Well, well, well..it's been sometime since I've done any posting but I can't resist this thread as this new crop of amps, IMHO, represent the future.
Sorry for the length of this posting but the ICEH20 amp is a significant product IMHO.
Being an Apogee owner (Mini Grands, Studio Grands and now Divas...still have them all) I'm always on the hunt for amps that can deliver current into their impedance from hell loads (actually they are not all THAT bad...except the Diva tweeter...9 ohms). I bi and tri amp my Apogees, driving the ribbons and bass panels directly, bypassing those lousy, stinking, awful, rotten, no good, power sucking, grainy, lower than a snakes belly...and bad passive x-overs. The ribbons are incredibly revealing of everything that goes on in front of them and, in particular, the mating amps. ANY grain or other active aberration and the amp is history. I can stand amps that hide detail, but amps that add stuff (and so far, tubes have been the biggest offenders)have a short residence in my system. I also use a Tact 2.2X (sometimes in conjunction with my DBX DriveRack PA) to set my target response curves and give the drivers the proper delays. This is also the future...big time!
The amps I've always come back to have been my Reference Line Silver Signatures with the high current outboard power supplies. I've tried for several years to dislodge them from my system (they do weigh in at over 140 pounds each)using other very fine amps but none have been as open or artifact free as these guys and they love diving the big Aps. Their only disadvantages are their size and heat/power draw (4-6 channels each drawing over 400 watts at idle and yes I've got 3-30 amp circuits for these pigs). Then I saw that Audio Advisor was selling their demo HCA-2s for a very attractive price. I took the plunge and bought a pair. Well right out of the box, stone cold they sounded great! Really turned my head. Very open and dynamic. They immediately got my right foot tapping to the music, even at low listening levels. I still preferred my RL amps as the HCA-2's came across a bit lean in the context of the Divas but were good matches for the Studio & Mini Grands. Then I spied a couple of Bel Canto EV0-4 gen II's for sale and grabbed them. Wow even better than the HCA-2. Still very open but fuller sounding, and a really neat package. Tonally and soundstage wise, they were sonic clones of the RL amps. Still not quite as open and just a tad laid back with a little less boogie.
Then Henry Ho let it drop on the Apogee site that he was starting to produce an amp based upon one of the ICE modules. Henry has been building amps for years and is a long time member of the Apogee Forum. His sonic priorities and taste in amps are in exact lock step with mine. Deep class a bias (I mean DEEP class A all the way to clipping into at least 4 ohms), at lot of attention to huge well-made power supplies and simple, well executed topologies. He's also familiar with the RL amps and quite complimentary of their sonics & design. So when he said the prototype amps turned his head away from his Class A amps and could easily drive his Scintillas, I paid attention. Based upon the encouragement of his friends and fellow forum members, he sent the prototype around the country for audition and said he would make "production quality" versions for forum members. Well, I took another plunge, send in a $2000 deposit on two stereo units. About 6 weeks later, they arrived, well packed on my door step. No owners manual or fancy literature yet, but hey it's a simple power amp and we've all been around the block.
Well again, and this is a common theme with these amps, stone cold, brand new, right out of the box they were stunning! The first thing I noticed right away was their incredible openness. Next thing that got my attention was the MUSIC. It took center stage as opposed to the sound. We've all heard pretty sounding amps but just could not get into the music. We have also heard amps that boogied but irritated at the same time. Well like the RL amps, the ICEH20 amps just get the hell out of the way..period. Making direct comparisons to the EVo-4 Gen II was telling. I thought the EVO's were essentially grain free. Well comparisons with the ICEH20's showed that not to be the case. A small but quite perceptible gauss came over the music when switching from the ICEH20's.
This is a great, artifact free amp. I've yet to make the comparison to the RL amps but I've a feeling I've found the right crowbar.
These are simple black boxes with a single blue LED on the front. Back panel is wide open with two sets of binding posts for each channel, balanced as well as single ended inputs and a central power cord receptacle. Simple and well executed. They weigh in at around 45 pounds each. Output impedance is under .1 ohms as far as I can tell. DC offset is low at under 10 MV. There are no turn on/off transients to slap my ribbons around and they will tolerate the small amount of DC that my DBX DriveRack sources (My RL amps on the other hand are TRUE DC coupled and amplify the shit out of it). They are extremely quite.
They are possibly the finest, most artifact free amp I've owned. They have even caught the attention, and ire, of Peter the Great (in his own mind anyway)of Acoustic Reality.
I'm awaiting shipment of my third stereo unit. The EV0's will be for sale as soon as it arrives (they are doing bass duties right now)
