Posts Tagged ‘Crown Audio’

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Deserving of a Distinguished Service Medal: HARMAN’s Crown Retires Its D Series Power Amplifiers

by Definition Branding & Marketing Posted: Wednesday, 2/13/2013

Clipped CTs stack CTs 600, CTs 1200, CTs 2000, CTs 3000, front right viewELKHART, Indiana — HARMAN’s Crown Audio today announced that after 37 years of continuous production the company is discontinuing its D Series power amplifiers. In a run that’s unprecedented in the history of professional audio amplifiers, the Crown D Series became ubiquitous worldwide for its outstanding sound and unshakable reliability, and as the D Series era draws to a close, its legacy is embodied in every current Crown product.

“Little did the 1977 engineering development team know that the new D75 would turn out to be the longest running product of the company. During its lifetime over 100,000 were produced.  Generations of dedicated assembly personnel have touched the D75 and contributed to its long life. It epitomizes the focus we have to do our best and satisfy our customers,” stated Tom Szerencse, Manufacturing Engineer, HARMAN Professional Amplifier Business Unit.

The Crown D Series evolved from modest beginnings. “In 1977 we developed the D Series from the Crown SA20-20, a one-rack-space 20 watt per channel solid-state stereo power amp that was an accessory to the Crown tape recorders of the time,” said Gerald Stanley, Director of Research, HARMAN Professional Amplifier Business Unit. “However, when mounted in a rack the tape recorders and their electronics left little room for accessories, which shaped the compact form factor of the D Series and the rack-mount-ability of Crown amplifiers ever after.”

The Crown D Series soon became ever-present. After 37 years these amps are everywhere, in the studio, on stage, in broadcast facilities, in fixed installations and even in homes. The odds are almost everyone has heard one. Models like the moderate-power D-75A and D-45 were ideal for applications like recording and broadcast studio near-field monitoring and small paging systems, and with more than 25 years of continual production, the DC-300 has attained legendary status.

“If any amplifier line should receive a lifetime achievement award, it’s the D Series, Stanley concluded.” The Crown D Series has outlived most amplifier companies, let alone most amplifier families.”

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.

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HARMAN JBL Loudspeakers and Crown Amplifiers Deliver Expansive Indoor/Outdoor Sound at Spanish Fly Mexican Beach Club

by Definition Branding & Marketing Posted: Friday, 10/7/2011

Photo Caption: Optimum A/V Systems designed and installed an expansive HARMAN audio system at the new Spanish Fly Mexican Beach Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — The Spanish Fly Mexican Beach Club is Scottsdale, Arizona’s newest hot spot day and night, thanks to its resort-style pool, indoor and outdoor bars, private cabanas, day beds, restaurant and extensive indoor/outdoor sound system featuring more than 20 HARMAN JBL Control® Series loudspeakers and Crown Audio amplifiers and zone controllers. With plans to stay open 365 days a year, the Spanish Fly Mexican Beach Club offers a wide variety of nightclub entertainment.

Optimum A/V Systems of Tempe, Arizona, a systems integrator specializing in commercial, residential and security installations, was contracted for the audio system design and installation. The loudspeakers for Spanish Fly include 10 JBL Control 30 high-output monitor speakers, nine Control 29AV monitor speakers, and two Control SB210 dual 10-inch subwoofers. The speakers and subs are driven by 10 Crown XTi Series XTi 2000 amplifiers, one CE 4000 and three CE 2000 amps, operating in conjunction with a dbx ZonePro Digital Zone Processor.

“Our involvement with the Spanish Fly Club came from having done a number of sushi restaurants for the owners,” noted Adam LaGrow of Optimum A/V Systems. “We used JBL, Crown and dbx equipment for the restaurants and they all have good sound, but the owners wanted to step it up for the Spanish Fly Club and gave us free rein to design a system that would flat-out rock.”

“Since this was an indoor/outdoor installation, one of the major challenges was the fact that we had to work around an indoor/outdoor bar with the pool in the middle of it outside,” continued LaGrow. “The owners wanted the ambience and atmosphere of Las Vegas outdoor pool parties. They wanted to rock both the inside and the outside of the club and have plenty of bass – but we also had to take the noise ordinances of the City of Scottsdale into account.”

