Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
Having recently read Tom Fine’s review of Amphion’s flagship floor standers, the Krypton3X ($25,000/pair), in the June issue of Stereophile, I was eager to hear them. As luck would have it, the Finnish speaker company’s display in one of the MOC’s four huge halls included a small, sound-proofed listening booth before heading inside; I encountered Amphion CEO Anssi Hyvönen, who founded the company in 1998.
“Finland is a quiet place,” he told me—a wry contrast to the opening-day din. “It’s good for speaker building. Amphion’s roots are in home audio. We only branched out into the pro side 12 years ago.” He sees no great divide between the two. “Being involved in pro audio gives our small company access to the software that continues to help us improve our designs.”
To illustrate Amphion’s growing success, Hyvonen noted that Billie Eilish mixed her latest release, Hit Me Hard and Soft, on Amphion monitors. He also pointed to three newer, lower-priced Argon models: the 3X stand mount ($4250/pair), 3LX floor stander ($5650/pair), and the 7LX floor stander ($7900/pair).
The 3X is a 22lb two-way design with a 1″ titanium tweeter and 6.5″ aluminum mid-woofer. It has an impedance of 8 ohms, 87dB/W/m sensitivity, and a frequency response of 38Hz–55 kHz, –6dB. The 3LX is the 46lb floor standing version of the same design, with identical drivers, a lower sensitivity of 85dB/W/m, and a frequency response of 30Hz–55 kHz, –6dB
The 60lb 7LX features the same “ultra-high resolution” 1″ titanium tweeter found in the flagship Krypton3X. The speaker has an impedance of 4 ohms, 91dB/W/m sensitivity, and a frequency response of 28Hz–55 kHz, –6dB. The 4-ohm impedance means that the 91dB/W/m sensitivity is achieved with 2.83V delivering more than 1W.
Through a NuPrime Fusion 8D DAC from Taiwan (shipping in July, price to be announced), the immersive setup delivered powerful and persuasive sound. On a recording of the third movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, highs sound ideal. The setup’s center channel helps clarify instrumental relationships, rendering even the fastest notes with.