Official ICE CLUB Thread

Sherardp · March 2009

leroyjr1 wrote: »

For HT I think the ice amp in the Pioneer sounds great but for music I like my Onkyo better. To me the ice amps sound kind of sterile.

I love it for both 2 channel and HT, granted I have a D-Sonic Iceamp powering my fronts and Sunfire on my rears. I guess I need to run my speaks off the 07 and compare sometime.

Retro152 · March 2009

leroyjr1 wrote: »

For HT I think the ice amp in the Pioneer sounds great but for music I like my Onkyo better. To me the ice amps sound kind of sterile.

In comparison to the Yamaha 663 i had, the SC-05 is killing it for 2 channel, but thats all i had to compare it with. Dont think the Yamahas' are known for being musical anyway, but found the various features on the 05 really enhanced CD play, (from my source anyway) and opened up my front stage.:)

Retro152 · March 2009

comfortablycurt wrote: »

This is one thing I've been wondering lately. I've always heard that Class D amps aren't really the most musical...efficient and powerful, yes, but not as clean or accurate as other types of amplifiers. I definitely want to get my ears on one of these Elite's sometime.

I wish I could afford to join the ICE Club...maybe next year though. These membership dues are just out of my budget right now...lol

If I put my Onk' in the freezer can I be an honorary ICE Club member?:p

Curt, put that baby on "ICE" and your in. LOL

Retro152 · March 2009

Hey Metal and TOOL, pioneer puts out the manual in braile too if your having trouble. LOL:D J/K. Just anxious to hear both your thoughts.

Pat.

Retro152 · March 2009

xcapri79 wrote: »

Two channel is awesome with the Polk Monitor 70's. When I first got the ICE machine that is what I first listened to.
I didn't know the Monitor 70's could sound so good, considering I have RTiA's and LSi's.

Later, I wanted to listen to it using the FM tuner. I really enjoy the multichannel experience and thought that the Neural THX setting was the best for FM. I've been playing it non-stop on the Monitor 70's when I'm home or not sleeping with NPR - jazz and classical and the local classic rock station and it just stays warm. I am going to look at the different modes over the weekend. I'm waiting for my new Pio Elite DV-49AV to arrive to replace my old Akai unit that is close to death.

Hey, even liked Neural THX for certain CD tracks. some felt like they were right in my lap.:D

leroyjr1 · March 2009

retro152 wrote: »

Hey, even liked Neural THX for certain CD tracks. some felt like they were right in my lap.:D

No that was that stripper.

mantis · March 2009

doggie750 wrote: »

Mantis, are you up for a challenge?:D

My brain has 10month old wisdom
fast learner and independent
my hobby is DESTROY DESTROY anything like this box
LOVE and ENJOY milk
I have a lot of family that supports me
I use to whining, crying to get what i demand
What do you got? HUH?

waaaaaaaaaa i got nothing for him.

Cute kid, excellent pic's, instant classic to the Ice forum, maybe a mascot?

Dan

disneyjoe7 · March 2009

At which model # did Pioneer Elite start using ICE amps?

mantis · March 2009

retro152 wrote: »

Ok new ICE owners, what are your impressions on 2 channel play with these new Elites, modes, and features? Very dynamic, Yes?

I'm finding the more I listen to 2 channel , the more I'm liking what I hear. It has wonder dynamics. If you run all digital, you can remove the color of the analog IC's.

Dan

mantis · March 2009

leroyjr1 wrote: »

For HT I think the ice amp in the Pioneer sounds great but for music I like my Onkyo better. To me the ice amps sound kind of sterile.

Tell me about your configuration on how you came to this determination? Are you running analog or Digital? Over HDMI or coax/Optical? What source?

My system is all HDMI including sacd, cd and dvd audio. Even my media is over HDMI. I do not find Sterile in the sound, if anything I find them to be accurate which is what one would want.

Dan

mantis · March 2009

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

At which model # did Pioneer Elite start using ICE amps?

The SC-05. The SC-07 and SC-09tx are all ICE amp models.

Dan

mantis · March 2009

xcapri79 wrote: »

Is it recommended to drive the LSi's with the SC-07 ICE amps?

