Power Unleashed

I FIRST

encountered the i·v 7 seven-channel amplifier at CEDIA 2019, where Legacy Audio founder and chief engineer Bill Dudleston was displaying it alongside the company’s many freestanding and on-wall speaker offerings. Although Legacy Audio is best known for those real wood-finished speakers that it designs for the high-end home and pro audio markets, the company also has an impressive portfolio of electronics, including the Powerbloc2 and Powerbloc4 Amplifiers that Sound & Vision reviewed back in 2017.

With the 2- and 4-channel domains covered by the Powerbloc pair, the logical next step would be to develop more-channel options to handle the system expansion that Dolby Atmos and other immersive formats require. The i·v family of amps, which are available in configurations ranging from two to eight channels, is that next step.

Similar to the Powerblocs, the new i·v (representing power as the product of current x voltage) models are based on class-d amp technology from Denmark’s Icepower a/s, a company that was originally founded to design built-in amplification for powered Bang & Olufsen speakers. What’s new with the i·v line, aside from more flexible channel configurations, is the use of Icepower’s latest-generation Iceedge chipset, a solution also found in Legacy Audio’s 4-way Valor flagship, where it delivers an impressive 2,750 watts to the tower’s multiple drivers and built-in subwoofer.

Legacy Audio’s power output specs for the i·v 7 are no less impressive. The amp is rated to deliver 7 x 610 watts into 8 ohms and 7 x 660 watts into 4 ohms all channels driven, with 1.2 kw of peak power from any one channel (@ 4 ohms/1khz at less than 1 percent distortion). With a typical A/V receiver delivering something

Latest-gen Icepower class-d amplification in Legacy Audio's i·v delivers a stunning 610 Wpc into 8 ohms. in the area of 100-150Wpc (often specified for 2-channels only), do you actually need that much power? According to Legacy Audio, the answer is an unequivocal yes. The i·v 7’s user manual includes an essay that explains how increased power is required to deliver the full resolution of today’s 24-bit audio formats, which have 35 db greater dynamic capability than standard 16-bit audio. Dramatically higher power output, the explanation goes, gives listeners the benefit of not just a lower noise floor but increased headroom to deliver upward dynamics, a necessity for proper reproduction of transients in high-res music (or ricocheting gunshots in Atmos soundtracks!).

The i·v 7 looks every bit the part of a high-end amp. Its black aluminum case is fronted by a thick aluminum slab featuring a display meter with a blue LED and needle to track input voltage. Copper-colored

accents line the meter, and the same accents are used for vents on the amp’s top panel. Rear panel connections include gold-plated RCA and balanced XLR inputs for each channel and seven sets of high-quality five-way binding post speaker outputs. There’s also an IEC power cord socket and 12-volt trigger input for auto turn-on via a preamp/processor. The main power switch is located on the amp’s back panel, while a second switch positioned at the lower right beneath the faceplate provides easy access to manually turn the amp on/off.

While many class-d amp designs take advantage of the tech’s efficiency to scale down the product’s overall footprint, the i·v 7 is outfitted much like a traditional class-a/b amplifier. The first indication is the i·v

7’s regular rack-mount width (3/4-inch rack-mount ears are available as a factory installed option), and the second is its relatively hefty 31-pound weight. Individual power supplies are used for each channel pair in the i·v series, with a total of four provided in the i·v 7. According to Legacy Audio, the large storage capacitors on each board in the amp allow for sustained power as opposed to just peak headroom, and efficiency is 80 percent at rated output—the likely reason for those vents at top and bottom.

SETUP

Owing to the i·v 7’s power supply layout, the company recommends you make channel assignments in a staggered manner, connecting the front left/right and center speakers to the even-numbered channels and surround speakers to the odd-numbered channels. This configuration lets you maximize the layout for the front channels, which generally require more power than those used for surround and overhead effects.

In the 5.1.2 speaker configuration I mainly used for testing, a set of Focal Chora 826-D towers and a Chora Center speaker were connected to channels 2, 4, and 6 on the i·v 7. Channels 1 and 3 were used to power the upfiring drivers on the Atmos-ready 826-D towers, while channels 5 and 7 powered a second pair of 826-Ds used as surrounds. A Marantz SR6014 A/V receiver served as the preamp-processor, with the i·v 7 connected to its line-level preamp outputs. I did additional stereo listening in a separate system with the i·v 7 driven by a Hegel H190 integrated amp’s preamp outputs and connected to a pair of JBL HDI-3600 towers, a 2.5-way speaker with three 6.5-inch woofers.

