wrote in message
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2. What's the deal with "commercial" amplifiers, like
those from
Crown?

Modern Crown equipment is just fine - what you may call
"commercial" amps are more commonly known as pro audio amps.
I know of a number of audiophiles with Crown amps in
large-scale systems. Also, some audiophiles myself included
use QSC amps. The big gotcha with pro audio power amps
involve the ones with forced-air cooling, the dreaded
cooling fans.

I owned some Crown equipment many moons ago, and at the
time,
it was considered "high-end." How does something like
this differ
from a Krell or Levinson?

Lots more bang for the buck.

There's only a handful of ways to skin a
can so-to-speak, so from a technological perspective, are
the designs
similar? What do you get from a Krell besides the exotic
exterior?

Bragging rights.