BillFitzmaurice.info

Does anybody know why the PL line keeps getting pushed back. The original production release was supposed to be August of last year (at least that's the first date I was told when I started checking into them). I was just informed by the store I was ordering through that Crest has now moved the date out to the end of June. What gives? 3 years from debut to release. How can it possibly take this long to get production up and running? If anybody has any inside info please forward it to the rest of us.

Perhaps they are having issues on their prototypes in house?

If that's the case, much better to sort them out prior to release than to have a bunch of recalls for known issues.

Still, I can understand your concern, it is a long time between the announcement of the 3 and yet not delivered.
I can't imagine 3 is a total revamp of 2...

bmf wrote:Does anybody know why the PL line keeps getting pushed back. The original production release was supposed to be August of last year (at least that's the first date I was told when I started checking into them). I was just informed by the store I was ordering through that Crest has now moved the date out to the end of June. What gives? 3 years from debut to release. How can it possibly take this long to get production up and running? If anybody has any inside info please forward it to the rest of us.

Call crest direct, again.

Are there not other amps with the same features?

It is interesting that they advertise it on their website without it being actually available.

biggest feature, it will pass post dsp signal out to the thru xlrs. Crown xtis dont do this, itechs do though. price point is far different.

It could well be prototype problems.

I remember a number of years ago, one of the local sound companies here bought rack loads of brand new Crest amps. For the next few years their in house tech was rebuilding them because they had constant electrolytic cap failure after failure. I'm thinking at the time Crest rushed it to market before they performed proper shake-down testing. Since that time I've always been hesitant to have anything to do with them.

Buying a new amp these days is a crap shoot. I would research what the big boys are using, and ask their techs about reliability and maintenance before you purchase anything.

Tried to contact Crest by email but they have not responded.

They have more capacitors than any of the other class d amps in the same price range. This is what attracted me to them over some of the others.

I can't see them being much different than the 2.0 which seems to be available. I wouldn't think there would be much more to test seeing the time span these amps have been being advertised for.

I will try to call if I get off work in time. Hopefully I can get an actual date.

I was finally able to talk with a person involved with marketing for the pro lite 3.0 at Crest Audio corporate. According to them the 3.0 version will not be in full release until late July at the earliest. And she didn't seem very confident in that date. It looks like I will have to turn to Crown for a class D I trust. I really wish Crest would get their act together as the pro lite would be a better fit for me but I just can't wait...and wait........and wait..............................and wait!

Similar things have happened with other brands recently. The 1u Beh#$%ger EPQ amps, some iNuke models and the ADA8200 for instance, "coming soon" forever. For some models this has apparently to do with parts supply issues.

When I talked to them she mentioned problems because they're coming from China. Previously, Crest products were US made. I'm guessing after Peavy bought them, they moved production to China, and they are still trying to work out the issues with that. I was waiting for these forever, finally gave up and went with the Carvin DCM 1540L. Carvin has also come out with a integrated DSP line recently, but I don't know anything about it. Maybe it'd meet your needs?

Peavey has owned Crest since 99 so I don't think it is an issue with that. You are right about the prolite series being produced in China. I have heard it is related to a problem getting components that pass inspection. I was told Crest will not budge on quality requirements. I suppose you could take this as good news but if they never ship any product it won't really matter will it.

The really bad part for me was I had a deal set to trade a yamaha 32 channel board to a local music store for a new 3.0 and now with that amp not being available I will have to try to get the board sold to raise cash for whatever amp I buy....need a board?