ICE AMPS...

[ericlp]

Looking for advice on buying a new Amp. These are Class D amps, but sound like Class A and run super cool. Not to mention they are cheaper by about 3-5X!


Thanks!

 

[Tiamat]

Whether or not they sound like Class A is subjective. I haven't seen enough objective data on Class D amplifiers and how they compare to Class A amplifiers.

What amps are you currently looking at? What is your budget? How large is the room that your system is in? How many channels of power do you need? What speakers do you have? What amplifiers do you have experience with?

 

[cheesehead]

Originally posted by: ericlp
Looking for advice on buying a new Amp. These are Class D amps, but sound like Class A and run super cool. Not to mention they are cheaper by about 3-5X!


Thanks!

That's not saying anything. Class A just refers to the amplifier design: There are many awful class A amplifiers, and even more excellent class A/B amplifiers.

The Icepower stuff is simply modern Class D. Until recently, class D amplifiers were to prone to distortion at high frequencies. They still are; however, distortion is not a problem until at least 40khz or so, well above the level of audio signals.

The AudioSource Amp 7T is based on a Tripath amplifier chipset, and is supposed to be very good. It can be had on eBay for $225 or so, and should work just fine for almost all applications.

 

[ericlp]

AudioSource Amp 7T ... I was actually looking at that amp... I am hearing that they are having issues people reporting that the units are dieing on them. I don't know what the problem is, but that amp has gone out of business or something like that and the only place you can find them is on Ebay. Dunno, didn't see any for 225 bucks, they were in the 300 dollar range... I actually like the old school meter look...

Anyway, some edumacation I guess here....

http://www.positive-feedback.c...ppas.spectron.6n4.html

I'm actually looking to buy these 100Watt mono blocks from Channel Islands Audio looks like these are built to last.

http://www.ciaudio.com/D100.html

also looking at these... http://www.d-sonic.net/

the MAGNUM 200S looks pretty interesting.

I am looking for just 2 channel amps... Mono blocks would be nice but not necessary.

Budget = 2K ... Speakers used are ACI Sapphire they run at 86db and are rated for 200W per channel, but, I really don't want to push these too hard. I think a good 100Watt amp is good enough ... Equipment I've used before is mostly just solid state low end Onkyo, HK amps... I wanna try something better. Was just gonna buy a few mono blocks from outlaw audio but... I keep reading reviews on how these amps are sounding better and better... Heck! Even ACI is going with D-Amps!

In terms of sound quality, Class A amplifiers are often considered the ultimate. However, Class A amplifiers are extremely expensive to build, and are very inefficient, generating a huge amount of heat. Probably 90% of the high-end amplifiers currently on the market are Class A-B amplifiers that cost significantly less than Class A, sound very good, and run much cooler. In the last few years, Class D amplifiers or Digital Amps have become very popular. These run very cool and are extremely inexpensive. Unfortunately, sound quality generally varies from poor to okay. Class D amps are used by the majority of subwoofer manufacturers because they cost a fraction of what a good quality Class A-B amplifier costs. To provide our customers with ACI sound quality we use high-quality fully discrete Class A-B amps in the Force XL and Titan XL subwoofers.

There is now a fourth option, developed by B&O of Denmark; the ICE amp. ICE amplifiers have some similarities to Digital Amps in terms of efficiency and compact size. However, properly implemented, the ICE amp has sound quality rivaling a Class A amplifier! High end amplifier manufacturers have begun using ICE power in very high performance and very costly amplifiers. We are proud to feature ICE technology in our The Maestro XL amplifier.

 

[Tiamat]

I have a Maestro XL with the Ice amp. Good to see another ACI customer on the boards!

I would try to find your closest few dealers and ask if you can borrow their demo amps in the 2K range for you to test out. Rotel makes some Class D amps now and they fall into the 2k$ range (except their top one). I think Bel Canto makes a good one too, but that may cost ya more money.