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As a proud ICEpower amp, the majority of the SX-1000R innards are obviously taken up by the Danish OEM board. Below we see that; the plexi 'light pipe' to the right of it illuminated by two blue LED on either end which serves as power indicator; and on the left of the case, the small input PCB in the front and, below the yellow output wiring loop, the smaller trigger PCB.

Here we take a closer look at the square input/driver board with its push-button selectable RCA and XLR inputs.


Before 17 screws put the lid back on, here's a final wave at the B&O module's central plaza.

For quick proof of life, the Wyred twins replaced the 10wpc FirstWatt SIT1 which had powered the high-efficiency 16Ω Druid V on the floor. I'd revisit that pairing to report on potential 'power poisoning' where excessive power on a speaker which plainly doesn't need it might (or not?) translate to compromise. For now, it was Druids out, Maximus 2 in for a proppa testosterone fest. With the $6'500 Pass Labs XA30.8 class A amp as bench mark, these high-power class D amps went further. To explain how, we need to rewind. As their feature review chronicled, I tried these Chinese über monitors in the big system, on the desk top and in the media room. Whilst this also changed electronics, the primary change was on listening distance and the cubic air volume which needed to be energized. On the desktop's nearfield, the ultra-throw dynamic mid/woofers dominated for a very buxom very beefy bottom-up sound. In the media room, that warmth diluted but a just-right degree thereof remained. In the 90m² main room, the sound got cooler and leaner as you'd expect. Once the SX-1000R took the baton, the tonal/textural balance reverted to what it had been in the smaller media room where a Goldmund/Job 225 had driven the Maximus 2. Likely from greater power headroom and lower output impedance than the Pass amp, the control over the feisty mid/woofers playing a capacious space increased. This built out both perceived reach and overall cleanliness/speed particularly in the lower reaches.

Routinely, class D has been accused of sounding slightly robotic or jackhammerish in the bass and a bit dry and chalky in the treble. One likely cause for such results could be overdamping. By this I mean a curtailing of natural tonal ring-outs. Overdamping 'clips' off decays prematurely. In this instance, neither bass nor treble exhibited such unwanted behaviour. Perhaps due to the integral omnipolar (upfiring dispersion-lens refracted) ambient AMT tweeter, the presence, air and brilliance bands suffered no dulling or desiccation. Meanwhile the bass was supremely punchy—what Americans and British call wallop and welly respectively—yet simultaneously had juice and was bodacious. Any synthetic cyborg elements didn't figure in either end zone of the response. Instead, the sound of this amp/speaker combo felt like an ideal mix of impact and body, exactitude and free gushing. Given the increase of warmth over the Pass amp which I peg on the warmer heavier side to begin with, my first encounter with the SX monos suggested that like Simon Lee's April Music ICEpower efforts, they belonged to the warmer 'body-building' segment of the general class of D, not the ultra-lucid speedy slightly mechanical sector. But coming to conclusions with just one load is bound to misread. A number of rounds with wildly different loads was on the books to explore various results. Blindingly clear on the Maximus 2 was that into a properly demanding load, the power-corrupts mandate degraded into a bad myth. This speaker only benefited to exhibit no blind spots or areas of compromise. In short, it appreciated a kilowatt of power with an audible thank you. Into this load, the $3'600/pr monos were superior to the $6'500 stereo amp.