BLACK ICE EXCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY

The Odyssey Circuit is an evolutionary tube circuit technology, new to the world of tube amplifiers.

The Odyssey Circuit is designed to work in unison with our proprietary Hafler output transformer. The Odyssey Circuit is a fully balanced differential push-pull AB design, or a dual-phase V drive circuit. All four of our 12AX7 tubes are actually the pre-amp or first stage. The four power tubes are the output or second and final stages. Because of the design of the Odyssey Circuit, all of the tubes are biased in unison. This means 12AX7 are automatically balanced when you bias the Power Tubes.

Limiting the amplifier to two gain stages, simplifies the signal path and reduces phase inversion. This new concept reduces distortion and lowers the negative feedback (NFB) to 4.5dB and gives our tube amplifiers a low noise inky black background. The results are stunning smooth detailed highs, a full weighty midrange, an wide, deep three-dimensional soundstage, and bass that will compete with any solid-state amp. An overall well balance of sound and performance.

-Found in all Black Ice F Series Amplifiers.

The Dimension Pro is a breakthrough The Dimension Pro will allow you to overcome the limitations of your space and interior design needs without having to worry about proper speaker placement. The speakers and the room will disappear with a turn of the Dimension Pro knob.

The design goes back to the early ’80s and is based on a fix for early multi-channel home theater setups that had trouble creating a proper 3D sound field. The circuit can move the phase to narrow and make two speakers image as one like a center channel. Conversely, the circuit can move the phase to wide and remove the confinement of a small rooms walls without losing the center image. Allowing the listener the ability to focus or widen the soundstage.

The results are increased three-dimensional images and an expansive soundstage that has the ability to expand beyond the walls of the room.

-Found in our FOZ SSX and F360 Tube Preamp.

We are often asked why we don’t put an automatic biasing system in the unit? The simple answer is that “auto-bias” has a negative impact on the performance of a tube amplifier. Auto-biasing is a well-known design used by engineers for over 40 years. It is a circuit in which a series of resistors in the core of the bias design. It will reduce power within a pre-set range which will introduce distortion into the signal path, this happens with all “auto-bias” circuits.

Exact Biasing will not reduce power or introduce distortion since it merely senses the level of current going through the bias path rather than trying to alter and control it. The user can dial it in perfectly for the tube they are running. Although Exact Biasing requires a minimum effort, we at Black Ice Audio feel that the dividends of power and sound performance are worth the small investment of time.

-Found in all Black Ice F Series Amplifiers.

The cross reduction circuit is the most important tool you can add to your turntable setup for perfect reproduction. A well calibrated crosstalk reduction circuit can eliminate the ‘what is playing in the right channel is also playing in the left and vice versa’ effect that comes from the cartridge. The improvement is up to 48dB of channel separation resulting in better pinpoint three-dimensional images in the soundstage, clearer more defined highs, and tight control of detailed bass. The circuit also has a bonus feature that saves hours by adjusting the cartridge’s azimuth electronically. When azimuth is off, one channel is in-phase and the other channel is out of phase and the result is out of place images on an unbalanced soundstage. Our calibrated crosstalk reduction circuit can compensate for up to 7 degrees of axial tilt and revert the out of phase channel back to in-phase. The result is positioning the images back to their rightful place on the soundstage.

-Found in our F159 Phono Stage and Foz XTR.

The 360 Space Matrix Circuit was designed to increase the sound stage depth for a two channel stereo system. The 360 circuit lets you add rear channel speakers which then effect the resonance of the front channels at specific frequencies to establish more depth and envelop the listener in the music. The effect is user adjustable and can be bypassed.

The results are a more life-like presentation and an experience of turning your room into a venue.

-Only in our F360 Preamplifier

The Black Ice Logic Display is not just a gimmick and pretty lights. It is a powerful tool that shows you exactly what the audio engineer recorded in the right and left channels. It also shows what the engineer placed in and out of phase in the track. Phase is used by engineers to create the illusion of three-dimensional sound. This information is used to properly tune the Dimension Pro knob on the F360. We recommend listening to a track with the Dimension Pro Circuit in the 12 O’clock position(bypassed) to see if the recording is IN or OUT of phase. For example, if the track is in-phase then you will want to set the knob toward the wide and adjust it for your room.

-Found in our F360 Preamplifier.

The Soft Start system protects tubes from the stress of instant current. It does not allow full voltage to the tube or transformers until it reaches a pre-determined threshold. Soft Start increases the life of the tubes exponentially.

-Found in the F Series Amplifiers

The protection circuit reads the current and when it sees a spike caused by a bad tube, short, or electrical surge it turns the amplifier off for safety.

-Found in the F Series Amplifiers