Relationships require compromise. In my house, as you move from basement to bedroom, speakers get progressively smaller. VMPS RM40s in a 5.1 setup below decks, ATC 20-2As midship in the living room (pending approval), and possibly, the Finnish Amphion Ions ($1350) in the bedroom.

The Ions are acknowledged lifestyle products, which in the audio world generally means looks first, sound quality second. But to quote Amphion’s website, “When you demand the best possible sound but do not want to dedicate your room to audio only, Ion is your choice.” Sounds like my kind of compromise.

LINER NOTES: At barely a quarter cubic foot of volume the Ions can hide in a room. Upclose examination reveals first-rate construction -- there are no edges only curves, and the paint finish is such that the speakers appear seamless, as if carved from a solid block of MDF if such a thing existed. Available in white, black or silver, these are very decor-friendly speakers, and, in fact, the whole Amphion line which includes larger bookshelfs and floorstanders is Scandanavian sleek and elegant yet understated. My wife approves of the look, which is unusual to put it mildly.

Drivers are a 1” aluminum dome tweeter and 4.5” (by my measurement) paper midwoof crossed over at 1600hz with a shallow slope This is a low-ish crossover frequency (the ATC 10-2s are crossed over at 2800hz as a comparison) and Amphion touts several advantages to it. It puts the driver handoff out of the most sensitive range of human hearing where discontinuities would most likely be heard and our brains are most adept at processing spatial information. Second, it pushes more of the frequency spectrum through a lower mass dome rather than the higher mass midwoof cone, yielding faster transient response. Third, it mildly horn-loads the tweeter thus upping efficiency. The Norwegian SEAS-sourced drivers are modified to accommodate this crossover point and the design as a whole.

The tweeter is recessed into the baffle via a concave wave guide. This is a feature of all Amphion speakers and serves to direct sound toward the listener and away from the side and back walls thus minimizing reflected sound. The idea here is to take the room out of the sound quality equation as much as possible. Read the sidebar for an elaboration this principle.

Though increasingly common in speakers, waveguides and the notion of controlling dispersion (reflections) are a longstanding Finnish design element -- Gradient and Genelec have been using them for years as well. Don’t know why this is, but it is.

As someone who prefers a more direct and focused sound, I’m a fan of the principle. And for someone whose spouse not unfairly prevents him from acoustically treating every room to tame reflections and resonances, or simply just wants to listen to music and not be bothered with all the audiophile insanity, controlling dispersion makes a lot of sense.

I had no trouble driving the 86db sensitive Ions with a 50 watt Nuforce IA-7 integrated. Impedence is rated at 8 ohms and never drops below 6 ohms, so while of average efficiency for a small speaker, this is an easy load. I also put them in my big rig with a Meridian front end and Llano 200 wpc hybrid amps. Most listening was done with them on 28 inch stands, 8 feet apart and 8 1/2 feet away from me. Using a laser pointer mounted on the speaker as a guide, I experimented with the recommended toe-in. The presentation really came together with the left speaker aimed about a foot outside of my left ear, and the right speaker mirroring that placement.

I also listened to them on wall mounts, a likely placement in the real world and something their small size and light weight lends itself to. This augmented bass nicely without much of a transparency penalty (possibly thanks to the waveguide here), but predictably cut the depth of the soundstage, something this speaker excels at. Some built-in method for wall-mounting, such as threaded inserts, would be practical and appreciated.

OK, let’s get our geek off and listen.

PRESS PLAY, and voices and instruments just float out in front of you with notable clarity. The Ions immediately establish their place with some worthwhile magic. Though not a soundstage-first guy (see my bio), the 3D image thrills. Palpable shapes form in air -- the tiny cabinet and midwoof give you just enough bottom end for a full-blooded presentation. A frequent note was how cannily voiced these are. A/B’d against a highly regarded UK monitor of similar price was no contest -- the Brit sounded congested through the middle and never disappeared like the Ions.

The speakers are notably detailed as well. Low level resolution is such that what plays as a background detail on many speakers has greater presence here. It is likely a more accurate representation of the musicians intent and makes for a more engaging listen.