The music source was an Elac Discovery DS-S101- G server running Roon music library and management software.

MOVIES PERFORMANCE

After using the i·v 7 for an extended period of casual listening with my normal speaker setup, the review process kicked into high gear once I received shipment of the Focal speaker system. Watching Darren Aronofsky’s semi-experimental feature Mother! on Ultra HD Blu-ray with Atmos, in a scene where the poet (Javier Bardem) is nailing the door to his office shut, the sound of his hammering from the house’s second floor landing had a powerful impact and resonated hugely in the cavernous, circular space. In a subsequent scene where the houseguests’ sons argue and have a physical altercation, their stomping across the floorboards was frighteningly realistic, while the shifting of shouted dialogue from speaker to speaker as the camera perspective circled them was conveyed in a solid and continuous arc.

At this point in the review, I might be expected to reach for a Transformers- type movie to further gauge the amp’s capabilities, but the Mother! soundtrack in the film’s final third is about as dynamically over-the-top as any action epic. When the poet’s fans and followers storm the house and start smashing stuff, soon to be followed by a paramilitary force shooting and lobbing grenades, the impact of furniture tossed through windows and bombs collapsing the adjoining walls proved seriously hair-raising. Needless to say, the i·v 7 delivered big-time on its promise of unlimited-seeming peak dynamic power.

Another disc I was eager to watch on the system with the i·v 7 was Hanna, an action thriller form Joe Wright, a director better known for his adaptations of literary classics like Anna Karenina and Pride & Prejudice. Hanna has a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack that really cuts loose in the many action scenes. One great example is a sequence where the character Hanna is being

When I later moved the i·v 7 into my music-listening room and connected it to the JBL tower

speakers, the amp proved whisper-quiet once I powered everything up for playback. Listening to “Alexandra,” (16/44.1 FLAC, Tidal) a track by British singer-songwriter Laura Marling with an early 1970s-era Joni Mitchell vibe, I was struck by the intimate, warm, and completely unstressed quality of the sound. Vocals were full and rich, and the acoustic guitar, electric bass, and drums all came through distinctly in the mix.

Playing something more challenging such as the track “Hudson” by jazz supergroup Hudson from its self-titled album (24/44.1 FLAC, Qobuz), the interplay between Larry Grenadier’s standup bass and Jack Dejohnette’s drums was thoroughly dynamic, with the slapped strings of the closemiked bass cleanly delineated from the hi-hat cymbal and snare hits. In listening comparisons with the 2 x 150-watt Hegel integrated amp, the i·v 7 delivered firmer control over the low end, fleshing out the individual bass notes while maintaining a strong foundation. Meanwhile, John Scofield’s electric guitar floated above everything, coming across as clean without being overly crisp.

Kraftwerk’s “The Telephone Call/house Phone” from the album 3-D The Catalogue (24-bit/44.1 FLAC, Qobuz) is a track I had fun with when upmixed for Atmos in my home theater, but I also wanted to hear how it would come across in straight stereo. Played on the JBL towers with the i·v 7 amp, the mix sounded lively and welllayered, with a clean partitioning of samples and voices across the soundstage. Here again, the bass came across as dynamic and deep, and there was a taut quality to the presentation that added clarity and focus.

CONCLUSION

At just over $1,110 a channel, Legacy Audio’s i·v 7 isn’t what I’d call a budget home theater amplification option. If sticking to a strict budget is primary on the agenda, you can find suitable seven-channel amps in the $2-3,000 range that will easily see you through actionfueled Atmos soundtracks. That being said, they won’t pack the immense power reserves that the i·v 7 has on tap.

Does that extra power make a difference? In my listening, it certainly did. Action movies with explosions and shouted dialogue sounded effortlessly dynamic via the i·v 7, while stereo music played on a tower-based rig had a notably clean presentation with taut, well-controlled bass. The i·v’s exceptional build quality and good looks—allow me to remind you of that blue-backlit tracking meter—also make it an amp you’ll want to display out in the open as opposed to hiding away in a rack (though you get that option as well). Wrapping up, the i·v 7 sounded great in my system and comes highly recommended if you’re seeking a multichannel amp that offers not just an ordinary, but extraordinary performance.