Audioholics peels back the lids on the current crop of ICEpower-based amplifiers
by Steven Kim 
posted Apr 30th 2009 at 7:29AM
Typically devoid of fancy lights, knobs, and switches, amplifiers typically don't get a lot of marketing hype; heck, most people who own a receiver aren't even aware of the amplifier section. Bang & Olfusen's Class D ICEpower switching amplifiers wrinkle that a bit -- the compact footprint, light weight, energy efficiency and impressive specs are enough to make the newer technology marketable as, well, new. Sadly, from Audioholics' examination of many samples, it also looks like the newness stopped there and several manufacturers have slapped crazy price tags on an essentially "reference design" implementation. There's plenty of good technical info about the test bench performance of these amps in the link, but with several happy ICEpower users it's hard to say that the subjective performance is unsatisfactory; the wide price range for essentially the same amp is what's troubling. If nothing else, let it serve as a cautionary tale of not falling for the latest thing just because it's the latest thing -- when you're shopping for an amp, take your ears along with your wallet.
We hate to be the ones to tell you this but you know those uber-pricey Bang & Olufsen LCD TVs? Well, the company is struggling a bit and they seem to have placed orders for their next round of LCDs from the same company that makes panels for normal consumer level sets that Sony and Sharp sells. These 26-, 27-, and 32-inch sets are going to ship sometime at the end of this quarter Even though they might be the same panel, it doesn't mean that these B&O LCDs won't have a superior picture as a lot of the quality comes from not the screen but rather the processor running the TV.
