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Crest VS amps - any good for powering a sub? (1 Viewer)

Greg P

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I believe there is one owner of this brand of crest amps on this forum. Do these amps provide power through the whole bandwith frequency?

How is the fan noise on the Crest VS series
 

Vince Maskeeper

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Crest Professional amps are the best pro amps money can buy. Vs series is their budget product- but an excellent performer for the price.

-V
 

ThomasW

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Don't know about the Vs series but Pete brought his LT-1000 over last w/e for a shootout. The fan in it was pretty quiet while we were flogging the AS-15 sub to house shaking levels. It's a very nice amp for the money......
 

Tim Kilbride

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I don't necessarily agree with Vince on this one...but they are definitely in the top three (I own a Pro Audio Co. that uses QSC PL Series exclusively). But Crest, Crown, and QSC are what we see and use mostly in our industry. Any Crest amp will be more than adequate for HomeTheater use...a bit of irony...I use 4 Carver PM300's in my own theater and I am extremely pleased with their performance and no fans to boot...
A friend of mine owns a company called Sound Productions in Dallas...their website is www.SoundPro.com. They have an extensive used equipment lineup and you may want to see what the used Crest amps are going for...just to keep things in check!!!
My .02
TK-
 

Vince Maskeeper

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I don't necessarily agree with Vince on this one...but they are definitely in the top three (I own a Pro Audio Co. that uses QSC PL Series exclusively). But Crest, Crown, and QSC are what we see and use mostly in our industry. Any Crest amp will be more than adequate for HomeTheater use...a bit of irony...I use 4 Carver PM300's in my own theater and I am extremely pleased with their performance and no fans to boot...
Certainly- like anything else, everyone has their own opinions on products related to their trade and professional amplifiers are certainly no exception.
I know some companies that swear by QSC products- in fact at one time a company I am associated with was an exclusive QSC house (we used the flagship Powerlight product as well)- and had over 100 QSC amplifiers. We had some bad experiences with them- I never was completely satisfied with the sound of them and some bench testing revealed some slightly skewed results compared to the published specs- and I found myself once again back with Crest Pro products.
If you do a search on QSC, CROWN or CREST in the hardware archives- my experiences with each have been pretty well outlined a few years ago. John from QSC likes to give me a hard time about my anti-QSC leanings.
Crown makes excellent amps as well, specifically their flagship Macrotech products. However, as most people in the industry will tell you- Crowns are amps that will last forever because if pushed they will simply take out other items in the signal chain (i.e. they like to eat speakers if you try to push them beyond their limits). I think Crown's budget amps have also suffered from a bad reputation- I don't know if this is because they are bad amps when compared to other budget products- or if people had too high an expectation based upon Crown's reputation.
I did a "budget amp" test with QSC RMX and Crown CE- and persoanlly liked the Crowns better. But neither amp was bad for the price- especially in a controlled HT environment.
But, I keep coming back to Crest amps again and again- their pro series simply sounds like an amp should sound: solid. Their road worthy and they put out oodles of power. Their budget amps are the closest match to their flagship as anyone in the industry (QSC's budget RMX isn't half the amp their powerlight is- and the crown CE is said to be really lacking compared to their macro stuff)
Carver makes great amps- (I too actually used older PM series carver in my HT from time to time, specifically the old 2.0, back when they were silver and looked like the PT stuff-- I don't really lik the newer PM stuff) -- their amps have a warm character most pro amps lack. Carver isn't great for sub amps (they've long been faulted at having trouble pushing low end- especially in a full range application)- but sound great on midrange and highs.
However- ironically enough, I currently power my SVS subs with an extra QSC powerlight. LOL.
One of the more popular recent amps that many big companies use now are Link Removed amps. I know 8th day (one of the top 5 US sound companies) recently switched to them almost exclusively. I know they sound great on the V-Dosc rigs-- and would be interested to see if they trickle down to the smaller companies and eventually into Home Theater.
Another unsung hero of the amp world is Ashly. The FTX-2001 is, IMHO, the best sounding amp in the price range- bar none. With 2001's selling for under $400 used- you can't beat the deal. 700 watts a channel, THX certfied and sound realy good... can't beat them.
But like anything else- take a listen-- you'll know what you like no matter how much I tell you want I like.
-Vince
 

Tim Kilbride

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Vince,

I agree with you wholeheartedly on everything you've said...

Another amp new to our market is the CyberLogic...used mostly with the Nexo stuff. You should check them out if you get a minute.

TK-
 

Dan Hine

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The company I work for uses both QSC and Crest. Both are great amps and worth consideration. New amps from L'acoustic are also very nice! For a home theater application though the Crest amps seem to run a bit quieter.
Tim, speaking of Nexo I have a few of them up in a rig right now. Boy they are nice cabinets! :)
Dan Hine
 

Bob Sorel

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Yup, I'm the guy who uses 5 Crest VS-900's in my system, 6 channels to biamp my front 3 speakers and the other 4 channels for my sides and rears. And then I use a Crown K2 for my dual HE 15 subwoofer :)
Well, the K2 is the single best amp I have owned to date, as it provides 1250 wpc to each of my drivers, and its fanless design barely gets warm.
The VS-900's are also excellent amps, especially for the money, and since they use 2 speed fans, I can barely hear all 5 of them even when they used to be right on the side of me (I have sinced moved them to a separate room for cooling purposes). The fans can get quite loud if all 5 of them step up to high speed, but the spl's in your room will certainly drown out any fan noise at those levels :) The VS-900's also have a ramp up, ramp down feature, as well as protective relays, so that you never get any annoying or potentially harmful "thumps" blasted into your speaker sytem at any time. Even used for mains, these amps are great performers, and I would recommend them heartily for home theater usage. I picked up all 5 of them used, plus an enclosed rack, for about $2000 total. Just try getting 10 channels @ 450 wpc of quality amplification for that small sum of money. They are not the super ultimate in "audiophile" amps, but they are certainly one of the bang for the buck deals I have ever made.
 

