I finally took the new amp out of the wrapper and have it hooked up.
First, the good news. It does look nice - a small scratch on the top surface, but other than that, it's in great shape. I don't know if the scratch means that the 9/10 rating is inaccurate, but I can't see the scratch at all when it's in my entertainment center, so it's cool. I'm happy with it.
Now, the not-so-good news. When it turns on, one of the speakers "pops" once decently loudly, and another one pops a few times for about a second but much quieter (sounds almost like static). The speaker that pops loudly doesn't do it every time, but the staticy one happens every time, so I don't know what's going on. Something that's not right, though. The speakers also make noise (quiet, but there) when there's no signal. I had high hopes that this amp would be a nice improvement over the IPS-1, but I'm not seeing that, yet.
The trigger also didn't work, but that could have been the cable that I used. I'll try a different cable tomorrow.
I'll see what I can do, but I don't know how much more I'm going to do tonight.