I bought them and love them! - Al Sekela

The Raptors are so neutral and well-behaved that I've been busy upgrading the cables and power cord for my Wadia. With my previous bi-amp setup, I knew intellectually that these things could be improved, but actually hearing the results is very rewarding. The previous collection of amps had enough noise problems of its own that my ability to detect progress in tweaking the CD player setup was limited.

Let me answer your questions in order.

1) Have you determined if the amps put out significant RF back through the power connection, radiated through the air, or out to the speakers. I'm talking about the Class D switching frequency.

As far as I can tell, these amps do not produce significant noise. I have noticed some changes in sound with different power cord designs on the amps, but this is likely to be due to power cord interactions with the AC house wiring.

2) Have you tried Zobel networks at the speakers yet?

Yes, my standard speaker setup is to use R-C filters at all ends of all cables. These are soldered to my DIY cables, so I've not done the experiment of removing them. I don't think these affect the amps one way or the other, but they do load the cables to reduce RF resonances that can couple back to the CD player. These are not strictly Zobel networks, but are similar.

3) Have you determined which module is used in the Raptor yet? e.g. the Icepower.

This is proprietary to Gilmore Audio. The modules are not the ICE.

4) Has the sound improved as the amps have broken in?

I can't say, as I've been like a kid in a candy store with my cable tweaks. Things are so much better from cable tweaks that any amp burn-in improvements have been swamped.

5) Do you have any further comments on the sound of the Raptors compared to the amps you had previously?

The Raptors are neutral in the same sense that the Atma-Sphere OTL amps are neutral. There is no 'tube smoothness' that robs music of honest details. However, the Raptors have more authority over the Magnepans. Quirks in playback of recordings I know well, that were due to under-controlled Magnepan resonances, are now missing. There is more palpability and poise in the presentation. The treble extension and clarity is just as good if not better.

There is also better bass definition, which includes pitch as well as sound-stage imaging of bass instruments. No doubt, I was inhibiting my system by attempting to match the OTLs on the midrange and treble with solid-state on the bass, but I perceive the Raptors have much more honest bass on Maggies than the InnerSound ESL-300. I feel that Magnepans couple so well to the room air, that the bass amp has to damp the Maggies as well as the room. Simply adding the Raptors (which are always on) improved the bass from our RPTV, which has no electrical connection to the audio system, but shares the same room air.

The Raptors are an excellent match to Magnepan speakers. The performance will be limited by speaker tweaks and cables, and not the amplifiers.