Tim Kilbride

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Dan,

Give me your opinion on the difference between the Nexo and 850's. What do you like/dislike about each box(es)....

TK-
 

Vince Maskeeper

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Give me your opinion on the difference between the Nexo and 850's. What do you like/dislike about each box(es)....
I'd be interested to kow as well. I'm a pretty big KF750/850 fan but have grown to also love the Turbosound arrays and the VDosc (while i am technically trained to fly and array the Vdosc- I haven't yet been able to mix on one).

Curious about the Nexo, since I haven't seen one in person yet (been out of the loop- doing more studio projects lately.)

-Vince
 

Dan Hine

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Tim and Vince,
I must start off by saying that I am really more home audio inclined, I just happen to work for a pro a/v company. Therefore my knowledge is somewhat limited. However, I think here are my impressions nevertheless.
The Nexo's put out very clean highs and a surprising amount low bass. When I first heard them they were set up with a pair of OAP subs. The bass was working pretty well, even though I'm not a huge fan of OAP. Anyhow, after about 5minutes the guy turned the sound down and asked "Do you want me to turn the subs on now?" :D I had thought they were on the entire time.
Another bonus to the Nexos (in the area I work in) is that they get very loud very quickly. No need for a huge amp which makes them great for a wide range of applications. In fact, we are using a single AB Logic amp to run 4 Nexos with great results. In face we keep getting threatened to be shut down if we don't lower the volume. :b The really important part of the system is Nexo's crossover controller. I haven't gotten to play with them a lot but I intend to soon. And I'll be using them for another week and a half so maybe I'll get some more hands on play between now and then.
One thing to keep in mind with the Nexo's (this may not be an issue for you guys but was for us) is that Nexo's run on channel two of an NL4 connector. So if you use two conductor wire be sure to make your connections on the second channel. Or just use 4conductor wire exclusively.
That is really all I can tell you at this point, but I'm always learning more so I would be more than happy to pass on my opinions as time goes by. And now that I know more guys that are in this business I hope you won't mind me asking you guys things.
Dan Hine
 

Tim Kilbride

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Thanks for the info...
I have two friends who own sound co's that use Nexo...www.concertsystemsusa.com and www.showandtellpro.com. They love their systems. I own a large EAW rig (24 850's/ 12 SB1000's), and of course we rib each other constantly.
My idea on the EAW is that I don't have to sell it...it fills any and all riders we get. When traveling engineers call in to tech riders, we tell them what we have and it is the end of the conversation...plus there is another company here in NOLA that has 16 tops and 8 subs like mine should I need to cross rent more boxes. It works for me...and it is profitable, something that is hard to do in this business... make a buck!!!
I honestly believe that there are better sounding systems available, but 850's are like Shure SM-58's. Everyone knows what they sound like, and they all use them...it seems that every other company (except line arrays) compare their products to 850's (ie "it looks like an 850" "it sounds like an 850" "it flies like an 850" kinda thing).
IMO the only thing that taste like chicken is chicken...
Vince...what kinda gig are you into? Are you a buyer of talent, reseller, or promotions? What aspects of SR do you get into?
TK-
 

Steve Peterson

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I'll toss a word of caution out about the Crest V/Vs amps, especially if you are looking at an old used amp. It appears that some of the early V/Vs have power supplies that eventually self destruct. I had to take one of our church's Crest Vs amps in for warrenty repair on the power supply, and the repair tech said that he saw a fair number of those amps and they ALL had the same power supply problem. Solution: a redesigned power supply mainboard from Crest. He also said that the new amps had the redesigned power supply. If it was me, I wouldn't get a used V/Vs amp; but I wouldn't be a bit afraid to get a new one.

Steve "Of course, your mileage may vary." Peterson
 

Vince Maskeeper

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Vince...what kinda gig are you into? Are you a buyer of talent, reseller, or promotions? What aspects of SR do you get into?
To be honest, there are very few jobs in the "music industry" that I haven't done, at some level.

As far as strict SR related work:

House engineer in various live clubs/bars.

FOH or Monitor engineer on regional / one off gigs.

FOH tech, Monitor Tech, System Tech, Patch Monkey on medium-large national tours.

Monitor engineer on medium tours.

FOH engineer for a few select small touring acts (clubs, small theaters).

Basically I started as a club guy, started working with regional companies on local stuff. Eventually got gigs travelling as house engineer for smaller indie acts and the occassional 3rd or 4th guy on a large arena or shed tour.

Recently I've been out of the loop and haven't done live sound in any serious capacity in almost 2 years. I have been working more in recording as of late (while I don't own a recording facility, I'm usually hired by bands to serve as engineer/producer and work with them and their budget to decide the best way to record their album).

I will probably be returning to the live game as several bands who's albums I've engineered have asked me to mix them live for special occassions (label showcases, venues of 500+, etc).

I'm also working to develop a non-profit community studio project to help record musical styles that don't normally have much financial backing and also to help train people who want to learn the recording arts.

-Vince
 

John A. Gordon

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Vince,
I never give you a hard time? But just in case, once you start putting QSC as your "best" amp choice, I'll stop :D
 

Vince Maskeeper

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John,

You find me a job over there at QSC, and they'll become my favorite amps like that {snaps fingers}.

-Vince
 

John A. Gordon

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Vince, I had something lined up for you that I was going to reveal to all--including you--who attended the QSC tour during the national meets, but you did not show up! So no announcement, and we are now on a hiring freeze! But once it gets lifted, I'll be sure to let you know so we can
htf_images_smilies_chatter.gif
about it.
John
 

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