STI-1000 Overrated or not?

Have had STI 1000 for 2 years. Very pleased with it now but have had ups and downs. To me the basic amp is very neutral and benefits from cable and power cord matching to taste. I have upgraded fuses and wiring thru W4S. Varying opinions on this as some people feel stock unit is fine and this is a matter of taste(what isn't?). Appeared to add to midrange and highs. I would consider working on IC or PC or SC changes first and as needed. I wound up changing almost all of them in my particular set up. At this time use Harmonic Tech dig and IC; Lessloss, VH Audio and W4S PCs; and Audioquest SC for my particular setup. (Have other brands that work well). Also using PS Audio Power Regenerator. At this time Lessloss is going straight to PS Audio PW Dac Mk 2. I also felt break in times sometimes took longer than I imagined (patience helped). Have had many systems in my 40plus years listening and this one is very musical and pleasing.

I may have bought my last amp, the Wyred4Sound STI-500. I burned it in with a tuner which put well over 300 hours on it. Very holographic and transparent with a very low noise floor which brings out so many little nuances and inner detail that I've never heard on very familiar recordings. Also, the bass.....my god. I NEVER had bass like this before. Deep, tight, accurate and fast. Did I say deep? I had speakers with single a 10" woofer, and two pair of speakers with DUAL 8" woofers and none of them had the bass that my current Source Techs with a SINGLE 7" woofer. Everyone has their own opinion of amps, and there is no perfect amp, but I'm extremely happy with my Wyred integrated. I've owned solid state and tubes over the years.

Welcome to the sound of tight, accurate bass.

thanks guys! will try to move the speakers around hopefully that helps.

Ddd makes a good point.

I had to adjust my speaker location after moving to a Class D Icepower amp in that the soundstage and imaging opened up quite a bit which required re-tweaking of speaker location to get right. Not uncommon whenever a significant change in amplification is made.

You could try moving your speakers a couple inches closer to room boundaries. It may be telling you things about your room you weren't aware of before.

Thank you guys for the input.

Guess it will need more time to settle in then.

And I will probably hold on to my 7106. I am just surprised a mc that's supposed to be a ht amp can still hold its own, maybe not the last word on resolution but overall impact and power which makes music so much more engrossing and emotional.

I can assure you it will sound different, not like McIntosh.

Which is better? Hard to say.

Give it some time for the gear to breakin and your ears to acclimate and see.

Both companies make very good gear. Individual preferences and tastes will vary. I would say W4S is not overrated, though Class D is perhaps not for everyone (what is?).

Icepower/Class D sound I have heard is somewhat tubelike in mids and highs, smooth though not warm. Should balance with Harbeth well I would think, though likely not for those that strive for a very warm sound , which is something I associate with Harbeth. Bass, especially in terms of damping and control, may sound way different with W4S, but only witt larger and better speakers capable of delivering all teh intricacies in the bass. I would expect significant noticeable difference in the bass with the Harbeths. Differences in tonal balance can result in perceived soundstage and imaging presentation differences also. Different most likely, but hard say which might be better. A lot has to do with personal preference.

Mc sound is great! They still have their prehistorical vintage design on their modern components of autoformer output, but they still compete against advanced electronic engineering monsters such as Bryston, Classe, Pass Labs, Plinius and others! Having myself a class T amp Sunfire SRA driving Aerial 10T I would say that MC402(that I've recently tried) is definite one of the best value and performance contender. Super clean that doesn't have any emphasized parameters of tube or solid state sound. It just Mac period. If you love Mac, it's hard to go none-Mac.
I still question myself why Macs are still SO GOOD?

I had the same feeling towards the Wyred STI 1000 in the beginning. I was breaking in both the STI and some new Focal 1037 Be speakers. Every time I listened to that system (family room)I felt something was missing so I gave it more time and finally tried some different music.

I played Steely Dan and WOW there was the bass. I listened to various full bodied recordings and was now starting to adjust to the sound of the two products. Next I tried some Hales, Appogee, Arum Cantus, Morels and several other speakers and ALL of them sounded better than I have heard them before.

I had been using Jadis tube eq.,Sonic Frontiers, and Conrad Johnson solid state amps among others. When I reinstall the other electronics it seems to be the other way around now. I miss the silence of the STI, the appropriate level and Q of the bass to the music being played.

I have always prefered a warm sound to accurate but now I am having my preferences challanged and I have to admit I have been very impressed by both the Wyred STI and the Focal speakers. I have happly stumbled into something new for me and am enjoying the fresh take on my music collection.

I hope it lasts.

Tubeking