Amphion Loudspeakers was established in 1998 and the company designs and build simple, minimalistic loudspeakers with carefully integrated drivers, with results that are characterized by honest reproduction with great imaging and phase coherency. All his products are handmade in Finland, and even the Amphion amplifiers are assembled in Finland, integrating the latest available amp modules in utilitarian black boxes.
According to the manufacturer, which always defended his option for passive speakers and dedicated companion amplifiers, the new Amp400.8 is a perfect partner for multichannel audio production, allowing many studios who already work with 2.1 and even 5.1 configurations to expand to fully immersive systems with added height speakers, typically in 7.1.4 configuration.
Combining the latest advanced Class-D technology (and things did improve a lot in that front lately) with an in-house designed proprietary buffer stage, the Amp400.8 offers up to 410W of clean, dynamic power across up to 8 channels.
"Amphion has built its brand reputation by questioning the established approach and focusing only on results," the company states. The company's acceptance is established from setups for audio professionals throughout the industry, from Grammy-winning producer/engineers like Finneas O’Connell, Jacquire King, and Dave Pensado to composers and sound designers for film and television like Dean Landon, Justin Fraser, and Danny Cocke.
Amphion's product qualities have also made them an option for immersive and multichannel setups that require pinpoint accuracy for making the most of the 3D grid in immersive audio rooms. And as commercial and project studios are all upgrading their systems to be able to offer immersive mixing, Amphion has responded with an easy to configure option, as transparent as possible.
"Atmos is naturally of great interest to us and we have been digging into it deeply. It has the potential of being something very interesting to the end customer, but only if it is done right. We strongly believe that the only way to utilize the considerable, often updatable DSP processing power of the latest immersive monitor controllers is to keep the monitoring chain as transparent as possible. Therefore, it should be free of any unnecessary additional DSP or other electrical circuitry. As the number of channels grow, even the slightest shortcomings in monitoring lead to lack of cohesion, which is clearly audible through speakers as well as headphones," explains Amphion's CEO Anssi Hyvonen.
In addition to providing the features inherent to all Amphion amplifiers, the Amp400.8 was designed to provide coherence between all of its 8 Class-D channels, giving it consistent power and performance for any multichannel setup and even multiple separate stereo monitor systems. Amp400.8 features Neutrik XLR and Speakon connectors for each channel providing easy and secure connectivity across the system. Although optimized for use with Amphion’s family of monitors, the company believes it can match a wide range of other passive speakers.
"Demand for Amphion equipped immersive rooms has virtually exploded during the past couple of months. The first Dolby certified Atmos room in Italy was installed a few months ago, and the only mixing / mastering Atmos room in Finland with the Dolby codec has just become operational during summer in Helsinki. In addition, there are multiple rooms being built across the globe and we are excited to witness the results these talented engineers create with our products,” says Hyvonen.
The Amp400.8 amplifier is available for $4500 USD and is shipping now.
www.amphion.fi
