I have used these for mixing and adore them - the detail is amazing - bass response superb - I also work a lot more on ATC but for my home set up I want the Amphion! But you are 100% correct on the placement - and the amps are essential…but I’m still to try their active ones recently out…but yea, speakers are SO important ….nice.
Thanks for the comment. And yes the right speakers are so important I agree. I haven’t done a video on it yet but I have the amphion flexbase25 sub in my studio and it’s actually incredible
Hey Alex, I also have the Two18's and couldn't agree more about the clarity and truthfulness they present for mixing or tracking. I went from using Mackie HR824s (the first version), to the Amphions in 2019. I managed to find a used pair on Reverb for less than $6000 CAD. No one around hear carries Amphion, so I was taking a chance based on reviews and how awesome they looked. Thankfully I did. The first song I listened to on them was The Big Money by Rush. I've probably heard that song several hundred times, and I was hearing details I had never heard before. They just blew me away. Once my studio was complete and I had a fully treated control room, the experience got even better. I build a set of custom speaker stands (basically just plywood boxes) to the same dimensions as the bass extenders so that I would be used to that positioning when I eventually decided to get them. To this date, I haven't really felt the need (which is good because I don't think I can ever afford them). One last note for those who might be reading this. I feel these monitors need a decent sized room for their full effect. If your room is smaller, go with the Two15 or One15 instead. They will still be wonderful.
Thankyou for the well thought out and insightful reply. I’m a huge fan also! I love your attention to detail, building stands the same height as the Sub extension. Genius! 😅🙌🙌🙌
@@WhoIsAlexElliott well i’m a strictly ATC guy but might give these a whirl. Still strapping your old Maag on my mixes. It’s Tieks btw lol congrats on the channel. Subscribed!
In the last 20+ years as a hobby producer I went from hifi two-way JBLs, to Dynaudio BM5 with sub and then spend time and money on room acoustics. Now a few months ago I upgraded to PMC result6 and man what a difference. I feel similar to what you describe about the Amphions, very sure on what to do and I can switch between headphones and speakers without the need to change eq or anything.
First day of mixing with it- I pulled up faders on a new project quickly, quick eq, and went to the car. It was translating. 6months later and they've just been working out. no second guessing.@@WhoIsAlexElliott
I have the One15's & the Base25. You can adjust the Base25 and they really add another dimension to the speakers. I prefer the sound with the Base25 and barley ever turn it off.
My one 18s don't strain my ears like I did with my previous monitors, and yes, the hotspot for the mid frequencies is key. Even with a small reflective space on my table it made the perception of phase in the high mids feel strange. For me, even in that size, due to their design they reproduce more bass than it seems. Also the subs are on my wish list. When I saw the position of your monitor, it caught my attention. Doesn't it cause a problem for you that it is in front of the monitors? nice video man
It’s a compromise. Due to space limitations I have to have my screen closer as I have bass trapping across the entire back wall. The benefit of the rear wall bass trapping outways having the screen further back and loosing the bass trapping. It was 5 hours of moving speakers inch by inch and using REW eq to find the optimum position. this was the best measurement position in my particular room. So it’s all room dependent and case by case.
I agree though it can be bad in certain rooms. Maybe because my ceiling, side and rear walls all have treatment I may not be feeling the adverse affects of reflections as much as others. But I’m Absolutely loving them and how they are sounding.
Hey, thanks for the video! As a One15 user I can slightly disagree that you shouldn't put any Amphions in the line with some competition in a kind of shootout. I had demo pair of One18 in my studio in the same time as many others like ExM Pulsars, Barefoot FP02, Genelec SM9, lots of APS stuff and more. The soundstage was different (cuz this is the Amphions signature sound obviously) but I couldn't say lacking compared to others. But definitely from the very beginning I could say that this is the tool for mixing, pure mixing. Pulsars were amazing, these are from NASA definitely, but everything sounded good on them and after some mixing tests, mixes done with One18 was actually better than the ones with Pulsars. I ended up with a pair of One15 which for me are even better than One18 for mixing duties. One15 are even punchier and faster than One18, have more flavor, character. In my studio they go down to 40Hz which is impressive as a 5,25" woofers. I use them with Kali WS12 sub with switch on/off if I want a full band system and I am more than happy. Never tested Two18/Two15 unfortunately. Best!
Thanks for sharing. I’ll work on my wording next time. “Never” was probably not the right word. But I agree with what you’re saying that the others sounded more impressive at first. The crazy thing is that the EX Machina Pulsar MK2 was what I had before the two18. So you can relate to my experience, when I loaded up the two 18 at first they sounded lacking in significant low end. If I had based my decision off the shoot out I would have kept my EX Machina, but it’s only when I sat with the two 18 and worked on them exclusively that I feel it love with them. That’s the point I was trying to convey when I said “don’t put them in a shootout”
@@WhoIsAlexElliott Yeah, I know what you mean! Anyway, I am a music geek and love shootouts, you can always learn smth comparing different devices but at the end of the day the ancient phyrexian rumor "never judge mixing speakers by only listening to them" really becomes true. Have you ever listened to ATC? I didn't have a chance but as far as I know it's the one and only brand that I could move to from Amphion line.
