Crown ComTech power amps - suitable for live rigs?

[BadgerDave]

I have an opportunity to pick up several Crown ComTech commercial series power amps. These are models 1610, 810, 410 and 210.

I'm not very familiar with this series, which I understand is primarily designed for permanent installations. I've found some power ratings and photos of the front panels, but not much else. Anyone know if these have appropriate rear panel connections and construction for live band/road use?

[kevinbower1959]

I checked with a buddy who runs a sound rental and commercial installation company - they use a huge number of these Crown Comtech units across their business. I lifted this straight from his email reply;

"They're just not designed to be moved around. They're designed to sit in a permanent rack, powering background music in restaurants and stuff like that, so the build quality is pretty lightweight - not an issue for our business, but definitely an issue for all but the lightest and most delicate of road use. The main problem you'll find with them is that they have Class D output stages and are convection-cooled, so any hard use will almost certainly see them starting to get very hot and shutting down. The other thing you should bear in mind is that to minimise space and squeeze lots of on-paper watts into a 1U enclosure, they're built using wafer-thin double-sided circuit boards which will literally shatter if one of these amps gets dropped hard. My advice is to look elsewhere. Crown make some great power amps specifically designed for what you have in mind. The ComTechs aren't those power amps"

I hope that helps

[BadgerDave]

Huge thanks, Kevin. That's precisely what I was concerned about. I really appreciate you taking the time to inquire and please pass my thanks on to your friend.

[LostArt]

only difference between some models is how the outputs are connects a screw strip or other connectors xlr 1/4 etc