[jbl]

Wanted to share my recent experience using a Legacy iV-2 amplifier with my Magnepan 3.7i.  This is the best my Magnepan's have sounded since owning them for the past year.  Prodigous, deep, fast, detailed bass with stellar control.  Incredible detail and layering of the music.  Tremendous dynamics with the blackest of background.  Huge soundstage that goes outside the bounds of the speaker for the first time.  And pinpoint imaging of the instruments in three dimensional space with precise tracking of the sound left to right and front to back.  I realize this may sound hyperbolic but to me and several audio friends whose hearing I trust have all agreed that this is by far the best sounding amp I have had on my system.

Previous amps include the Prima Luna EVO300 monoblocks, Parasound Halo A21, Emotiva XPA-DR1 monoblocks, Hegel H20, Hegel 30 as a stereo amp, Sanders Magtech monoblocks, and Modwright KSA150. 

Doug Schroeder on Dagogo wrote a review this year on the Legacy iV-2 where he compared it to the Pass Labs XA200.8 and thought it equalled or surpassed the performance of the Pass Labs and all other amps in similar class and price range.  I thought he was being hyperbolic but now having listened to the Legacy for 1 week, I think he is being accurate.  It easily surpasses all the amps I have tried with my Magnepans so far.  Even the $17K Hegel H30 sounded mediocre in comparison.   

I would highly recommend giving this amp an audition if you own Maggies or any kind of planar speakers.  It has made mine sound the best I have ever heard.  At $4800 I think it is steal. 


jbl

System:

Magnepan 3.7i with upgraded caps and foil inductors with Myesound custom stands, VCap bypass capacitors for tweeter and midrange,
Lumin U1 streamer
Lumin X1 linear power supply with custom pure silver DC power cord to streamer
Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha DAC Reference Series 3
Legacy iV-2 amplifier
Iconoclast AES/EBU digital cable, dual run OFE speaker cables, OCC XLR analog cables
GR Research B24 power cords for all components
Pi Audio UberBuss
Synergy Research Purple Fuse for DAC and Streamer
Synergy Research MIG 2.0 for all components
Bass traps x4

[Craig B]

You've been through 8 amps in one year?

[nocrapman]

So that ICE amp can trump all those giants? For real?
I used my Wyred4 sound amp with similar config with the 3.7i with Ok results.
My Bryston 4BSST2 still works the best leaving me with no curiosity to explore other options.

[dpatters]

That may well be the case, but I would take any review by Doug Schroeder of Dagogo with a heavy grain of salt. One of the worst reviewers IMO.

[mcmusicman]

My primary regret of 2021 was not picking up a pair of barely used 3.7i that were listed at 4200.  Even though my current room is too small for them, it now looks like moving may happen in the fall of 2022.  Ugggh...and congrats.

[SteveFord]

Never pass up a chance to buy 3.7i's, shame on you.

I saw some 20.7s for $9999 and I KNOW for a fact they won't work here but even so I was thinking about it.

[jbl]

So that ICE amp can trump all those giants? For real?
I used my Wyred4 sound amp with similar config with the 3.7i with Ok results.
My Bryston 4BSST2 still works the best leaving me with no curiosity to explore other options.

To my ears, and the ears of two of my friends whose listening observations I trust, we all agreed that the Legacy sounded superior by a significant margin to all the other amplifiers we had done A/B comparisons to. 

I would attribute the superiority of the sound to how the ICE modules were implemented rather than just being ICE amplifiers.  Legacy uses ICE Edge modules and individual power supplies for each channel which I would think is a part of the reason its sounds as good as it does.

jbl

[jjss49]

i must say i remain quite skeptical, but that's just me
agree on the reviewer, skeptical on that front too