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ICE Amps for classical music?

I listen to classical orchestral music at heavy volume. I detest reproduced music for always sounding more or less electronic and not acoustic. Real music is beautiful in a way reproduced music--so far at least-- never is. I have become curious about Wyred4sound amps because of low price and high watts. I am wondering if any of you "mostly classical" listeners have heard these amps and feel they do no more damage to music than amps which are NOT ICE amps. I am using a Plinius SA100 now and have used a VAC 100/100,
a Bedini Classic 100/100, a Music Reference RM-9, and other tube and solid state amps. They all had their pluses and minuses, of course, but for least electronic, clearly the Bedini was the winner. So what about ICE amps?
rpfef
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
UCD modules in amps like the Channel Island D-200 are slightly improved over the ICE module. (High frequency response is not sensitive to speaker impedance). The TriPath module, used in the CarverPro ZR1600 amp gives nothing away to UCD or ICE. (I have both models of amp).

Unlike the ICE module, the UCD modules and appropriate power supplies and even a wiring harness are sold to consumers. You can easily build a superb amp for less than a grand.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Eldartford - I'm not sure if Icepower is sensitive to speaker impedance. By numbers it has even higher damping factor than UCD. Opinion might be just carried over from Tripath where output of the filter wasn't in the feedback loop. Somebody mentioned that Hypex sounds like very good class AB amp while Icepower sounds a little more like good tube amp. It might have something to do with output configuration (full bridge vs. half bridge) but I'm not sure.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi Simon, excellent question. . . to which I can't give an answer yet. I am in the process of breaking in the Bel canto as we speak. . . I am feeding them through Cardas Golden Ref PCs. . . while I had been feeding the 312 with a SR T3 for a little while. Once break in on Bel canto is complete I will take some good listening notes, then move the Cardas Golden Ref to the 312 and take more notes. I am in 'sunny' Toronto right now freezing my Texas buns off. . . I'll resume listening to music on Sunday after I get back home.
muralman1
1,527 posts
 
Hey guidocorona My H2O/Fire/AN system has all the qualities you enumerated. A comparison would be most interesting. It is in the application that the greatest victories can be garnished from great class D amps. Turning the monos around backwards and fixing them to the speaker terminals with thin ribbon SCs made a huge difference in extension, and depth.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
the best way to optimize the performance of ice amps is to place them in an oven and set the temperature for say 100 degrees. leave in the oven until the ice melts. remove from oven and let them cool for a while. hook them up for warmer sound.
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