ICE Amps for classical music?

"This is far-fetched, but maybe he just did not like the Bel Canto amplifier?"

Of course that is always possible.

But, to achieve best results, first it would be beneficial to make sure things are set up well to enable a comparison of what each piece is capable of, rather than what each piece just happened to deliver.

I know what the Bel canto ref100mkii is capable of with proper setup because I have been through setting it up. I also believe that without the proper setup, teh results could be quite unimpressive.

Exceptional things usually require some special preparation in order to receive the benefit. That is definitely the case with the BC amps based on my experience.

I've never heard the Threshold, which I am certain is a fine and surely different sounding amp as well, so I cannot offer anything there.

Hello Gents ,

Mapman are you suggesting the sound stage on the BC is so wide and vast , it made the bass less define and less extended vs the Threshold, because it needs more room.

What if the threshold sounds better in a smaller room , should we have moved the speakers to a smaller room to compare the sound... LOL

Guys,

I'm not saying the threshold is better than the BC, I'm saying in this setup were the BC500 lives, it did a better job.

The BC500 had a bigger sound and had more information in the upper registers , but it did so at the expense of sounding hard and unmusical by comparison, even the tonal balance was off , noted especially on Pianos.

This was the unanimous decision of all in the room ncluding the owner of the BC.

Again the Maggies are very revealing in the upper registers and on a different type speaker the results could have been different. I would suspect limited bandwidth speakers to sound better on the BC for sure .

I'm having an S500 modified and updated, maybe I will drop it off at Muralman's when in NC and have him write the next A/B review and take the heat on this ...LOL -)

05-03-10: Rtn1
I may know what happened with the Weseixas shoot-out. This is far-fetched, but maybe he just did not like the Bel Canto amplifier? It seems at least plausible.

LOL Rtn1,

Make that all 5 ........

Hello Mapman,

I cannot find your system using the search feature..

regards,

Weseixas,

Many variables are in play.

I'll just note that I do not hear those things in my setup which is different and leave it at that.

I am wondering, tonality aside, how was the sound stage and imaging with the BC in the setup you heard?

If that was big yet still focused, then it was as should be.

If not, then I would say all bets are off in regards to overall sound quality, including tonality.

Also piano would sound different on Maggies than on anything in my system even under ideal circumstances, so I would not attempt to draw any conclusions based on that alone.