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Product Description
Handmade in Finland by Amphion, the Helium410 speakers are compact and easily placeable throughout the home—whether you set them on your desk or farther away for TV and movie applications. Each speaker features a 1-inch titanium tweeter, a 4.5-inch paper woofer, and a two-way vented operating principle Read More
I’ve heard the helium 410 last week in a shop here in Paris. Paired with a rega planar 1 & rega brio R . I just couldn’t move from the shop. I have understood what’s transparency and flexibility means: ear what has been recorded and played. So now my question is how this will sound with an old marantz mc-r 502 system sound ? Trevor ?
PA86Or even the Argon 0’s or 1’s would be great. Yeah, you would need to upgrade your amp + sources...I will add, you rarely see Any used Amphions for sale in the US or Canada, must be keepers...
These are real nice speakers, especially at 600 USD. (Although I think they should be like 515 USD on Massdrop, because it's Massdrop) You can't really find a substitute for this.
For those commenters who asked how can a small monitor speaker like this can be worth the cost, I auditioned speakers in the Amphion’s Argon line and found them to be amazing. The Argon3 monitors had authoritative bass I would have mistaken for large floorstanders, and were eerily clear like a window onto the stage. The drivers were also extraordinarily coherent, I believe due to the tweeter waveguide. Around the same time I also auditioned Revel M106s, B&W 805s, Sonus Faber Olympica 1s, and a handful other highly-rated speakers, and I’d have taken the Amphions over any of them regardless of cost.
I realize that my observations of the Argon speakers might not extend to the Heliums, except perhaps for the driver coherence, since the Heliums use similar waveguides. But my point is that Amphion is a legit high end speaker manufacture. If the cost is outside your budget, that’s understandable of course, but please don’t badmouth just because they are a few hundred more than the typical mass produced speakers that come up for drops. You get what you pay for. I applaud Massdrop for seeking out a real boutique hifi speaker to offer us and wish Amphion the best. Hopefully there will be more.
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neptunehylPS Audio Sprout is a good option. NAD, Cambridge.
They don't need a ton of power but they're very happy with getting at least 50W per side at 8ohm
Unless I missed it ... it would have been nice for an upgrade option to the Helium510.
I love that MassDrop is dipping its toes into artisan HiFi ... but it's usually the lowest offering by any given company.
I understand the value of a hand-built, high quality, aesthetically pleasing product ... the $600 asking price is very reasonable. The problem is the 4" LF driver is not going to cut it for most of us interested in this type of product, but the Amphion Helium510 could have. It also would have been and interesting alternative to the KEF LS50.
If MassDrop is trying to expand into the true high-end HiFi market ... we need to see true high-end HiFi offerings ... not just entry models of product lineups.
Perhaps someone who does not work for said company can comment on their performance. It seems they have been at a show recently.
I do not have a problem with a small speaker at this cost. I just have not seen or heard one under $1k that can compete with the ELAC's (this is my opinion, along with many others. There a few other speakers that people I respect say go in this sub $1000 category... the key word being "FEW"). And these are pretty dang small compared to those.
Also, thank goodness some speakers do look nice and come in white, otherwise my Significant Other would not let me use them. I am given one room where I can use all the big ugly crap. Its a sad reality.......... But if aesthetics is the selling feature? Well that is a VERY sad reality.
Of course the speaker is always the most important component in the system (wow, i sound arrogant with that statement, yikes). But, it seems that their claim is that they are extremely transparent. If that is the case then both your source AND your amplification needs to be transparent also. Transparent means revealing, and anything just so-so in your chain is going to be shown in all its glory. This does become an expensive system.
coolerkingI'll cast my vote for the SVS Ultra Bookshelf as the best 'under $1k / pair' speaker. Their transparency and volume potential is unmatched in this price range. And while I wouldn't necessarily call them a "small speaker", two can be carried in their factory box without too much strain. They're available in glossy white, but don't take off the grills... unless you want to reveal their dark grey drivers.
Are you referring to the ELAC Uni-B5?
Your statement about source and amplification needing to be transparent (for maximum transparency) is correct. For the best value in transparent amplifiers, I recommend the early-to-late 2000s higher-end Yamaha home theater receivers. One that stand out is the HTR-5590... truly powerful, easily bi-amp-able, analog bass and treble knobs, and all of its settings can be viewed/altered using just the remote control.
mattrisYes, the ELAC Uni-B5.
Although I originally got just the ELAC B6 ~ for under $200 out the door. Its ridiculous how they sound at that price. These though are fairly bigger than these Amphions.
$600 for two passive 4.5 inch bookshelf speakers?!
The size alone limits their ability to reproduce low-end content, and their characteristics depend on what amplifier you use.
I'm sure they sound good for their size (with a high quality amplifier) but the price is pretty shocking for what they are.
MechanoughtThe beautiful thing about our design is they do go quite low for their size. I was just at a demo today and someone thought speakers twice their size were playing.
Passive speakers have plenty of characteristics of themselves. Amps
matter but without a good / honest speaker you are going nowhere fast.
Our speakers crossover at 1.6k which gives them a very unique and honest sound. The wave guide also introduces perfect phase coherency.
For a pair of hand made speakers from
Finland (without imported components, except for the cardboard box it ships in) Many are amazed with their price once they experience what our technology brings to the table.
Best,
Trevor