Pre/Power Amplifiers

Heavy Hitter

If this 'compact' monoblock wasn't so heavy, it would be tempting to trot out the old cliché about it punching above its weight. So perhaps it's better to say that, despite its classic, understated styling, at heart this is definitely an amp with a penchant for partying. Yes, it sounds wonderfully sweet, clean and crisp when playing meticulously recorded jazz - Norwegian jazz, perhaps? Take a bow the Espen Eriksen Trio - but it's just as persuasive when you loosen the reins and let it drive hard, its tight control perfect for even the densest of mixes.

With the aforementioned trio's cover of 'We Don't Need Another Hero', from the What Took You So Long album [Rune Grammofon RCD 2129], the AW 300 M is gentle and languid with Eriksen's piano, Lars Tormod Jenset's bass and Andreas Bye's drum, giving the whole track a dreamy feel. But slipping into another gear with the more percussive playing of Neil Cowley on his trio's 'Rooster Was A Witness', from The Face Of Mount Molehill album [Naim Label, NAIMCD171], the relentless driving rhythm shows the speed and deftness of the amp.

And these amplifiers absolutely do scale and heft, too, thanks to that healthy - to say the least - power output allied to speed and snap. Warm they may be when required, but there's nothing lush or lazy about the way they play music, as is clear with the recent Pentatone release of Haydn's The Creation [PTC5187205; DXD download].

From the opening evocation of chaos and the exuberant cry of 'And there was light!', the power of the Dresdner Philharmonie and the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir is marshalled to dramatic effect by conductor Marek Janowski, aided here by the wide-open dynamics the Electrocompaniet amps deliver.

Tell Me A Story

The amplifier's balance is just as striking with the contributions of the vocal soloists, the timbres of their voices laid bare for inspection without any sense of enforced 'hi-finess'. Instead, the story unfolds before the listener in thoroughly riveting style and remains enjoyable whether or not you subscribe to Haydn's religious theme.

On the subject of big and bold, Electrocompaniet's monoblocks sound magnificent blasting out the (probably deeply unfashionable) Emerson, Lake & Palmer Welcome Back My Friends... live set [Essential!/Castle ESD CD 359]. The band's version of 'Toccata', based on Ginastera's 'Toccata Concertata', sounds even more frenetic than it does on the Brain Salad Surgery album, and the epic 'Karn Evil 9', all 36-plus minutes of it, slams hard, underpinned by Carl Palmer's massive drumkit and Greg Lake's understated bass. Moreover, this amp pair fully conveys the ability of Keith Emerson's keyboards to carry the melody while simultaneously delivering what are seemingly the kind of deep notes more usually associated with church organs.

Live And Kicking

This set is about as 'clean' a live recording of the period you'll encounter - the trio always toured many tons of equipment to achieve the crispest and most powerful sound around - and the nimble, extended sound of the Electrocompaniet AW 300 Ms driving full-range speakers brings it all back in sensational style.

Go Long, Or Go Short?

Let's talk about cables or, more specifically, given the groans usually greeting debates on this subject, let's talk about cable lengths. Different markets around the world have their own tastes when it comes to installing pre/power amplifier combinations, with UK audiophiles typically racking all electronics together, with short interconnect runs between the components and longer speaker cables. Elsewhere the preference is for localised amp/speaker setups fed with long runs from the preamplifier. In practice, the AW 300 M monoblocks make the 'long interconnects/short speaker cables' route even more feasible: placed right next to the speakers, they'd require extremely short speaker wiring. Knock yourself out with that dream speaker cable as you'll not be needing much of it!

Of course, the enabling technology here is the use of balanced cabling from the preamp to the power amp(s), with improved interference rejection than is possible with single-ended connections. Not for nothing do studio and stage installations favour balanced working, although many of these installations use transformer-coupled interconnects rather than the purely electronically balanced output/input of Electrocompaniet's pre and power amps. Here the promise of reduced common-mode noise and suppressed even-order distortions must be weighed against the complexity of the doubled-up circuitry. However, I have obtained good results from 'cooking quality' pro-use balanced cables for hi-fi set-ups. Think less than £50 for a decent pair of balanced interconnects, and suddenly the short speaker cable approach gets very tempting.

Hi-Fi News Verdict

Unsurprisingly, these new monos deliver all the performance of the AW 800 M used in stereo mode, but in a much more convenient form factor. Simplicity and solid engineering pay off in a sound packed with detail, and seemingly limitless power and dynamics, ensuring all genres of music are delivered with conviction and involvement. Add in the robust elegance of the design and build, and this is a fine buy.

Sound Quality: 87%