This detail combined with an unforced demeanor yields supple microdynamic textures. The music is layered, tactile and alive, even at low volumes. As someone who generally prefers a forward sound, the Ions slightly laid-back perspective worked from me because the presentation is so clean. While not first-row center tickets, I didn’t feel distanced from the music. The Ions are transparent and detailed, yet not in any way hard-sounding or lacking in romance. The whole detail vs. warmth debate is a false trade-off to me, not unlike the economy vs. the environment.

Limitations include lack of deep bass and macrodynamic capability -- not surprising for such a small speaker. You can’t rock the house with the Ions, and large swings in volume felt a bit compressed. They also sound very slightly slow vs. my VMPS ribbons, but this applies to almost all dynamic speakers I’ve heard. Brief auditions of the larger Amphion Argon2 and Helium2 bookshelfs suggest that these issues might be addressed with those models. And although I didn’t take the time to get perfect integration, using the Ions with a sub went a long way toward opening up the macrodynamics.

Both the Zu Tones and ATC 10-2As can energize a larger room with sound, have greater macrodynamic capability, and go deeper and louder. But the Ion is roughly 30% cheaper and smaller than either. And staying on the size front, neither would fly in my bedroom nor next to my computer, an application the Ion shines in. Further, neither images as well, although the ATC comes very close. In a brief audition, the only similarly tiny speaker I’ve heard that might at least suggest more bass and body is the DeVore Gibbon 3, but it’s about 30% more expensive. Though quite different sounding from the Ion, you are similarly aware of speaker that’s really well balanced by the designer.

Amphion makes notably attractive, fairly priced, extremely clean sounding speakers that have some magic in the way they float a tactile 3D image in front of you. They are voiced with considerable savvy and work as intended in rooms the way people place speakers -- a huge plus as far as I’m concerned. I’d also suspect they’d work well in a 5.1 setup, and in fact, more HT products are on the way. Throw in the stellar reviews their other models regularly receive and Amphion deserves a stronger foothold on our shores than they have now.

Next up: ATC SCM 11s and a short review of the Monitor Audio iDeck.

DESCRIPTION: 2-way bookshelf speaker. 1” aluminum dome tweeter, 4.5” paper cone midwoofer. Frequency response: 55-20,000hz Crossover frequency: 1600hz Impedence: 8 ohms Efficiency: 86db/w/m

DIMENSIONS: 10.5”H x 8.6”D x 5.3”W, 10.3lbs.
PRICE: $1350/pr. in black, white or silver

www.amphion.fi

SIDEBAR: What we hear is a sum of sound directly from the drivers, and that reflected off the surfaces in the room. Reflected sound travels further to reach our ears -- it’s not the shortest distance/straight line directly from the drivers. It is, conversely a bank shot from the drivers to the floor, ceiling and and walls to the ear. Reflected sound then, by dint of the greater distance it travels to our ears, arrives later than the direct sound. A single musical moment is, in effect, heard directly, then again and again and again as each reflection arrives. Our brain sums the first arriving direct sound and later arriving reflections to rebuild the moment. Now as it happens, our brains weight early reflections, those that travel the shortest distance from surfaces nearest and arrive soonest, heavier than those that arrive later. An early reflection will be from surfaces nearest the speaker -- a sound wave bouncing off a side wall or floor two feet from the speaker will arrive relatively long before one bouncing off a back wall ten feet from the speaker -- it travels a much shorter distance. And these early reflections smear the sound by stretching the perceived time it occurs (the guitar pick hitting the string arrives, and arrives and arrives, even though it only occurred once). So what if you could eliminate the reflections from the front and side walls and floor, those likely to arrive soonest as these are the closest surfaces to the speaker? This would help separate in time the sound coming directly from the drivers, from the reflected sound arriving later. Less smear should result in greater clarity, and in fact is a notable quality of the Amphion speakers I’ve heard. And if you’re not there already, the above might clue you into how a bit of room treatment to minimize reflections can go a long way toward cleaning up sound. Save on the cables and buy some foam.