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Yeah, hope to try out the ncore, but also thought a meatier class d like Wyred, Red Dragon or DAC Cherry could be good matches. Guy I bought them from ran Wyred, and some Red Dragon amps are available locally used.
Not sure I would call ICEpower based amps like W4S and Red Dragon meatier than nCore (nCore bass is better)... I would say they are dark and quite veiled in comparison to the clarity of nCore. I own a pair of DIY mono blocks based on ICEpower ASP500 modules (with mods), and my nCore DIY stereo amp is in another league. If you want to get a little more body out of nCore be sure to replace the AC input wiring with something of more gauge and higher quality, and replace the signal input wiring as well. A little RF damping goes a long way as well. To me the nCore are dead neutral, and just expose the rest of the system for what it is, so to get the best out of a system with nCore amplification you do not want lean speakers, source components, or wires.
So about what I figured. A very decent amp for the money and will do second system duty quite well, but it's no Ncore.
Problem with bridging is you get quite a different amp as a result... current is more constrained, and it tends to work better with speakers that have higher impedances....If the speaker is somewhat reactive and has a bottom impedance of circa 2 ohm, bridging probably won't improve things.... If the impedance bottoms out at around 4 or 6 ohm then bridging may well be ok, and given the additional headroom, most likely an improvement!I really don't think you can look at an amp in isolation without considering the speakers it is driving....I experimented with bridging my Onkyo - results were not so hot into the Gallo's. (improvement in the high end, some degradation in the bass - to be expected given the drop in impedance at around 100Hz)I don't know how class-d amps respond to bridging, but I would assume the current limitations are much the same....
IMO, if you need something different tonally out of the nCore DIY modules, then you should be looking at your source or speakers as the culprit.
Yes I haven't been able to track down impedance info on the SP Tech speakers so bridged mono amps worry me since I don't know how low the impedance dips. I'm gonna try as many burly high powered amps as I can into the SP Tech. And we'll see what mates best. DAC, Wyred and Red Dragon have all been recommended so I hope to be able to try them out in addition to ncore and the XLS. Thanks to all who have given their impressions. Tho truly a matter of match of alp with speakers (and the resulting sound's fit with the listener's preferences) that carries the day.
I spoke with Bob last night for quite some time. First, he is a former Crown amplifier guru (worked for them for many years and knows about the XLS). Second, he says his impedance doesn't dip too low at all, and that the Crowns bridged should be no issues.
The cryoman says he can cryo these Crowns for 35 bucks plus the shipping back to you.
Much appreciated Ted. That's great news. Waiting for the 2nd XLS to arrive...