ICE Amps for classical music?

Interesting metaphor, Muralman,

I have the Gilmore Raptor ICE-based monoblocks, and I have found that what they sound like depends on what you feed them and what your speakers are. I find that a good tube preamp between the source and amp will make them sound more tube-like, while a direct connection from source to amp will make them sound more analytical, or "icy". My Zu Druids are VERY revealing and detailed with these amps, while my Kef 104aB speakers sound much more mellow and smooth. In my opinion, they are much more the "straight wire with gain" amplifier than any sort of sound-shaper.

Curriemt11- were you able to tame the speakers with the brillance control?

Ait - Yippy yi aye!

"""""In my opinion, they are much more the "straight wire with gain" amplifier than any sort of sound-shaper."""""

You couldn't be more right. Yours post is a great example why there are so many opinions of class D amps.

I too use tubes. They are in my non oversampling DAC. Never would I care to run my ICE amps direct. I prefer the romance of tubes, and the frankness of NOS.

Rleff,

Only to a degree. If I turned the control down far enough to get rid of the brightness, it clearly depressed the upper mids to an unacceptable degree.

I've had quite a number of amps on these speakers, and none have exhibited this behavior to this extent. It may be a matter of semantics, but in my opinion it's the amp that needs 'taming', not the speakers.

I don't want to make too much of this. The problem area is where the load is dropping into the 2-4 ohm range. Speakers with a more reasonable impedance curve might well fare much better, so my experience in this regard must be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Further info: I use a tube preamp (AI Modulus 3A) and Shahinian Hawk speakers.
I suppose this is heresy, but I have found tube amps (such as the VAC or Music Reference which I have used) can be just as grating on the nerves as SS amps. I have not found myself closer to the "real sound" with tubes. My Bedini was "mellow" while my VAC was a bit thin. Both had acceptible (to me) soundstaging and transparency. My Plinius, which I now am using, exhibits some warmth and great detail but sounds more "electronic" than the others I mentioned. Especially on violins and high brass at higher volumes, the amp introduces a touch of a sound which I think can best be described as like that of a whistle. It is neither musical nor natural. The feathery satin upper frequency finish of violins en masse is reproduced by the Plinius to a greater degree than any other amp I have tried; but that featheriness is right in the area where the amp sounds most like transistors and voltage rather than
wood and rosin. I am wondering if your experienceswith class D amps have revealed any greater likelihood that I will hear them as more plastic and steel than good class A or A/B ss or valve amps.