What’s your experience with Amphion Argon 3LS/7LS?

Audio Gear Talk
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Hi everybody,

In the near future I’ll build a new home on the grounds of our finca in middle of
rural nowhere in Colombia. I’ll depend mostly on solar energy and Space X Starlink Internet access, as soon as it is available in this country.

To make the most out of this, I must set up a new system around a Class D amplifier, probably something from Apollon or Nord built around the Purifi modules. I’ve nearly made up my mind to go for a Sonnet Morpheus DAC, fed via I2S by way of a Pi2AES set up as Roon endpoint. This then via XLR directly into the power amplifier.

I am still looking for advice on speaker alternatives, though. This is the trickiest part for me, as I have no way to listen to any speaker beforehand. I must go for something unseen and unheard.

If you have been following the What Are We Listening threads, you’ll know that my musical diet is made up mostly of classical and baroque chamber music, bigger orchestral music as well, some Opera and classical vocal or choral music, chamber Jazz, and rather very little Pop, Rock or electronic music. I enjoy speakers able to give me the illusion of proper musician placement when playing back a well-recorded string quartet. I like transparency and the ability to discover a recording’s little details. Female and male voices must be reproduced with credible sound signature, as well as the sound of a grand piano, a cello or a bass viol…

I have been looking into the ProAc D2R/D20R, but have lately been quite intrigued about the speaker range by the Finnish builder Amphion. There are quite good reviews out there, and it seems as if these speakers measure quite well, too. Nevertheless, it would be great to get some first-hand feedback by fellow Roonies. So, if you have listened to these speakers, what’s your take on the Amphion Argon range? Like or not? What music do you mainly listen to on these speakers? What would you rather go for, the well-known and well-respected ProAc or the new kid on the block?

I’m still out at the finca and my cellphone is my only tool to the outside world, but I’m happily looking forward to your opinions, impressions and advice.

Thanks a lot in advance.

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I have the Amphion Argon 7LS and have done for about a year (rest of my kit is on my profile). I came to them after successive demos at HiFi shows where they wowed me almost as much as electrostatics (Quad ESLs), in terms of delivering a credible, natural sound. However, they are obviously both much cheaper and easier to accommodate.

I absolutely love them. I listen to quite a varied mix - quite a bit of folk, some jazz, pop, and a little classical (orchestral, chamber, choral). I love the sound of stringed instruments, particularly the depth of timbre in the cello and double bass, as well as the different complexities of the piano. I also listen to a lot of female vocals. I’m really happy with how the speakers manage in all these areas, despite very sub-optimal positioning. I would say that they can’t quite recreate the full pipe organ experience, if large choral works are your thing.

I have absolutely no urge to change them. Thierry (HAF) has provided some filters which I enjoy using, particularly crosstalk correction, though curiously I find them more natural without the phase correction component.

Hope this is of some help - happy to answer any questions. I would also say my first pair were slightly damaged in transit and both my dealer and Amphion sorted this out in record time, despite the pandemic.

Edit: I should say that I did also consider the same ProAc speakers but wasn’t won over in demo (haven’t heard at home though).

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That’s good to hear!! Thank you so much for your kind and helpful reply. I am getting closer…

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Same here using Amphion 7LS.
These are a great pair of speakers. I feed them with an appolon pnc1200 (I had purifi before). The sound is very natural and clean: great emotion!
I cannot compare with other systems but I am curious to test a heavy class A on these. 7LS have a low impedance and I am wondering if this could make a difference (despite of the specs and all the blabla around class d amps).
Have you made your choice ?

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Thank you! I am in the early stages of thinking about this new system. The new home still has to be built. I am interested in the Amphion, as well as in the Buchardt S400 MkII and the Salk Audio SS M6 monitors…