While I was picking up some Spendors....

[dorokusai]

I stopped by to see a good friend and to grab some speakers for playtime at the house. After some general chit chat, he directed me to his listening room as I inserted the ball gag and tightened the head straps. He had a pair of Sonus Faber Elipsa that he just got in. Russ and I saw these at CES and at first, sans grills, I forgot all about them initially.

Anyways, he was running them off an Audio Research CD3 MK??, Audio Research SP16 and the most suprising part of all of this....a diminutive Jeff Rowland Model 102.

The SF are 91db efficient and the JR amp is 200wpc@4(100wpc@8) and a whopping 7 lbs. dripping wet. You can read about it at length but its a Class D amp ala ICE technology. The guts are shared with a couple other manufacturers albeit in different shades of color. It was an amazing demo and nothing shook the amplifier. He said that he has gotten it to clip on some sustained organ music but other than that it was amazing and quite bulletproof.

A couple recordings that sounded pretty stellar were: Domnerus - Antiphone Blues(Prophius PRCD 7744) and a later Dave Brubeck Quartet - Concord on a Summer Night(Concord Jazz 4198). 100% Redbook, 100% sweet. If you can hear the crickets chirping on the DBQ recording, you're hearing isn't gone yet.

Just goes to show, you never know what you'll hear on your way to the bathroom.

[GV#27]

Im using an Ice module for subwoofers but I would love to hear a pair full range .The fact it sounded good driving SF's says a lot.

[Gaara]

Yay for IcePower. You can get a amp capable of putting out over 1000wpc into a 4ohm load while being in the single digit weight class, and running cold to the touch. Good to hear you liked them, very few people seem to have heard these amps and every time they are brought up its like a deer in headlights.

[schwarcw]

I've been impressed by the Class D amps my friend has in his system. I keep forgetting the name. They drive his high end home brew NaO's with nice fidelity. He's recently added a Modwright SWL into the mix. I will get my ears on those real soon.

[Zero]

I've always been a fan of class D. Sure there are a few duds... what topology doesn't have a basket full?

I'm glad you've had the chance to get your ears on a well engineered class D amp. Rowland amplifiers are the only ones to use completely custom ICE modules - designed to match Rowland's unique circuit. Cool stuff. Doesn't sound too shabby either.

[sucks2beme]

And what about the Spendors????

[dorokusai]

They are still in boxes at the moment :)

[BlueMDPicker]

The Class D setup driving the Revels ended my audio wanderlust. Originally envisioned as a digital source rig, it's morphed into a world class vinyl rig as well with the addition of the GCPH and Bellevista table.

[TitaniumMan]

Dadburn it, at least give us some Spendor details. Which model is still sitting in the box? Love the tease, by the way.

[dorokusai]

Dadburn it, at least give us some Spendor details. Which model is still sitting in the box? Love the tease, by the way.

:D They are S5e in Rosenut.

[SolidSqual]

PS Audio Trio-A100. Love it. ICE Power Rules.