EVS is proud to announce new power amps based on the ICEpower® modules. These amps are sold direct to the consumer for incredible value. All have 3 year parts and labor transferable warrantee. 30 day unconditional money back guarantee. I have been modifying, tweaking and manufacturing high end audio gear for over 29 years. These new amps are based on the ICEpower® 200ASC and 1000ASP modules.
The EVS100S stereo amplifier uses two 200ASC modules (100 watts a channel into 8 ohms) in true dual mono configuration including separate power cords for each channel and the modules separated by three inches. Therefore, having separate mono blocks will not sound better unless you can significantly shorten the speaker wires.
Prices for the EVS100S dual mono stereo amp or a pair of EVS100M amps are: The EVS500M is our super high powered ICEpower® mono block amps. These amps use ®ICEpowers most powerful and best module (the 1000ASP) that puts out over 550 watts into 8 ohms and over 1100 watts into 4 ohms. These amps will redefine value in high powered amps. The mono block chassis are 8 inches wide, 12 inches deep and 3 inches tall. They use the same feet, input jacks and binding post bypass system as described above. A pair of them can easily sit next to each other on a shelf. The amps weigh 7.5lbs. each.
Prices for a pair of EVS500Ms are:
All amps are black chassis with black anodized engraved front panels. Larger pictures of chassis are here: Customer Comments:
Even right out of the box I was impressed with their detail, nuetrality, immediacy, and 3D imaging. They did exhibit a touch of coarseness and hardness and, compared to my MA1s, lacked the last word in delicacy and textural subtlety. Even at this point they totally lived up to (actually exceeded) my original goal of an economical, decent sounding summer replacement for my MA1s. About 5 hours in it occured to me I was essentially breaking in two pieces of gear because my new Oppo (bought as a stopgap player) had very little time on it. The next evening I switched to LPs. At around the 15-20 hour mark I really started to hear what these amps are capable of. I put on a series of recordings from the 50s and 60s that were full of analog warmth (in the best sense). Original (and early reissues) of London, Decca, and EMI classic and baroque chamber performances, AP and Classic Records Jazz reissues, Orignal Vanguard and Cisco reissue folk recordings. By the end of the evening I was starting to wonder if I was really giving up anything at all in terms of subtle information retrieval. One of my references, my father's original Vanguard, Joan Baez Vol2 (by no means mint but very playable) never sounded better. No hint of artificial glaze or glare, just fully rounded beautifully rendered tones. These amps just seem to give back whatever you put into them without imparting any character of their own (ugh.....terrible cliche, but no less true). I proabably have about 25-30 hours on them total. At this point I'm about 99.9% sure that my MA1s are going up for sale. I may still revist tubes one day (not as a replacement but just as an alternative) but I'll never go back to giant, Class A space heaters.
I still absolutely floored by the fact these two, unassuming looking, black shoeboxes can fill my room with such beautiful sounds. This amp is a poster-child for Giant Killer. On 7-25-07 steve sent me these further comments: Had another revelation with the new amps. Put on a new reissue of Joni Mitchell's Blue which sounded really nice overall, but I did notice a slight bit of coarseness on some of the louder vocals. Checked out a review online and found this: "Most significantly, there's a near elimination of the gritty texture that sometimes dogged Joni's vocal peaks". Anyway, I then carted out an old audiophile warhorse: "Growing up in Hollywood Town". Vocals on that were absolutely stunning, and completely grain free. More importantly, I now realize these amps perform like greased lightning. They track dynamic changes like nothing I've ever had in my system before. Piano and percussion attacks were absolutely staggering and these were through my Quad 989s which are not generally known for reproducing dynamics.
Regards,
System: -Dean M.
I just got the 100 watt stereo ICEpower class D amp from Ric yesterday.
