Pre/Power Amplifiers

Ask AVM’s boss how his company’s range is doing in the UK and he’s clearly pretty happy. ‘It has really taken off, as we and distributor PMC have much in common: we’re both family owned, of a similar size, have a similar musical and technological approach and – most important – a similar sense of humour. The most popular models for British buyers have been the all-in-one systems, such as the CS 5.2 and CS 8.2 – just as it is in Germany.’

Are there plans to further expand the PA 8.2’s modular offering, for example with a network streaming card? Besser says that ‘We have this product already: the SD 6.2 (solid-state) and SD 8.2 (with tube stage). The PA 8.2 addresses instead the analogue music lover where the focus is more on phono stages, and classical digital formats.’

Neither does he see much point in chasing more formats and extended sampling rates. ‘We have a conservative approach – we take our time and see whether these formats will catch on in the market and also whether they benefit the customer. On those grounds DSD makes little sense if recordings are done in 96kHz/24-bit and afterwards converted to DSD. Neither is MQA’s data folding necessary in the age of fast signal processing.’

This year, he says, ‘you will see a large array of newly added products, the first one being the AVM 30 line with digital and analogue sources and an all-in-one system. This new and exciting range will feature eight models in total.'