Buying Amphion loudspeakers: The studio monitors' high quality is being achieved by a couple of clever features.
Amphion – high end passive monitor loudspeakers
Many producers and engineers consider to buy Amphion speakers. Or they already did. In that case, you can bet most are happily tracking, editing, mixing and mastering over Amphion loudspeakers in their studios. We from KMR Audio Germany have gathered some informations about Amphion and would like to share our experiences and opinions with you.
One part of the story is more obvious than one might think: The company needed a name starting with the letter “A” in order to appear on top of manufacturer's list. That's plain and clever. And as the name had to work well internationally, convey the impression of quality and had to be music-related, “Amphion” came up. It is the name of a figure from Greek mythology: Amphion used his lyre to move rocks to build the city walls of Thebes! And: It was him who invented the major key!
Amphion uses passive systems. The company decided to do so mainly in order to ensure the investment in their monitoring system is future proof – speakers and amps can be separately upgraded, serviced or replaced, if that becomes necessary. If we recall our sales of Amphion systems, it seems most likely we're not talking years but rather decades here…
Instead of using ported reflex-housings, all Amphion cabinets are closed. However, they use passive woofers instead of reflex tubes. By doing so, the speakers extend bass frequency response as well, but are omitting chuffing and compression – both a common problem with standard ported housings. Planning housings with passive speakers is more challenging than designing ported systems, as there is another moving part that has to be considered. And so is the process of building: The woofers have to be accurately and tightly selected in order to fit.
All Amphion monitors you can buy use the stiff 1” titanium tweeter in a waveguide, ensuring a large sweet spot. You don't need to nail yourself straight to the centre when listening! The crossover frequency for all monitors is quite low, at 1.6 kHz. This means in the very crucial frequency range of 2 - 10 kHz there is no crossover filtering! All woofers use aluminium membranes, helping the studio monitors delivering a clean and punchy bass. Amphion One speakers use one active woofer, Amphion Two… well, you get the point. And of course there are no DSPs necessary for correcting frequency or phase!
They don't. The manufacturer puts a lot of effort into creating very neutral, linear and detailed monitoring speakers. Amphions are punchy and clear. Nevertheless they are professional tools engineers and producers can record, edit, mix and master with a whole workday without fatigue. And the following days…
Many KMR Audio customers who bought Amphions are happy with them as the only set of speakers in the studio.
Amphion relies on “Base” speakers extending not only the frequency range but also the dynamics of the speakers. Flex Base can be used as a single subwoofer, but BaseTwo is intended to be a stereo expansion system. That way, there are multiple options to gradually expand an existing system – Amphion is “modular”, so to speak. The word “Base” is literally correct, because the bass extension speakers double as a loudspeaker stand for the monitors.
|
SPEAKER |
Tweeter |
Woofer |
-3dB |
|---|---|---|---|
| One12 | 1’’ Titanium | 4.5’’ Alu | 78 Hz |
| One15 | 1’’ Titanium | 5.25’’ Alu | 49 Hz |
| Two15 | 1’’ Titanium | 2 x 5.25’’ Alu | 44 Hz |
| One18 | 1’’ Titanium | 6.5’’ Alu | 45 Hz |
| Two18 | 1’’ Titanium | 2 x 6.5’’ Alu | 39 Hz |
| Flexbase 25 | None | 2 x 10’’ Alu | 35 Hz |
| BaseTwo 25 | None | 2 x 10’’ Alu | 35 Hz |
Accompanying to the passive loudspeakers, Amphion offers two power amplifiers. Amp700 is a 2 x 350 W (8 Ohms) amplifier. Amp 400.8 delivers 205 Watts to 8 identical channels for multichannel setups.
In most studios, space is rare and prone to conflicts between computer monitors, gear to operate and sound monitoring/acoustics. So there is a dire need for compact, small footprint monitors that equal the sound of bulky loudspeakers. Amphion deliberately build their speakers upright with slim fronts. So they are easy to position (…even the big Amphion Two18!). KMR Audio Germany customers who bought Amphions shared their opinion with us that this is significant feature.
If you buy Amphion speakers, you have done a good choice on all levels: The company Amphion builds to utterly high quality standards in Finland – with well-trained personell receiving adequate salary and western social security benefits. Thus prices are not in the budget range, but they definitely justified. And by most people considered worth every cent once they have heard them.
Buying studio speakers is a important issue. So we don't try to sell you cardboard boxes with speakers in them: We are Germany's only dealer with both base systems for you to demo!