Art Audio VPS Dual Mono line stage I have played music through the amp for approximately 10 hours. Given that the amps need a minimum or 60+ hours and are not fully broken in, here are some initial impressions: The amp creates a big sound that belies its small size. I has great detail and articulation of detail. The dynamics are impressive. It can go from forte to pianissimo on a dime (and vice versa) and has not yet sounded congested. It has fantastic sense of air--if the recording was done in a hall, you will definitely hear it. It has bass galore for such a small amp. On acoustic bass, arco notes are played with bite and growl if the recording calls for it. I images like crazy. Each instrument has its own distinct place with clear boundaries, and it creates a huge soundstage. If you listen to any well recorded electronic music, it creates the illusion of an electronic vapor that fills the entire room. It recreates depth and height amazingly well, and maintains distinct and clear layering as you reach further back into the stage. Image density is fantastic, You get a real and accurate sense of the dimensions of each instrument, and they all have a great body and definition. It has a great sense of continuousness---seamless from top to bottom with no range of sound (treble, midrange, bass) being exaggerated or underscored. And most importantly for any piece of gear, is extremely musical.
-Jacob O.
Source: Denon 2900 I absolutely love the sound from these babies, OK, I have noticed a slightly darker character to these amps than I had with my previous amp (Anthem MCA50), which is VERY good for me and my speakers (B&W's are typically a bit too bright), though it could just be that less RFI is making it into my system now...... These amps are very quiet....no hiss, hum or buzz. A neat experience: A non-audiophile friend stopped by....I placed him in the sweet-spot and put on a song I knew had some history for him.....I came back to the room right before the track ended and saw he had tears in his eyes....I feel similarly, these amps in my set-up seem to evoke an emotional response from me.
-Doug C.
I bought a pair of Ric's EVS500M monoblocks last November and have spent some time breaking them in and trying different combinations of cables, sources and pre-amps. Some of them don't work very well, others are pretty nice. Two combinations are kind of representative.
Combo 1 To start off, I am a huge fan of the Mercury2 in combination with various solid state amps. It sounds refined with smooth highs adding a certain glow to the music without having the typical tube sound. I was therefore disappointed when I listened to the EVS500Ms in this setup. The lack of high frequency dynamics were quite apparent and (for me) spoiled the superb bass control and amazing midrange this combo was able to produce. Now, the sound of the Mercury2 together with the EVS500M is not bad and the character of the high notes is reminiscent of some tube amp combinations, so tube fans might very well love it. I was not too keen on it. Rather than give up on them, I decided to experiment with several input/cable combinations (thanks to audiogon), which led me to the following setup.
Combo 2 Amazing difference. The timid leading edge of high notes is gone. The soundstage is big and three dimensional, the bass control and smooth midrange are still there. In part, this is due to the DAC which sounds exceptionally smooth. The biggest difference, however, came from replacing the Mercury with the Passive Pre-T. This dramatically improved the problems that I had about the high range and led to a sound that is almost edged into the air. No smudging of anything, neither in the time dimension nor in the soundstage. The cost has been less of that nice tube glow, so I would say it is a matter of taste, and especially bad recordings suffer from this.......
I like my setup so much that I ordered a second pair for some bi-amping.
I only have about 150 hours on my amps so far, but I can say these amps are by far the most revealing I've ever had in my system. Any changes---power cords, interconnects, tubes, isolation, AC power---have been readily heard. Especially with tube rolling, changes, and their effect on the tonality of the system and performance at the frequency extremes, are dramatic. The sound of these amps (or perhaps the lack of inherent character) matches my experience with Ric's other products: neutrality, transparency and clarity.
-John K. 3-26-2008: All ICEpower amps discontinued
1. Used EVS modified Oppo 980H universal DVD player: Mods include heavy alluminum plate added underneath for mass and vibration control, damping and modding the transport, mods to the power supply, OFC output jacks, modified Dexa regulators for both the analog and digital power supplies to the parallel 32 bit AKM DACs that were substituted for the stock DACS. EVS clock 1 is installed with its own isolated power supply feed from the main supply. All multichannel analog outputs have been eliminated. This is a two channel only machine. Think of it as a very very good universal analog player that can also play DVDs. The video works but only at 480I output....so your display must have a good upconverter in it. It does have a nice pic.....but this is mainly a CD/DVD-A/DAD/SACD player. There is no output stage after the DACs. The parallel DACS drive the output through separate 100 ohm resistors making the output impedance 50 ohms (the output impedance of the DACs is less than one ohm). The output voltage is 1 volt RMS. A nude damped and Wima bypassed Blackgate N cap is the coupling cap on the output.....which is connected directly to the OFC output jacks. A sweet two channel analog player for someone on a budget. The mods were originally around $800. The whole enchilada is $350.
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