“We chose the JBL Control Series speakers and subs because they sound great and work well in either an indoor or an outdoor environment. This reduced the number of speaker models we had to use and simplified the installation. We put marine grilles on all the speakers for water resistance, and we know the speakers are extremely reliable from past experience. In addition, the Control 29 has a rotatable high-frequency horn, which enables it to be used either horizontally or vertically and comes in handy in certain applications.”

“The project turned out incredibly well. The sound is clear and powerful both inside and out without being overbearing, with plenty of bass and tons of headroom,” concluded LaGrow. “The club is the talk of the town and the place to be on weekends.”

For more information about Optimum A/V Systems, please contact www.optimumavsystems.com.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 12,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $3.8 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011.

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Staten Island’s ZTwo Restaurant Uses HARMAN’s JBL Loudspeakers for Dining, Dancing, DJs and More

by Definition Branding & Marketing Posted: Tuesday, 10/4/2011

NORTHRIDGE, California – ZTwo, one of Staten Island’s newest restaurants, offers its patrons a wide selection of food, drinks and activities—everything from providing a relaxing coffee shop atmosphere in the morning to showing sporting events on 22 big-screen monitors and a 96-inch video wall to pumping up the volume for late-night DJ partying.

To accommodate this social and sonic variety, ZTwo installed a sound system with more than 13 zones, featuring HARMAN’s JBL AE and Control® Contractor Series loudspeakers, powered by Crown amplifiers and tied together by a BSS Audio Soundweb London BLU-100 signal processor/digital audio bus.

Commercial and residential systems integrator JD Systems of Staten Island designed and installed the audio system. “We had to make sure that the audio would accommodate a number of different areas equally well including the bar/lounge area, restaurant, lobby, VIP area and bakery,” noted Jonathan Joyce, one of the principals of JD Systems. “We wanted to deliver fidelity and enough headroom for DJs to come in and not blow things up. We like to design systems with some extra horsepower in case DJs want to push the system.”

“The bar and lounge area—where more SPL is needed—is on one side of the main floor, so we placed five JBL AM7215 loudspeakers there, along with one ASB7118 single-18 and two ASB7128 dual-18-inch subwoofers. The area isn’t a dedicated dance floor per se, but that’s where people dance at night and we have the subs positioned toward the DJ area.” The AM7215’s are bi-amped with Crown CTs Series CTs600 amps running the horns and CTs1200s for the woofers, and the subs are powered by a Crown MacroTech MA-9000i amp.

Eight JBL Control 47C/T speakers are installed in the restaurant area’s ceiling. The Control 47C/T speakers are designed to deliver extended bass with a wide 120-degree coverage area, enabling fewer speakers to handle a larger space. “We went with Control 24C/T in-ceiling speakers in a 70-volt distributed audio system for all the areas that needed background audio, including the bakery, lobby, VIP section and bathrooms, as well as for the bar/dance area when the main system is not on,” continued Joyce. “I didn’t want to have to have the whole amp rack running all the time; that system is only used for DJs, and the Control 47C/T and 24C/T in-ceilings do a great job handling the sound for all of ZTwo’s other audio needs.” All of the JBL Control speakers are powered by Crown CTs8200 and CTs4200 amplifiers.

The speakers and amplifiers are linked via a BSS BLU-100 signal processor and digital audio bus. “The BLU-100 is the brains of it all,” noted Joyce. “For the functionality it provides, the rack space you save is amazing. We also expect to expand into a rooftop bar in the future, and the BLU-100 enabled us to add a BSS break-out box to accommodate the addition of more zones.”

Joyce noted that although the ZTwo system has 4,000 watts of amplification for the subwoofers alone, it’s not going to disturb the restaurant’s diners. “We’ve set the subs to ramp up from 8 PM to full power at 11 PM, so no matter how hard the DJ plays at 9 pm, it won’t rattle the silverware. We can also turn off the subwoofers completely for a quiet event or private party.”

“When we chose the equipment for ZTwo, we were given creative license and a reasonable budget. We wanted good fidelity and high-quality, reliable products that would integrate well. That’s why we used Harman brands, along with the fact that I can call someone at Harman and they can recommend products across lines – JBL, Crown and BSS in this case – that work well together.”

For more information about JD Systems, please contact www.jdsystems.tv.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 12,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $3.8 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011.