@@superlvminalvery good parable 👌. I have worked on ATC in other studios but not my own. I really don’t get along with them. I don’t think I’m a fan of the way they present the low end and lower mids.
How would you compare them to the Sonos sound profile? I know that Abbey Road uses Sonos Era 300 as a reference consumer speaker - which surprises me because studio speakers seem to be more tame compared to the brighter/elevated sound of Sonos speakers. Curious to know what someone with discerning ears thinks about the Sonos sound.
The incredible thing with Sonos is they actually come with a form of room correction via their app on iPhone. So mine don’t sound overly bright at all. I love listening to music on the Sonos and often when I’m done play it on my Sonos surround sound set up. But I wouldn’t trust them to mix on. The mid range is way more open on the Amphions and you can hear much further into the sound. I would say the Sonos is also more top end heavy.
I love producing on them. Cause the transients are so quick and midrange is lovely. I’ve recently added the flexbase one25 which has really taken them to the next level
I’m absolutely loving them. I would mint day I can feel the kick. I’d need a sub for that. And you wouldn’t not want to play unmixed low end of these too loud as they start to distort on the woofers. This is why they designed the subwoofer to go with them! But it’s very expensive. However I don’t find myself wanting anymore from a studio monitor and simply love them!
@@WhoIsAlexElliott I already owned Yamaha Hs8,and the low end was fine for me,how do you compare it with the low end of Amphion Two18? If i get the Amphions,will i miss something in the low end?
Nah you won’t miss anything. It’ll be only improvements (as along as you take the time to measure and set them up right of course). They are two complete different league of speakers. 🙌💯❤️
@@allandoyle7454 the two18 are much more fussy & I really noticed a difference when I didn’t have them set up that way. You can still use them of course but they certainly sound their best when set up properly 👌. Other speakers are more forgiving on placement but I would say my two 18 are heavily dependent on placement because they are two way not three way. The two woofers are playing back the same signal so if your not equal distance from them you get some phase cancellation’s.
Do you use them with a room correction like trinnov or dirac? I'm thinking of upgrading my kh120ii but I really like the ma1 system since my room is treated but i still have a 10db peak at 140hz. Would u recommend using them with dirac to get rid of that peak?
Hello thanks for you comment. I don’t use any room Correction and I find the negative impact of dynamics from phase isn’t worth the trade off. So I went the organic route with GIK acoustics and treated my room and good old fashion speaker movement. Moving forwards, back, wide or narrow a few inches can have a HUGE impact.
high end speakers are tools. The layman doesn't listen on these speakers. Tools are used to fix and build. No one uses tools every day. After you build and fix then go and listen on regular speakers.
Absolutely marvellous review Alex! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks warren 🙌
You're the man!@@WhoIsAlexElliott
I have used these for mixing and adore them - the detail is amazing - bass response superb - I also work a lot more on ATC but for my home set up I want the Amphion! But you are 100% correct on the placement - and the amps are essential…but I’m still to try their active ones recently out…but yea, speakers are SO important ….nice.
Thanks for the comment. And yes the right speakers are so important I agree. I haven’t done a video on it yet but I have the amphion flexbase25 sub in my studio and it’s actually incredible
You're putting out very good content. Keep up the good work.
Thanks alot brother. Will do my best! Glad people are enjoying it
Hey Alex, I also have the Two18's and couldn't agree more about the clarity and truthfulness they present for mixing or tracking. I went from using Mackie HR824s (the first version), to the Amphions in 2019. I managed to find a used pair on Reverb for less than $6000 CAD. No one around hear carries Amphion, so I was taking a chance based on reviews and how awesome they looked.
Thankfully I did. The first song I listened to on them was The Big Money by Rush. I've probably heard that song several hundred times, and I was hearing details I had never heard before. They just blew me away. Once my studio was complete and I had a fully treated control room, the experience got even better. I build a set of custom speaker stands (basically just plywood boxes) to the same dimensions as the bass extenders so that I would be used to that positioning when I eventually decided to get them. To this date, I haven't really felt the need (which is good because I don't think I can ever afford them).
One last note for those who might be reading this. I feel these monitors need a decent sized room for their full effect. If your room is smaller, go with the Two15 or One15 instead. They will still be wonderful.
Thankyou for the well thought out and insightful reply. I’m a huge fan also! I love your attention to detail, building stands the same height as the Sub extension. Genius! 😅🙌🙌🙌
What a great and detailed review Alex! Well done🤩🎶 Happy to hear that the product works for you.
