ICE Amps for classical music?

Thank you Weseixas, could you post the exact system configuration you used in the test, including cabling/PCs complement? If you already have, my apologies.

How long had the 2 amplifiers been warmed up before being inserted into the active/live audio chain?

I am not trying to dispute your opinions. . . just hoping to get complete context, so your findings gain greater applicability. G.

Is it possible the BC was revealing something in the source if the high end sounded "grainy"? Just speculating. I do not hear anything resembling grainy in my setup.

More info on what was listened to and SOn source model, ICs, etc. would add some context as GC suggests.

Muddy bass? That baffles me. Having owned Maggies prior, I'm wondering if the BC is exposing anything there? Bass dynamics on Maggies are a lot different than what I am running these days.

My house is wired with commercial grade 4 conductor moderate gauge copper stranded and vinyl shielded speaker wire, nothing fancy, and performance even with that is fine, though perhaps not quite as open and extended as the Audioquest cv6 SCs I run to one pair in the same room as the electronics.

Just speculating...

Guido, I'm sure proper etiquette and paid advertising have no correlation to one another.

FWIW I think the 500m uses a newer generation ICE module than the 1000m and some have indicated the sound to be noticeable different so comparisons with the 1000M may not be totally apples/apples.

Mapman, you are correct of course, the sound of Ref 500M appears to differ from Reff 1000M to some extent. Yet, I am not sure if the reason is simply the different series of power conversion module, or it's a mix of design, module series characteristics, and power rating. G.

Rx8man, select audio dealers, occasionally prone to the odd personal barb or 2, sometimes may want to dust off the old Dale Carnegie paperback on "Zen, and the art of friends maintenance" or something vaguely to that effect. G.