might as well go up to the 2000/2002 or 2500/2502, as there is almost no difference in typical pricing. (15 years ago I paid US$250 for each XLS2500 )

Dang 250 for the 2500. .. home times have changed

 

[Sokel]

I would check all connections,etc.
2 out of 2 amps shutting down is not a sign of good health of the installation.
I would also check miniDSP settings and if everything ok I would also apply the recommended 80Hz low pass.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

I would check all connections,etc.
2 out of 2 amps shutting down is not a sign of good health of the installation.
I would also check miniDSP settings and if everything ok I would also apply the recommended 80Hz low pass.

??? What 2 amps? If you are referring to my post about the Fosi that is completely unrelated or I guess maybe related as both seem to have issues handling the power requirements. But the problem is the xls 1002 was able to handle it for a while (after I boosted the bottom frequencies more which of course created more demand) but a few hours after that test, it started acting up.
So as it seems not able to handle the demands, I hope the 2500 (decided to go even bigger) coming in today, does the trick

 

[Sokel]

??? What 2 amps? If you are referring to my post about the Fosi that is completely unrelated or I guess maybe related as both seem to have issues handling the power requirements. But the problem is the xls 1002 was able to handle it for a while (after I boosted the bottom frequencies more which of course created more demand) but a few hours after that test, it started acting up.
So as it seems not able to handle the demands, I hope the 2500 (decided to go even bigger) coming in today, does the trick

Crown is a tested 350 watt/4 Ohm pro amp,it should blow the 300 watt max shakers sky high.Shakers are not speaker,they don't forgive the little extra.

When I say check,i mean the usual suspects,a wrong connection (easy to do as I saw in Dayton brochures) a stray cable strand that may short things,a bad cable (checking with a DMM is not the world's worst idea,cables and shakers) ,something that maybe gotten between the shaker and the wood,etc. )

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Crown is a tested 350 watt/4 Ohm pro amp,it should blow the 300 watt max shakers sky high.Shakers are not speaker,they don't forgive the little extra.

When I say check,i mean the usual suspects,a wrong connection (easy to do as I saw in Dayton brochures) a stray cable strand that may short things,a bad cable (checking with a DMM is not the world's worst idea,cables and shakers) ,something that maybe gotten between the shaker and the wood,etc. )

Where was the 1002 shown delivering 350w per channel? I see Amir got 281Watts and not sure how is that been tested since for the shakers I am pushing much demanding frequencies. Like Amir has shown amps do not deliver their power evenly accross the frequencies, like on his review of the NX3000D he showed much l ower watts at 20hz IIRC.

No shorts, I checked all and even swapped cables even though nothing changed between it being working fine and suddenly having issues. The only thingt that changed priort to more extended tests was the extra demand I placed on it by pushing lower frequencies. Seems to have all the signs of just not being able to keep up.
Still waiting for Amazon to deliver to finally figure this out.

 

[Sokel]

Where was the 1002 shown delivering 350w per channel?

288 watt at the knee but you may want to look what follows:



and the bad thing with shakers is that you don't have the audible clues so to reduce level when reaching the limits.

Also,pushing lower,demand goes way up,just like with subs or speakers.

 

[Ron Texas]

Current price on an XLS1502 is $550. I paid $350 in 2016 or 2017. It's still going strong and I have never heard the fan.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Also,pushing lower,demand goes way up,just like with subs or speakers.

Yep which is why I decided to move up to 2500 for more headroom

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Current price on an XLS1502 is $550. I paid $350 in 2016 or 2017. It's still going strong and I have never heard the fan.

Yeah I had one MANY years ago and paid abotu the same you did...time surely have changed lol

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Confirmed...the xli 2500 handles them like nothing...in fact is over kill as I can make the bottom at anything over 1pm to 2pm on the dials.

 

[dlaloum]

Confirmed...the xli 2500 handles them like nothing...in fact is over kill as I can make the bottom at anything over 1pm to 2pm on the dials.

With overkill (and the 2500's are almost always overkill!) you can then determine what your actual needs are...

Whereas approaching it from the other side, you are never quite sure whether you have wrung that last bit of performance out of the setup...

 

[GabrielPhoto]

With overkill (and the 2500's are almost always overkill!) you can then determine what your actual needs are...

Whereas approaching it from the other side, you are never quite sure whether you have wrung that last bit of performance out of the setup...

I actually noticed that according to spec the 1002 in bridge 8ohms gives the same power total as 4ohms per channel so just for fun I ran then in series bridge and it actually is able to handle the settings it couldn't handle in stereo mode. In fact I got is of the shakers to bottom a little so it seems to be giving a bit more than needed that way.
I still prefer stereo mode so I can more control each individually if I wanted but this is a good option that I need to consider

 

[dlaloum]

I actually noticed that according to spec the 1002 in bridge 8ohms gives the same power total as 4ohms per channel so just for fun I ran then in series bridge and it actually is able to handle the settings it couldn't handle in stereo mode. In fact I got is of the shakers to bottom a little so it seems to be giving a bit more than needed that way.
I still prefer stereo mode so I can more control each individually if I wanted but this is a good option that I need to consider

I experimented with my pair of 2500's trying BiAmp (using the onboard crossovers), and Bridged...

In the end I found that the 2500's have so much current/power, that bridging and BiAmping did not seem to subjectively add anything.

At some future date I may retry the BiAmp option, with proper formal measurements, to see whether my subjective impression was mistaken... (given the speaker designer claimed the speakers could achieve 24Hz when biamped via the 2nd voice coil, but only 35Hz in standard mode)

Once you have enough power and enough current, any additional does nothing.

Typically, bridging moves constraints from Voltage to Current - increased V output at the cost of amps...

So your experiment showed that the 1002's can provide more than enough current, even when bridged, for your speakers - and your speakers clearly want a bit more V - which is what bridging achieves.

 

[StigErik]

The XLS1002 does not like loads below 2 ohm in stereo mode, so bridging with lower than 4 ohms load might not be a good idea I think.

I’ve tested the XLS1002 on two ScanSpeak 30W/4558 4 ohm (Re = 2.6 ohm) woofers wired in parallel, which made the amp go into protection immediately.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

The XLS1002 does not like loads below 2 ohm in stereo mode, so bridging with lower than 4 ohms load might not be a good idea I think.

I’ve tested the XLS1002 on two ScanSpeak 30W/4558 4 ohm (Re = 2.6 ohm) woofers wired in parallel, which made the amp go into protection immediately.

I didn't do parallel so it was an 8ohm load and worked prefectly.
I'm considering adding a 3rd shaker and run two of them parallel on one channel (2ohms) and a single shaker on the other (4ohms)
I wonder how that will turn out

 

[GabrielPhoto]

So your experiment showed that the 1002's can provide more than enough current, even when bridged, for your speakers - and your speakers clearly want a bit more V - which is what bridging achieves.

I honestly never knew there was a difference of voltage vs current in this way. Now I must learn about this more