Legacy iV7 600 Watt 7CH Amplifier Most Powerful Multi-CH Amplifier Ever?

One thing Legacy Audio has been known for is their high dynamic range loudspeakers with gut wrenching bass. OK, that's two things, but they do go hand in hand with each other.  In order to make their speakers sing, they need a solid power foundation; wimpy AV receivers need not apply. Legacy used to offer some solid linear amplifiers back in the day and once they were discontinued, we wondered what would be their next move. Enter the PowerBloc series of amplifiers. Legacy Audio decided to go BIG while going green. This time, they switched from linear amplifier technology to the latest in Class D and their Powerbloc2 2CH and Powerbloc4 4CH amplifiers were born. When I visited Legacy back in 2017, I planted a seed in Bill Dudleston's ear that they would do well to produce a 7 or 8CH amplifier to address the need for high efficient, high power amplification for Dolby Atmos. Bill took my request to heart and here we are announcing these exciting new 7CH and 8CH Legacy amplifiers.

According to Legacy, removing dynamic limitations while preserving detail is paramount to the listening experience and home theater demands both high current and high voltage output. 

Legacy’s claims their new iV 7 (aptly named as I*V = Power) is most powerful home theater amplifier in consumer audio to date. Featuring state of the art ICEedge® technology, the elegant amplifier operates at nearly 80% efficiency at rated output and is said to deliver > *600 watts into 4 ohms (all channels driven) and remains stable into impedances as low as 2.7 ohms with 1kwatt of peak power per channel. The amplifier supports 12VDC triggered on/off and is available in a rack mount 8 channel version for Atmos® installations. 

ICE amplification has come a long way since their introduction into powered subwoofers and some Pioneer AV receivers over a decade ago. Their newest module is said to be load invariant, meaning the frequency response does NOT change depending on load impedance. This was often a problem with earlier Class D amplifier designs and why they often sounded inconsistent depending on what type of loudspeaker they were driving. The fact that Legacy chose this amplifier topology in their $80k/pair Valor speakers speaks volumes for how confident they are in this new amplifier topology. I got to hear these speakers first hand at a factory tour and was blown away by the system, never once thinking the speakers were starving for power. Instead, I just heard effortless sound that one would expect from a flagship speaker system from Legacy Audio.

 *600 watt power figure is based on using a single 230V, 20A line or dual 120V, 20A lines.

Power Utilization:

Music reproduction can demand high peak wattage requirements yet is still highly transient by nature.  The iV7 amplifier boast four very capable power supplies, each shared by two channels.

PS1:  output channels 1, 2             PS2:  output channels 3, 4

PS3: output channels 5, 6              PS4:  output channels 7, 8

While each channel output is identical in capability, it is logical to pair a higher demand front channel with a lower demand surround channel to maximize performance from a given power supply. Consult the user manual for suggested connection templates.

Initial Thoughts

The age of Class D amplification is fully upon us and if done properly, has advantages over traditional linear amplifiers in efficiency, power delivery and weight. The latest generation of ICE amplifiers are said to be among the most powerful and reliable Class D designs in the industry. A quick peer through the data sheet confirms this very impressive design is stable down to low impedance, has a high damping factor (indication of low output impedance assuring a linear load invariant frequency response) and low noise floor ( >97dB at 1 watt, A-wt).

The front panel of the amp contains a large meter which serves as an indicator of all modules on in the center position.  When the power it switched to standby the blue LED turns amber. There is a master power switch in the front panel and bottom as well.  The amp is well protected against thermal overload or short circuit and also includes inrush limiting to eliminate on/off pop sounds typical in some high power amplifier designs.

At a projected price of under $8k, this amplifier certainly isn't inexpensive but it has the potential to be among the most powerful multi-channel amplifiers in consumer audio. We are looking forward to getting in an 8CH version of this amplifier to put on our test bench and integrate into the Audioholics Showcase reference system to see just how powerful and refined in really is. This is a very cool product (pun intended) that we can't wait to test.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.