Chillin with an ICE amp!!!

[pearsall001]

I've been giving a lot of thought of picking up a 3 channel ICE amp. I'm one that doesn't mind trying something a little less traditional. The WYRED 4 SOUND product lines are the one's I'm most focused on, in particular the MC3x250 (250w@8ohm & 550w@ 4ohm) & the MC3x500 (570w@8ohm & 1140w@4ohm).

My current monitors are 86db @ 8ohm, & I run them with dual Velo SPL 1200-R subs (1000w ICE amps). My sticky point is which amp would better suit my needs. I know there's no such thing as having too much power, especially when it comes to headroom, but with dual subs pulling bass duty my mains are less power craving. My listening levels are low to mid volumn levels, I never crank it so to speak. What do you guys think...would the MC3x500 be overkill & needless coin spent or would the MC3x250 be a good fit.

Now this might sound a bit corny, but I'm also thinking about my electric bill, now & down the road (cap & trade anyone?). Those massive class A/AB beasts suck up electricity like there's no tomorrow. It's not that I'm any greener than the next guy, but I'm the one writing the check every month to the electric company, & the less the better.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

And what would you say if these "500-watts" amps only produces 50-watts of continuous RMS power 20Hz-20kHz, instead of 500-watts?

 

[bandphan]

I've been giving a lot of thought of picking up a 3 channel ICE amp. I'm one that doesn't mind trying something a little less traditional. The WYRED 4 SOUND product lines are the one's I'm most focused on, in particular the MC3x250 (250w@8ohm & 550w@ 4ohm) & the MC3x500 (570w@8ohm & 1140w@4ohm).

My current monitors are 86db @ 8ohm, & I run them with dual Velo SPL 1200-R subs (1000w ICE amps). My sticky point is which amp would better suit my needs. I know there's no such thing as having too much power, especially when it comes to headroom, but with dual subs pulling bass duty my mains are less power craving. My listening levels are low to mid volumn levels, I never crank it so to speak. What do you guys think...would the MC3x500 be overkill & needless coin spent or would the MC3x250 be a good fit.

Now this might sound a bit corny, but I'm also thinking about my electric bill, now & down the road (cap & trade anyone?). Those massive class A/AB beasts suck up electricity like there's no tomorrow. It's not that I'm any greener than the next guy, but I'm the one writing the check every month to the electric company, & the less the better.

I dont think your velos have ICE amps

 

[Adam]

I think that Gene is going to put out an article tomorrow that discusses the difference between various products that incorporate the ICE amplifiers. You might want to give that a read before making a decision on what to buy.

 

[pearsall001]

I think that Gene is going to put out an article tomorrow that discusses the difference between various products that incorporate the ICE amplifiers. You might want to give that a read before making a decision on what to buy.

Thanks for the heads up. It looks like it'll be a very informative read.

I'm really only kicking the tires right now. My mind is far from being made up.

 

[Warpdrv]

And what would you say if these "500-watts" amps only produces 50-watts of continuous RMS power 20Hz-20kHz, instead of 500-watts?

Linky for that info?



pearsall001, you may want to have a look at the Mini MC amp that Wyred now has out, if you really don't listen at higher spl's then there is no need for that amount of power IMO... Seems the Mini is getting good reviews over in the AVS thread, if you haven't visited there.

I have the MC7 3x500 4x250 amp and so far its been a great product for me....

 

[Adam]

Linky for that info?

Here you go.

 

[Warpdrv]

Where are the measurements of these amps?

He stated they couldn't measure them in the article...

 

[bandphan]

even if corerctly speced out at say 50w, that combined with 10dbs of headroom is huge.

 

[VladP]

And what would you say if these "500-watts" amps only produces 50-watts of continuous RMS power 20Hz-20kHz, instead of 500-watts?

I would say that dynamically they deliver actually more than 500 watts per channel and they have been reported to drive the most difficult to drive speakers without ever clipping (which cannot be said about ANY 50 watts linear amp btw). When comparing amps, compare ALL characteristics, not just continuous power for test tones or pink noise.

 

[Warpdrv]

Thats playing full entire bandwidth - what content does that....

Music - no
Movies - no

Test tones...?

Its hardly accurate to call this a drawback when there is no material out there that plays 100% at full bandwidth, which just means that someone is just trying to nit pick at a product for no real reason but to debunk it...

 

[PaulF]

I would say that dynamically they deliver actually more than 500 watts per channel and they have been reported to drive the most difficult to drive speakers without ever clipping (which cannot be said about ANY 50 watts linear amp btw). When comparing amps, compare ALL characteristics, not just continuous power for test tones or pink noise.

Sure they do, the specs even confirm this ...but at 10% distortion! It all comes down to comparing apples for apples. Also, once you start talking about dynamic power you have to know what period it is for. Nuforce specs their 190W amp into 8 Ohms with 325W dynamic peaks for a maximum of 20ms. That being said I think the ICE based amps will be fine for moderate listening levels, even 125W (into 8 Ohms) units. In the case of the ICE based amps the continuous output is limited by the overheating of the Zobel network, not the power supply.

Three channel amps are not as common as other numbers, Wyred and D-Sonic offer ICE based options. NuForce and Halcro also offer 3 channel options but at a substantial price premium.

 

[VladP]

Sure they do, the specs even confirm this ...but at 10% distortion! It all comes down to comparing apples for apples. Also, once you start talking about dynamic power you have to know what period it is for. Nuforce specs their 190W amp into 8 Ohms with 325W dynamic peaks for a maximum of 20ms. That being said I think the ICE based amps will be fine for moderate listening levels, even 125W (into 8 Ohms) units. In the case of the ICE based amps the continuous output is limited by the overheating of the Zobel network, not the power supply.

Three channel amps are not as common as other numbers, Wyred and D-Sonic offer ICE based options. NuForce and Halcro also offer 3 channel options but at a substantial price premium.

I am not sure where you get 10% distortion. I was talking about 1000asp module that produces 500 watts at 0.1% THD into 8 ohm and 1000 W into 4 ohm and more than 500 watts (8 ohm) at 1% distortion. Emotiva xpa-1 reports their value at 1% THD.

THD does get to 10% sharply ONLY after 1000W mark (the same with most other amps) and at 1000W mark THD is actually less than 0.2%

I think ICE amps based on 1000asp can play extremely loud all day long

 

[gene]

The Clone Wars have begun.