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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
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Eldartford - I think we're mixing sound level and dynamic range. Dynamics are very limited by recording and media while loudness is also a function of listening distance. Sitting twice further in large room requires 4x more power to obtain same loudness. There is nothing wrong with 7" woofers if they can provide sufficient sound level. I don't like very loud music and don't mind that orchestra's forte is not 120dB loud in my room. I will settle for 80% of that - it cuts power requirement in half. For you to listen 20% louder (I sense you need more power) means 6 15" subwoofers plus 6 12" subwoofers. Not my cup of tea.
dob
577 posts
 
Hello Eldartford:
What amplifiers do you use in your system?
I am very curious.
Thanks
Rafael
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Eldartford - I think we're mixing sound level and dynamic range. Dynamics are very limited by recording and media while loudness is also a function of listening distance. Sitting twice further in large room requires 4x more power to obtain same loudness. There is nothing wrong with 7" woofers if they can provide sufficient sound level. I don't like very loud music and don't mind that orchestra's forte is not 120dB loud in my room. I will settle for 80% of that - it cuts power requirement in half. For you to listen 20% louder (I sense you need more power) means 6 15" subwoofers plus 6 12" subwoofers. Not my cup of tea.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Oops - sorry for posting twice.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Dob.... My front channels (which is all I mentioned above) has three Channel Island D200 amps (Hypex module) driving MG1.6 main speakers. For the six subwoofer drivers I have three CarverPro ZR1600 stereo amps (six channels of 600 watts/channel) each connected to one driver. I vary the crossover frequency according to the type of music: anywhere from 40 to 200 Hz.

Kijanki... With the planar main speakers, (three of them) and the three line array configured subwoofer systems, my SPL does not fall off with distance as you suggest.

There are also two rear channels, CI D200 amps (again) and Madisound Odin speakers each with a pair of 7 inch drivers (good enough for rear channel use).

As you state, loudness and dynamic range are different, but maximum attainable loudness is what typically limits dynamic range. Every system can play softly.

The best illustration of what my set of large subwoofer drivers can do is to play pipe organ music. Not all organ music has loud bass, but when it does you should FEEL it in your stomach, and my system does achieve this. Also, when the SPL is moderate, the large drivers are loafing compared with small drivers that would be generating large excursion, with attendant distortion.

Obviously I could not enjoy such a system if my nearest neighbor were not about 600 feet away with woods in between the houses.
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