The claimed output of the I-Tech 12000 is 4,500 Watts per channel into two channels at four Ohms. To put that to the test I put it on the bench with my Audio precision device, the dummy load sat next to it and oscilloscope off to the side. I cranked it up to full attenuation and, like the manual says, it put the power out with no problem. I left it there for a few minutes to see how it would react under those conditions and, sure enough, the fans kicked in. I did the same for the two-ohm and the Crown's output was faultless. It even reached a snip over the claimed output and all this was done without a square wave on my oscilloscope.

Another great feature on this amp is the LevelMax Limiter Suite. They are really fast and transparent, so much so that every time I tried to clip the amp with the limiters set to automatic they performed perfectly. There are so many great features on this amp that I can't describe them all, but the ones that stuck out for me were the amp’s monitoring functions that include load/thermal/AC line voltage/operating time and Watts output, all of which are cleary visible via the front panel LCD.

The Crown also benefits from FIR crossover filters, which are a massive breakthrough in crossover technology. One main advantage of this is that it has less phase artifacts and allows brick wall 48db/oct and 24db/oct filters.

The LevelMax suite consists of a peak voltage limiter, RMS voltage  and thermal transducer limiter. One that stands out is the transducer thermal limiter, which limits the long-term output power of the amplifier to the maximum a loudspeaker can handle without overheating and going into thermal compression. You can set the thermal level at which the thermal limiter engages, the thermal response time and thermal voltage.

There is also a USB port on the front panel that allows for quick online downloads. Other cool features include the global power supply with power factor correction, which allows the amp to work anywhere in the world. The amplifier has AES EBU and Cobra Net as well as standard Analog inputs and its AES input signal switches to also to the AES output during power shortages. It has a digital buffer converter, so it will adapt to any AES sample rate between 32 and 96KHz.

Crown’s latest 24-bit/96kHz digital signal processing is built into the I-Tech HD. System Architect software is integrated to allow users to easily monitor and utilise all amp functions. It does everything an omnidrive does and much more. Seriously, I’ve never come across an amp that is as clever as this. If you’re not going to go down the Dolby Lake route and want an amp that can do everything, this is the one. Once downloaded it was a breeze to network the amplifier via the Ethernet port. So I had a play around and made enough presets to use the amplifier on a variety of different speakers we had in the warehouse.

The amp passed every test I put it through. First I put it on a wedge with no eq and the bottom end was tight and punchy, the hi-end crystal clear. I also used it on a two-way full range box at four Ohms and the result was the same – fantastic sound with tonnes of headroom. The big test was when I plugged in a load of double 18 subs and hammered it with dance music. I couldn't believe how efficient the amp was, absolutely smacking it with so much headroom to play with. I love this amp and it comes in cheaper than most amps of its type.
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