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HARMAN’s Crown Audio Showcases Class-Leading Value and Performance, With XTi 2 Series Amplifiers For Portable PA

by Definition Branding & Marketing Posted: Sunday, 9/11/2011

LONDON, United Kingdom — Resetting the standards for portable sound amplification, HARMAN’s Crown Audio is showcasing the XTi 2 Series of amplifiers. Offering increased control, an enhanced feature set and a sleeker design, the XTi 2 Series amplifiers bring together features and performance never before available in an amplifier designed for portable PA applications. Providing a complete suite of integrated speaker processing, the new XTi amplifiers eliminate the need for external crossovers, limiters, and EQs, immediately saving rack space and money.

The XTi 2 features enhanced control with Crown’s revolutionary PeakX Plus™ limiters. The limiters are derived from the same framework as those found in I-Tech HD and the new XLS DriveCore Series amplifiers allowing users to manipulate threshold, attack and release times. A new and improved subharmonic synthesizer offers more accurate control over which frequencies are targeted and can be tailored for a specific system or room setup.

Offering increased amplifier functionality, users now have Advanced Thermal Control giving them the ability to tailor the fan performance to their specific application. XTi 2 also increases the amount of presets a user can save and recall from 20 to 30. Enhancing power management, a new status section on the amplifier allows for the monitoring of power supply temperature and AC line voltage making troubleshooting even easier

“Crown’s proven reputation in the portable sound market for building amplifiers that provide the highest level of value and performance is unparalled. The new XTi 2 series pushes the industry threshold and redefines the feature set that users can and should come to expect from portable PA amplifiers,” stated Andy Flint, Marketing Manager for Crown.

XTi 2 amplifiers are also fully compatible with HiQnet™ Band Manager™ software.  The free-of-charge application provides a sleek redesigned function-driven interface, which has been re-skinned to simplify system setup and management while enabling audio professionals, musicians, and engineers to configure and control a rack of Crown XTi and now XTi 2 series amplifiers.

The amplifiers now feature integrated rack handles and an enhanced cast front panel that is more durable. The XTi 2 1002, 2002, and 4002 weigh 18.5lbs and the XTi6002 weighs in at 24lbs.

Harman HiQnet™ is the world’s first connectivity and control protocol that integrates all product categories in the signal chain for professional audio systems of all types, size, and applications. Harman HiQnet no longer requires the user to manage multiple disparate operating systems or be responsible for programming individual signal processors, speaker controllers, wireless microphone systems, and mixing consoles. HiQnet was developed by engineers from across the Harman Pro Group and is coordinated by the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG), a team of dedicated systems specialists based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 12,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $3.8 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.

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HARMAN’s Crown Audio Introduces PIP-BLU Programmable Input Processor Card for Its CTs Series Amplifiers At PLASA 2011

by Definition Branding & Marketing Posted: Sunday, 9/11/2011

LONDON, United Kingdom — At PLASA 2011, HARMAN’s Crown Audio today announced the introduction of its PIP-BLU Programmable Input Processor (PIP) card for the Crown CTs Series power amplifiers. The PIP-BLU adds BSS Audio Soundweb London digital audio bus functionality to Crown CTs Series amplifiers, offering a simple, cost-effective way to get digital audio all the way to the amplifiers.

“The PIP-BLU adds BSS Audio’s Soundweb London digital audio bus to Crown’s popular CTs Series amplifiers, without having to use additional network switches. This makes installation much easier, saves time and money, greatly simplifies the cabling within an amplifier rack and provides advanced control and monitoring capabilities,” said Daniel Saenz, Install Business Segment Manager, Crown Audio. “With the PIP-BLU, contractors are now able to leverage the functionality and simplicity of the Soundweb London digital audio bus all the way to the amplifiers.”

The PIP-BLU is compatible with Crown CTs Series 2-channel amplifiers built after April 2011. It provides BSS Audio Soundweb London digital audio bus functionality along with analog input and output connectors, and offers two digital audio bus channels to the amplifier, an RJ-45 Ethernet jack for remote configuration, control and monitoring and two digital audio bus channels back from the amp (for the listen bus), along with two analog input channels and two analog output channels. The analog channels provide analog backup and also facilitate using the CTs amplifier as a 2-channel Break-In Box (BIB). The analog outputs provide a buffered version of the inputs, allowing daisy-chaining down a rack.

The PIP-BLU card allows the amplifier to be connected into the Soundweb London digital audio bus ring, providing the sharing of digital audio, fault tolerance and greatly simplifies cabling. The PIP-BLU uses HARMAN’s HiQnet™ protocol and is configured, controlled and monitored using HiQnet London Architect.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 12,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $3.8 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.

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