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CRIMSON 630C assistance!

ntom

pfm Member
I think I have worked most of it out now, but was curious as to who would have made the following mods to some amps I have recently purchased.

I was looking out for a couple of amps to use on surround channels and spotted some old Crimson 630C amps for sale, thinking they would be ideal (small and easy to find shelf space & can just add a few more should I need more channels).

However when I recieved the first two they had clearly had some mods!....

1. a chunky PAPST cooling fan fitted to the heat sinks on the front
2. some sort additional input added to the rear.

I poked around inside & they appear to have been modded so that the fan activates when they get warm, with an optional full time manual override switch on the rear.

And secondly a 12v trigger input. The on switch causes the front led to come on & glow red, then when 12v is applied at the new input, the led goes green & the amps become fully active.

So it would seem that these have already been modded for a full house system hidden away somewhere or something similar.

I have ended up with 6 of these. I've run them reasonably heavily & they don't get too warm so don't need the fan cooling -they look a bit naff if on show & make too much noise ...with 6!! They must have been shut away or driven really hard to require the fans, so 'm going to remove them & the added circuitry inside.

The 12v trigger input is actually useful to me given I'm running in a surround system with a 12v trigger!

The curious thing is these have got specially made circuit boards, so I wonder if they were factory mods. However the arrangement for fitting the fan is a little heath robinson so maybe not.

Has anyone seen a mod like this on these amps?

There is scarce little info on them on the web. I searched here & found a contact email for Brian Powell but it's no longer valid.

Does anyone have any info on Crimson or contact info? Can't find a website.

Lastly does anyone know of a circuit diagram for these?

The amp boards look fine, sound OK & don't look like they've been stressed, but the power supply boards have heat damage (I think from the heavy duty resistors used for the fan supply).

Have put some photos on photobucket for those interested....

http://s782.photobucket.com/albums/yy105/ntomntom/Crimson 630/

Any info appreciated!

Neale
 
Hi Neale

Are they definitely 630cs? The ones I had only had a single mains transformer and pair of caps. They look more like the 640 monos:

http://e-shop.highendstudios.de/pro...roduct=CRIMSON---CS-640E-III&products_id=785&

James

This was the inside of one of my 630cs:

630c2.jpg
 
Thanks for adding the pic & link.

Not sure how to add photos here so have added on Photobucket!

The amps I have definately have 630C on the rear panel. But clearly they look closer to the 640 in your link.
I assume that they have been upgraded at some point at the factory. Both transformers are clearly Crimson originals. There are 4 output transistors (I think) on the amp boards in mine. And two larger Aerovox capacitors than in your pic.

So if mine have been upgraded ....there isn't much left from the original amps.... one transformer and the casework!

Your link also implies that a fan (presumably internally) was fitted to the 640 (though some has been lost in translation!). An there are a couple of sockets on the rear that look like the 12V trigger inputs on mine.

Assume Crimson offered some sort of upgrade along the lines of Naim.

Guess these were a better buy than I previously thought. Haven't had a chance to listen to them properly yet with some decent kit!

There are differences between mine & the link photos though.

Interesting!
 
Does anyone have any contact info for Crimson?


Have now removed the fans and fan control from these.

Typical....the last of the six actually had some info in it with a printed board layout with pinout descriptions plus a note indicating modification date of 2000.

The power disribution board mounted on the top of the caps is marked Eliot Powell 2000. The paper note is initialled BP (Brian Powell?) so presumably its a full factory mod / update!

All six amps are working fine and sound great......so a bit of a lucky find me thinks!
 


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