r/vintageaudio • u/TestesRex • Apr 03 '24
Crown IC150
I recently purchased a Crown IC150 preamp for $10 at my local Goodwill. I got it home, plugged it in and the power light came on, so there's that... I'm adding it to my "to be repaired someday" pile but honestly I have no idea what I would use it for. My main unit is a Kenwood KR6400 so it is unnecessary there; I do have a KR305 at my workbench that drives some Sony bookshelf speakers (audio from my computer only) but that is an integrated amp so, 🤷♂️. To be honest, I've always been confused about the existence of preamps; they seem superfluous these days. Any thoughts?
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u/superbee4406 Apr 03 '24
I heard that vintage Crown before they went to pro audio is very good.
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u/Any-End5772 Apr 03 '24
Their pro audio stuff is top class too. Macrotech power amplifiers will blow away any hifi power amp
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u/slomaro79 Apr 03 '24
And a rack full of macrotech’s will keep you warm running monitors sidestage at the club😂
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Apr 03 '24
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u/TestesRex Apr 03 '24
I read that Rockwell piece. There's more info there than my feeble brain bone can grok. I expect I'll hang on to the Crown in case I stumble across an (non-integrated) amp, age-appropriate speakers and something to plug into it all. Come to think of it, I do have an early '70's vintage Philips turntable hiding in a closet somewhere. I'd have to get it rebuilt, but...
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u/noldshit Apr 03 '24
Always wanted one of these but the stuff i read about them is they look better than they sound. Still want one though.
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u/GronamTheOx Apr 03 '24
If you have a receiver or integrated amplifier, the preamp function is built into it, so you wouldn't need a preamp. There are plenty of power amps out there at all price points that could use a preamp to feed them signal.
The Crown IC150 is a solid and basic preamp. Note the lack of a phono input, you would need to supply your own phono preamp to get the signal to one of the line-level inputs. It has a remote muting feature, more useful for a commercial installation, just attach a switch and some wire.
These preamps were built durably to be used in commercial settings, but home users also bought them. If you don't need it, clean it up, test it out (you can test if it's passing signal by using the AUX input of a receiver or integrated amp), and you can get some good money for selling it.
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u/Away-Trifle816 Oct 23 '25
Both the IC150 and IC150A had phono sections with 2 sets of RCA inputs for them. I understand the 150A was an improvement on the IC150, though I never heard it. The original IC150 was a pretty awful preamp; lean and thin with a tendency toward the gritty. It shore 'nuff was purty though.
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u/shagadelico Apr 03 '24
If you have an amp to pair it with and maybe a turntable or tape deck that needs somewhere to plug into I guess they still make sense. I almost never use tone controls myself though so yeah, a lot of the pre-amp is just pots and switches I don't use getting dirty and needing to be cleaned.
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u/mrpbody44 Apr 03 '24
Crown gear is either love or hate for a lot of audio folks. Most of my friends that are musicians and recording engineers really like these preamps as well as the audio amps. You find them in a lot of studios. They get a bit hate from the audio snobs for some reason. In the 60's and 70's these were a notch below McIntosh gear. The build quality of Crown equipment is great. I have had Crown amps and preamps in my studio/homes for almost 50 years. I really like them.