No it is not. According to Pioneer , this receiver only supports 6 to 16 ohm load speakers. but that doesn't mean it can't. For the last week , I have been testing the SC-07 with a 4 ohm load 5 channel system and it's doing just fine. But I have it setup all in small and at 80hz, Mcacc is turned off. All manual setup and everything is working great.

If I plan on keeping my 4 ohm load setup which I'm not but If I was, I would pick up a Ice external amp from Rotel. I would get the rmb1575. 500 watts into a 4 ohm load. 250 into a 8. Killer ICE power.

Dan

leroyjr1 · March 2009

mantis wrote: »

I'm finding the more I listen to 2 channel , the more I'm liking what I hear. It has wonder dynamics. If you run all digital, you can remove the color of the analog IC's.

Dan

Are you using the rotel or the pioneer to power your speakers?

disneyjoe7 · March 2009

mantis wrote: »

The SC-05. The SC-07 and SC-09tx are all ICE amp models.

Dan

Thanks Dan, I must add even if I'm pre ICE amp days I was impressed with the 84 amp to handle a load over Onkyo's.

That's was a little off track sorry carry on....

mantis · March 2009

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Are you using the rotel or the pioneer to power your speakers?

I sold the Rotel rmb1095 and have been using the ICE amps to run my speakers. I'm impressed.

Dan

mantis · March 2009

xcapri79 wrote: »

I see that on the Rotel site the 2 channel RB-1572 and the RMB-1575 with the 500W 4 ohm rating. They are inviting aren't they!

yes they are . All that power and grace with non of the weight, I like that a lot. My Rmb1095 was 75 lb's and 93 in the box, it was mad heavy for a 5 channel amp.

Dan

leroyjr1 · March 2009

xcapri79 wrote: »

I see that on the Rotel site the 2 channel RB-1572 and the RMB-1575 with the 500W 4 ohm rating. They are inviting aren't they!

Or the class D rotel 1092. 500 watts at 8 ohms

Retro152 · March 2009

mantis wrote: »

Tell me about your configuration on how you came to this determination? Are you running analog or Digital? Over HDMI or coax/Optical? What source?

My system is all HDMI including sacd, cd and dvd audio. Even my media is over HDMI. I do not find Sterile in the sound, if anything I find them to be accurate which is what one would want.

Dan

Dan, im hooked up digital per your advice to my NAD 565 CDP. Did try the analog ICs' also, but felt i definetly got better results with the 05s' DACS'.

Pat.

leroyjr1 · March 2009

I'm running all HDMI.

Systems · March 2009

Just aheads up for potential users trying to drive SDA's with these ICEpower eqipped receivers/amps.I'm not sure which versions of B&O's modules they are using, but most (if not all)are non common ground designs.

Disc Jockey · March 2009

I'll take your word on the B&O modules but Pioneer's implementation is common ground.

Systems · March 2009

Disc Jockey wrote: »

I'll take your word on the B&O modules but Pioneer's implementation is common ground.

Thanks for the clarification.I do know that the ASP versions of the modules used by many are non common ground.

Disc Jockey · March 2009

GV#27 wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification.I do know that the ASP versions of the modules used by many are non common ground.

Happy to oblige.

cnh · March 2009

renowilliams wrote: »

I am wondering something about the elite series recievers. It seems that there are several owners in here, so I'll ask you guys. There have been several theads in this forum where people are giving advice regarding recievers. One question I have for you is how you would charactorize the sound warm or bright. My reciever is bright in 2 channel mode and most in this forum state the H/K recievers are warm sounding. Where would you place the recievers you have with respect to this charactoristic?

Thanks

Tim

I think Mantis answers this question quite well above. I've heard the Pioneers a few times in demos. I finally got a chance to do a 'good' audition of an 07 on Def Tech towers at BB, if you can believe that. The amps are not what I would call warm, but they're not sterile either. It's a neutral, clean, dynamic detailed kind of POWER--and is BEST, as Mantis says, with an all Digital feed--from your sources to the receiver. If you like 'warm' this might not be your cup of tea...but I find it hard to believe that most people would not find that sound enjoyable and impressive. I like warm myself and like this too! I can't tell you how much 'clarity' it had on the Def Techs...like few things I've heard before.

That's not to say that ICE is for everyone! But it is (N)ICE (sorry for the corny stuff)?

cnh

metal83 · March 2009

retro152 wrote: »

Ok new ICE owners, what are your impressions on 2 channel play with these new Elites, modes, and features? Very dynamic, Yes?

