Amphion has taken its One15 nearfield monitor, put amplification inside it and called the result the A15 for home use. Same 1 inch titanium tweeter, same 5.25 inch aluminium woofer and matching passive radiator, same 1,600Hz crossover, same cabinet dimensions. Internal power is quoted at 125 watts on the woofer and 22 on the tweeter, response is given as 55Hz to 40kHz at -6dB, and each one weighs 20 pounds.
Two things stand out. The first is the honesty of that -6dB figure. Most active speakers in this bracket publish a number with no reference point attached, and quoting the down six point tells you the low end really does hand over somewhere in the 50s. For music that is fine in a small room. For anything with a soundtrack it means a subwoofer, not maybe.
The second is the input list, or the absence of one. Each speaker has a single balanced XLR and that is all. No HDMI, no ARC, no optical, no Bluetooth, no app. On a desk or in a two channel setup with a preamp that has balanced outputs and real volume control, that is a clean and deliberate design. Wired into a television it is a project, because you need something in between doing conversion and volume, and at that point the cost of the pair is not the cost of the system. Worth saying plainly since the category around them is full of speakers that will take a TV directly.
I did not see a price attached to the announcement. Given where the studio version sits, does anyone expect these to land somewhere sensible, or is the studio lineage going to be priced as a feature?
Two things stand out. The first is the honesty of that -6dB figure. Most active speakers in this bracket publish a number with no reference point attached, and quoting the down six point tells you the low end really does hand over somewhere in the 50s. For music that is fine in a small room. For anything with a soundtrack it means a subwoofer, not maybe.
The second is the input list, or the absence of one. Each speaker has a single balanced XLR and that is all. No HDMI, no ARC, no optical, no Bluetooth, no app. On a desk or in a two channel setup with a preamp that has balanced outputs and real volume control, that is a clean and deliberate design. Wired into a television it is a project, because you need something in between doing conversion and volume, and at that point the cost of the pair is not the cost of the system. Worth saying plainly since the category around them is full of speakers that will take a TV directly.
I did not see a price attached to the announcement. Given where the studio version sits, does anyone expect these to land somewhere sensible, or is the studio lineage going to be priced as a feature?
