I like the sound of S300 very much, but have a very current hungry speaker system with 6 x 6.5" woofers in total.
Will I get a lot more grip and control of the bass with an upgrade to M700? or are they merely more power but same sound across frequencies?
Br
Peter
I very recently upgraded from the S300 to the M700s. The S300 was great, but the m700s gave a solid and noticeable increase in detail level and they have an authority to their presentation that the S300 didn’t have.
That authority was most noticeable in the low end, so maybe that indicates that the m700s have more control there than the S300 did (??) but I’m just running them with some ATC bookshelves so I can’t comment on a comparison driving larger speakers.
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Welcome! The S300 and M700 are quite different. Not only do they use completely different output stages, but they also have different input stages, designed specifically for the output. With the added headroom in the 700s, there’s no doubt in my mind you’ll get more control and authority over the 6.5" woofers. If you like the sound of the S300, you’ll love the sound from the M700s.
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Take a look at the damping factor. It does not change till after 1kHz which is very important for bass control.
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Thanks James!
are you able to share a bit more detail about the differences in both input and output stages? and what they mean to the resulting sound?
Thanks in advance 
The ICE modules in the 300 and 700s have quite a different sound signature to them. Darren spent a lot of design time making sure the input stages cater well to the pros and cons of each module.
The end result is a good, full sound from each amp. However, with certain speakers, the S300’s highs tend to be a bit more forward. Also, its ability to reproduce a believable soundstage and the separation needed for that isn’t nearly as good as the 700s. One of the biggest points for me is the 700’s control over the bass. The 700s offer much more full bass that goes noticeably lower than the S300. I’m like Paul and really want my bass to be full and deep. It’s one of the things I listen for first when evaluating a new piece of gear or a new system.
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The measurements of the S300 show that the ICEpower 300 will provide good low distortion bass to its rated power level of just over 100w into 8 ohms. It does show relatively high distortion into the presence region as you turn up the power, which probably accounts for the more forward sound. The profile is a little more even in the 700 modules. Of course the whole point of monoblocks is bettter imaging and separation. Given the S300 is a dual mono design using the same amplifier type, I wonder why the soundstage is not as good.
I wonder if the PS Audio additions are dealing with this higher frequency distortion, if such a thing is possible, and how it impacts on sound quality. The nCore distortion is identical at 100hz and 6khz, but that’s what you pay for.
Someone buying the S300 is probably on a budget such that if they want big thunderous bass they will have a subwoofer rather than top quality full range speakers, and the sub will probably be a minimum of 250w, quite possibly more.