For 2 channel I"ve been using Pure Direct. It's what I used in my Pioneer Elite 92 as well. I've messed around with the "stereo modes", and while they sound great (better on the SC-07 than on the 92), It seems that I always go back to Pure Direct.

I have to admit I'm loving the "ICE"!
I've got my XPA-3 just sitting there idle because this receiver sounds so good. It's very detailed, clear, and accurate as others have said....dynamic!

I was blasting some music earlier today at the same levels that I was when I using my 92/XPA-3 combo, and the "ICE" didn't break a sweat. I listen to a lot of Metal (if my screen name didn't hint that all), and I threw in quite a few different Metal albums today giving my system a work out. I also threw in some Pink Floyd, George Thorogood, and a few other great albums (IMO). I was very surprised at how well all of these albums and different styles of music sounded. The vocals came through loud and proud. The seperation and details of the instruments is fantastic, down to every single beat of the drums, strum of the guitars, etc. I could literally shut my eyes, and feel like I was right in front of these bands, awesome!

HT sounds fantastic as well, no complaints what so ever yet.
And again, the SC-07 seems to beat the 92/XPA-3 combo in this area as well.

Ok well so far, as I'm sure you can tell, I like the SC-07 much better than the Elite 92/XPA-3 combo I was previously running. I've still yet to hook up the XPA-3 to the SC-07 though, so I can't comment on how that sounds yet. "ICE" has got a hold of me for now, but I am sure I'll try hooking up the XPA-3 sometime soon to see if it sounds any better or not to me.

I've still got quite a bit of playing around to do, and I plan to do a lot more of that this weekend. The old ladies got some things to do that luckily I need not take part in, so I'll have the place to myself for a while..:)

leroyjr1 · March 2009

Metal I like the stereo mode (narrow)

mantis · March 2009

I also listen to 2 channel in Pure direct PCM. It's really clear and detailed. The dynamics are impressive as well.

How many of you are using the HDMI control? I find it to work pretty damn good. I don't use it but I did fool around with it. With lets say a DVD player, you only have to press "Play" and the receiver comes on and swithes to the DVD input if you assigned the HDMI to it, then turns on the Display and goes to the correct input. Very cool.

There is a lot of cool stuff that can be done with HDMI. Very soon you will not need a Ethernet port on your devices, just one in the chain and it will act like a hub or switch. How cool is that?

Dan

obieone · March 2009

Howdy y'all. I'm trying to load a bunch of music onto a 2G flash drive. I went to sync, and am telling it to write it in WAV(lossless?), but the synching is taking a LONG time?
Is this because it's convering from???? to WAV?
Here's my system:

XP w/ SP3, and latest version of wmp(I assume?)
AMD x2 6k
3 gigs of ram

Follow up question: Does the type/ brand of flash make a difference?

Thanks

metal83 · March 2009

So for you guys using the "ICE" amps in the Pio Elite instead of an external amp(s), how loud have you cranked it? I don't have an SPL meter "yet", but I got down to -10 on the receiver so far, and it sounded fantastic without any hints of clipping. Though to be honest I didn't leave at that volume for very long. I'll typically listen to music around -20 through -15 (-15 being loud!).

Listening to some Metallic "And Justice For All" as we speak, and it's sounding great.

mantis · March 2009

metal83 wrote: »

So for you guys using the "ICE" amps in the Pio Elite instead of an external amp(s), how loud have you cranked it? I don't have an SPL meter "yet", but I got down to -10 on the receiver so far, and it sounded fantastic without any hints of clipping. Though to be honest I didn't leave at that volume for very long. I'll typically listen to music around -20 through -15 (-15 being loud!).

Listening to some Metallic "And Justice For All" as we speak, and it's sounding great.

-21 right now with Kip Winger Acoustic Down Incognito track "How far will we go", it's the 4th time in a row I listened to it. It's am amazing track and it sounds way better then I would ever have expected my system to sound. ICE amps rule man.
I have been to the dark side bro, I went BIG 0 on it. It took it and liked it. I didn't leave it there as it's pretty damn loud. But I'm just in awe with this receiver.

We should all take a moment out of our days to bow down to the glory of ICE.

GOT ICE?

Dan

Official ICE CLUB Thread

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