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In Reply to: RE: The Crown IC150 & D150 posted by Barry on March 28, 2016 at 19:08:52
I think the pair retailed for about $3000...
Actually, the amp was $429 including optional faceplate while the preamp was $299. Click here for the line brochure at the time.
I did listen to the dealer (later mentor and boss) and purchased the Citation 11 preamp instead. We compared it to the ICK and it was no contest. The 11 was arguably one of the best SS preamps of that day. It wasn't until the John Curl designed Mark Levinson JC-2 that I heard better.
What I really wanted, but was outside my budget was the $695 Audio Research SP-3 and the $995 Dual 75. It wasn't until 1981 that I purchased an ARC preamp.
Follow Ups:
Actually, the inexpensive Hafler DH-101 clobbered the Citation 11. It was like night-and-day in favor of the Hafler. I owned them both. I was fooled by Citation's sales demonstration of square wave performance that caused me to buy the Citation 11 and 12. I listened to them for more than a year before buying Hafler kits just for fun. I'm sure glad I discovered Hafler.
Good luck,
John Elison
Actually, the inexpensive Hafler DH-101 clobbered the Citation 11.
Such is the case of technology moving on. The DH-101 wasn't introduced until many years after the Citation was released (1978 vs. 1971 ). I purchased mine in '74.
By 1978, the JC-2 was available which raised the bar even further. I opted for the even better Audio Research SP-6 a few years later.
Much better than the Crown. Bought the companion DH200 amp and Pooged it and rebuilt the power supply. Kept these for several years.
Okay, I guess I was wrong about the time frame. I bought my Citation 11 and 12 at the Bitburg Air Base Audio Club in either 1976 or 1977. I guess I played them for a few years until moving to Albuquerque, NM in 1980 when I bought the Hafler kits. However, the Citation 11 and 12 were nothing like previous Citation components. They used high negative feedback and had very low distortion on repetitive waveforms like square waves and sine waves. On music, they didn't sound very good at all, but being the technical guy that I am, I was impressed with their square wave performance. Let this be a lesson: Whenever a salesman uses test tones in his sales pitch, beware! ;-)
Best regards,
John Elison
Honestly, in the early 70s at the dawn of SS designs, nothing sounded as good as the best tube units. The other prominent SS player at the time, the McIntosh C-28, was a toad.
From my perspective, it was John Curl who changed the rules for what SS could do. I had two friends who bought the JC-2 when it was introduced - a truly exceptional product. Arguably, Bongiorno's Thaedra that followed was pretty good, too. JWC had both of those in his system for comparison circa '76 or so. I still preferred both the sound and the aesthetics of the JC-2. :)
Whenever a salesman uses test tones in his sales pitch, beware!
Which is essentially all we get today with THD and distortion spectrum graphs using a 50 hz sine wave. Similarly, switching amps excel using that criteria.
> > > Honestly, in the early 70s at the dawn of SS designs, nothing sounded as good as the best tube units < < < <
I still think it's true, especially for preamps. Wish I had gotten into tubes long before I did. Oh well. I'm fine now.
While I was using the Cit 11/D-150, the dealer allowed me to borrow the SP-3a over a weekend to hear in my system. I still recall one piece of music that illustrated a key difference - Do It Again by Steely Dan.
The shakers and cymbal strikes that open the piece sounded real with the Audio Research preamp.
I STILL lust after a fine example of the SP-3A (anybody want to swap for an SP-6C?).
Si vis pacem, para bellum
My first ARC preamp was an SP-6C that was quickly updated to an SP-6C-1 following the failure of a component. While the SP-3 was phenomenal in its day, I find that the SP-6 series was clearly superior with its stiffer power supply and improved coupling caps.
Perhaps you just need to have yours brought to current specs.
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