Crown 5000VZ power amplifier

Way back in the day, we are talking here almost twenty years ago, I was involved in the setting up of a pub in Indonesia. We needed a massive amplifier with lots of “oomph” to drive the subwoofers. So we got the best amplifier of the day then, the Crown Macro-Tech 5000VZ power amplifier.

When this thing was delivered to the office, the first thing we noticed about it was how heavy the bastard was. It took two people to carry it and at least three people to mount it on a rack. But given the fact that this heavy bugger had to drive huge subwoofers, and for that you needed one helluva powerful amplifier, I suppose that this amplifier deserved having the weight that it had. This baby was capable of producing 1,300 watts into 8 ohms, 2,000 watts into 4 ohms, 2,500 watts into 2 ohms. In bridge mode, it could deliver a massive 5000 watts into 4 ohms!

I loved this amplifier back then and I really wished that I owned it back in the day. Imagine, such an amplifier, if not for bragging rights, then for pure power. There are many amplifiers now that can put this amp to shame on just wattage alone but this was the classic “boat anchor” amp that did its job, and did it well.