Crown Amplifier for Advent 300

DeKay: good question....but if we start messing around with room acoustics.... Of course there is always double large Advents (do the Walnut ones sound better than the vinyl?), not to mention mounting a Heil driver, from an AMT-1, on the top.

The utility cabinets sounded better when stacked and the Walnut better when used as a pair. The Shag used in these listening tests was multiple hues of green. My ex-brother-in-law still has the AMT-1's but I sold all of the Advents years ago.

I would take an old Phase amp over a Crown ANY day. They offer much more of a platform to work from in terms of sonics. While they weren't bad amps in their day, they can be GREATLY improved with the implementation of simple upgrades and tweaks to the basic design that we have learned over the years. Besides all of this, they are cheap and offer plenty of power to drive those in-efficient sealed speakers like the Advents in question. Sean >

The DC300 was one of the first reliable high-quality ss amps available. While, comparatively speaking, this Crown amp is not as warm as just about any tube amp would be (This can be said about almost all ss amplification that is designed towards neutrality). The DC300 has been improved since its original version of some 3 decades ago. Interestingly, Crown was very much into the consumer market many years ago, even making pre-amps with outboard power supplies. The recent Macro Reference powerhouse amplifiers were very well reviewed by both subjective and objective oriented periodicals. But apparently they couldn't overcome the stigma of being a "pro" amp company. Be assured that Crown, or any of the other established pro amp companies can design an amplifier to meet so called audiophile objectives. And that many of their models through the years have probably easily met those criteria. How many have you read of if the buff magazines? There's no reason that a pro amp should not have the same sonic design objectives as any "ideal" amplifier would have. I.e., clean, quiet, dynamic and natural. In an appropriate system, a DC300 may well be all that some "audiophiles" would want. Try it for yourself.

Classic: You may want to check out Hawthornestereo.com. They are in Washington or Oregon and have tons of used vintage gear that they sell with a 30 day warrenty/return policy. If you call them they have a lot more stuff than is on the website. I ran across them on Ebay a while back and they are nice guys, I have talked to them.