ICE Amps for classical music?

Hello Guys ,

Well we did get the chance to compare the Bel Canto to the Threshold tonight and the Threshold won hands down. Very unusual in Hi-fi to get a consensus, so we had one of those rare moments....

CD Player: Sony
Pre-amp : ARC - SS
Speakers : Maggies 1.6 with stands
Group : 5 Hi nutters

The Bel Canto had a very immediate and powerful presentation , but the sound was harsh and hard sounding by comparison , say analog vs digital. There was more openness in the upper ranges, more apparent space, but at the expenses of finesse and many felt there was an unnaturalness about it and the Bass was horrible by comparison.

The Threshold at first sounded a bit Laid back, but proper , the more you listened, the more it sounded right , attack was there when called for , instruments etc were in a better perspective in size and placement , much better dynamics without sounding shrill , very pleasant and musical sounding where the Bel canto was hard and brittle , the threshold also presented the recording with a emotive (no pun intended)that appeared just right ...

regards,

Weseixas

I can't defend the Bel Canto, since I haven't heard one. However, as a long time owner of an ICE amp, I have come to dome definite conclusions. It took years of experimentation.

On my system the Sony would sound terrible. Then again, way before I went class D, and was using Pass gear, NOS players were winners hands down. So, I was an early convert. Now, with the gear I have, the difference only intensifies, remarkably.

The difference lies in several areas. An excellent Sony SACD sound exhibited a severely truncated decay. The stage was both shallow and squished. The tone was cold and tinny. In fact you describe it rather well.

My sound is fully fleshed out. The stage is bigger than my 5 foot speakers. I could go on, but it is just as well to say my sound follows nature. It is a natural sound, in all venues, hard rock, to lizard lounge singers.

These are .8 ohm speakers, with sensitivity at 76 db. Despite that, when I put on a well recorded pianist, I put his grand piano right in the room, turning the volume to 2 o'clock. It is fun to fake out passer-bys.

Weseixas, which Bel Canto monos did you try? . . . Ref 1000, Ref 1000M(same as Ref 1000 Mk.2), Ref 500M?

Did the Bel Canto have at least 1000 hours of music to its credit? ICEpower amps require an inordinate breakin time, while your vintage Threshold is of course fully broken in.

Did you leave the BC to play in the background for several hours prior to evaluation? ICREpower amps take about 24 hours to yield their best after powerup.  

My exact thought Guido, class D amps need to be left running to sound musically correct, I learned that early on.

Not all BEl Cantos may work equally well with the tube pre-amp. A bad match here might account for what was heard.

Also, I believe power supply implementations are different in different BC models and could make a difference.

I can say for certain that the BC ref1000m's in my system do not match Weseixas' description.

Never heard the Threshold so cannot compare to that. I'm sure it is a fine amp in of itself as well from what I do know.

Different amps do sound different, even under optimal circumstances, so not all will take to any in particular the same even if everything is set up to integrate perfectly.