Recording - March 2015 - 28

Amphion One18 Passive Monitors

coloration... even when I was standing
on the sides. The bass does drop a tad as
you move to the sides or farther back in
the room, but it is not drastic.
Amphion speakers are sealed cabinets.
There are no bass ports (the holes on most
monitors where bass tones and blasts of air
come out). Instead Amphion uses a passive
radiator to control low-end frequencies and
handle air movement. The aluminum radiator
looks like a rear-mounted speaker and is
located on the back of each cabinet. It is parallel to the front-side woofer and equal in
size. The two work in tandem, both dispersing energy and controlling low frequencies.
I asked Anssi why Amphion chose a radiator design over the more common bass port;
he told me that in addition to improving resolution in the midrange, it allows for more controlled bass and a better, yet predictable, low
end. This, together with the controlled dispersion, allows the One18 to have better consistency regardless of the room it is in.

same time. In some ways it's easier to
describe what the One18 is not rather than
what it is.
They do not have the modern ultra-bright
studio monitor sound. They do not have gobs
of extended room-rattling low end, nor do
they have scooped, tailored or exaggerated
mids. In essence, they sound as if nothing is
exaggerated across the sonic spectrum.

Powered up
What about power? You can use any
good clean power amp like a Bryston,
Manley, etc., as long as you stick within the
intended power rating. For this review
Amphion included one of its own stereo
power amps, using power modules selected
for the Amphion line after 5 years of evaluating all of the commercially available Class D
designs. Data on these amps was not yet
available on the website as of press time.
There are three models: I was sent the
Amp100 (100 Watts per side), and there are
also the larger Amp500 (500 Watts per side)
and a choice of individual 100 Watt
monoblocks.

describe that part of the most critical range of
human hearing is between 2000 and 5000
Hz. Amphion put a big focus on the
crossover circuit and nailing said midrange.
Sonically, comparing these speakers to
other monitors reminds me a bit of comparing
a modern condenser and a classic ribbon
microphone. Often we associate the extended high mids and top-end clarity of a condenser with realism and honesty. In reality a
good neutral ribbon mic is often a more accurate slice of sonic reality overall, but we may
initially perceive the ribbon as quite flat. To
my ears the One18 is rather like that.
In my studio I use a pair of KRK Expose
E8b 8" monitors along with their matching
12sHO subwoofer. The sound is big, clear,
detailed, huge, full, punchy... and when
cranked, it's downright exhilarating! To the
listener they feel like you can sit in the middle of the crystalline sound stage and stand
on the low end. At times they almost sound
too good.
In comparison, the One18 is more even
and solid in the midrange, the top is pleasant
and rich rather than bright, and when my sub
is off, they have low end you can hear and
almost touch, rather than bass that you feel,
like on the E8b.

A sound that is amazing, yet hard to
describe
Before the One18s arrived, I spent time
reading the online forums. Interestingly, other
than exclamations like "wow, best monitor I
have ever heard" or "easy to mix on," I had
no idea what to expect. One engineer's "lifelike" is another person's "bright", or "rich and
full" to one could sound "dark" to another....
Once I got them set up in my room, burned
in and ready to go, I found them open, full,
honest, clear, rich, subtle, and bold, all at the
28

RECORDING March 2015

It's all about those mids...not that
bass, nor treble
The magic of the One18 is its midrange,
which is full, even, and detailed. Again
according to Anssi, "In the old days it was
fine to get things right for your car, radio, or
boombox, but nowadays we have mobile
phones, laptop speakers, cheap in-ears... the
playback environment is way more fragmented. What do all of these have in common, whether a full range hi-fi system or your
mobile phone? They all have midrange-
and we had to get it right!" Anssi went on to

What the One18 does not have in any
way is the crisp, modern studio monitor
sound. You know the one, where we often
have to remind clients that things on the
monitors will sound brighter than they actually are? At the end of the day the One18
and the E8b sound almost nothing alike; in
fact, the One18 sounds different from
almost every other speaker I have reviewed
in the past decade.
A true mix tool
Putting the One18 to work in practical
use in my room on my mixes, I experienced
two important things. First, the One18
retains its fullness at low volumes, and as
such they are exceptionally comfortable to
mix on for extended periods of time.
Second, since they are not as instantly sonically impressive as many modern boxes,
they make you work a bit harder to fit things
in the mix, and this is good! Better stated,
they allow you to work smarter and make
more accurate mix decisions that translate
easily to other playback devices like car
speakers, i-devices, earbuds and more.
For the last month I have been mixing a
heavy prog rock quartet (drums, bass, guitar and vocals) with Tool-meets-DreamTheater tendencies. For some reason, on
this project I have been second-guessing
things more, especially the kick drum and
bass guitar tone and placement. This has
resulted in many reference mixes and lots of
back and forth tweaking between me and
the band. In just two half-day sessions with
the One18, I got said mixes closer to done
faster-and much more effortlessly-than I
have done all month. For me as a working
mix engineer, that is the win!
Placing midrange information is a dream
on this box. The only two things I had to be
conscious of were to not push my high end
too much, thinking it had to sit where it does
on other monitors, and to check low end
occasionally on my subs for additional
tweaks before printing the final mix.
Conclusions
These are amazing workhorse monitors
that are detailed, full, and pleasant to work
on. Anssi told me that the company's new slogan, "Beautifully Honest", came from a customer, who said, "I am done with 'brutally
honest'-these are beautifully honest!"
Amphion has a model for every size and
room, and they also integrate wonderfully
with monitors you already own for side-byside comparisons. They really do have a
sound all their own, and what an awesome
sound it is! I'm not sure that I want to mix
without them...
Prices: One18, $1500 each; Amp100
amplifier, $1300; Amp500 amplifier for
larger rooms (not reviewed here), $1800
More from: Amphion, amphion.fi
http://www.amphion.fi
Recording - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2015
