Martin Logan woofer amplification

Op amps ("operational amplifiers") are not power amplifiers, they are small signal devices used in line-level and other low power circuitry.

However it is quite possible that the input circuit or other circuitry that is "ahead" of the power stage in the amplifier includes an op amp, with one of its purposes perhaps being to perform the necessary low pass filtering.

Op amps tend to often be viewed negatively in high end audio, which is deserved in some cases and not deserved in others. In a bass amplifier application I would not expect the use of an op amp to necessarily mean compromised sound quality. But the dealer may not understand what an op amp is, or he may be dogmatically biased against them, or he may be anticipating that his potential customers would be dogmatically biased against them.

Regards,
-- Al

My guess is that the reviewer of the Summit was using the word "bipolar" in a very loose sense, perhaps without fully understanding what a "bipolar amplifier" is. For that matter, I don't fully understand what it is :-), and it seems like ambiguous terminology at best.

I would expect that in general it would refer to an amplifier which uses bipolar (NPN or PNP) output transistors, as opposed to FETs. The ICEpower modules use some bipolar transistors, but not as the power transistors which drive their outputs.

But perhaps he was using the term in reference to how the two ICEpower modules are used in conjunction with each other, perhaps in some sort of a balanced configuration. Although I'm not sure that makes sense either.

Best regards,
-- Al