No problem at all. You make incredible stuff. And if you ever want to send anything for review let me know 👀😍👀😍👀.
Loved that you’ve started by sharing that backstory with us :)
Just my journey. Glad you appreciated it!
Thanks Alex.. What a great new channel!
Thankyou so much. Encouragement goes along way at this early stage.
I’ve worked with those speakers, and I can relate to all you said, for me are like the high end or next step of ns10s.
🙌🙌🙌
wonderful message, great review
Glad it was helpful
@@WhoIsAlexElliott well i’m a strictly ATC guy but might give these a whirl. Still strapping your old Maag on my mixes. It’s Tieks btw lol congrats on the channel. Subscribed!
@@tiekumarkahh the legend himself. ✊✊. Give SxPro a shout they’ll send some out to you!
In the last 20+ years as a hobby producer I went from hifi two-way JBLs, to Dynaudio BM5 with sub and then spend time and money on room acoustics. Now a few months ago I upgraded to PMC result6 and man what a difference. I feel similar to what you describe about the Amphions, very sure on what to do and I can switch between headphones and speakers without the need to change eq or anything.
Such a wonderful experience when you find the speakers for you right?
Great choice. Rocking the One15s and really loving them so much. They just work for me.
Thanks for comment. What do you love most about the one15 ?
First day of mixing with it- I pulled up faders on a new project quickly, quick eq, and went to the car. It was translating. 6months later and they've just been working out. no second guessing.@@WhoIsAlexElliott
@@ryanshook8284 it’s such an awsome feeling when you can absolutely trust your monitors
Good vibez General 👌🏾👌🏾
Thanks brother
I have the One15's & the Base25. You can adjust the Base25 and they really add another dimension to the speakers. I prefer the sound with the Base25 and barley ever turn it off.
Not surprised at all. If I spent £10k on subs then I’d never turn it off either 🙌😅.
My one 18s don't strain my ears like I did with my previous monitors, and yes, the hotspot for the mid frequencies is key. Even with a small reflective space on my table it made the perception of phase in the high mids feel strange. For me, even in that size, due to their design they reproduce more bass than it seems. Also the subs are on my wish list. When I saw the position of your monitor, it caught my attention. Doesn't it cause a problem for you that it is in front of the monitors? nice video man
It’s a compromise. Due to space limitations I have to have my screen closer as I have bass trapping across the entire back wall. The benefit of the rear wall bass trapping outways having the screen further back and loosing the bass trapping. It was 5 hours of moving speakers inch by inch and using REW eq to find the optimum position. this was the best measurement position in my particular room. So it’s all room dependent and case by case.
I agree though it can be bad in certain rooms. Maybe because my ceiling, side and rear walls all have treatment I may not be feeling the adverse affects of reflections as much as others. But I’m Absolutely loving them and how they are sounding.
Hey, thanks for the video! As a One15 user I can slightly disagree that you shouldn't put any Amphions in the line with some competition in a kind of shootout. I had demo pair of One18 in my studio in the same time as many others like ExM Pulsars, Barefoot FP02, Genelec SM9, lots of APS stuff and more. The soundstage was different (cuz this is the Amphions signature sound obviously) but I couldn't say lacking compared to others. But definitely from the very beginning I could say that this is the tool for mixing, pure mixing. Pulsars were amazing, these are from NASA definitely, but everything sounded good on them and after some mixing tests, mixes done with One18 was actually better than the ones with Pulsars. I ended up with a pair of One15 which for me are even better than One18 for mixing duties. One15 are even punchier and faster than One18, have more flavor, character. In my studio they go down to 40Hz which is impressive as a 5,25" woofers. I use them with Kali WS12 sub with switch on/off if I want a full band system and I am more than happy. Never tested Two18/Two15 unfortunately. Best!
Thanks for sharing. I’ll work on my wording next time. “Never” was probably not the right word. But I agree with what you’re saying that the others sounded more impressive at first. The crazy thing is that the EX Machina Pulsar MK2 was what I had before the two18. So you can relate to my experience, when I loaded up the two 18 at first they sounded lacking in significant low end.
If I had based my decision off the shoot out I would have kept my EX Machina, but it’s only when I sat with the two 18 and worked on them exclusively that I feel it love with them. That’s the point I was trying to convey when I said “don’t put them in a shootout”
@@WhoIsAlexElliott Yeah, I know what you mean! Anyway, I am a music geek and love shootouts, you can always learn smth comparing different devices but at the end of the day the ancient phyrexian rumor "never judge mixing speakers by only listening to them" really becomes true. Have you ever listened to ATC? I didn't have a chance but as far as I know it's the one and only brand that I could move to from Amphion line.
also I have the Kali WS 6.2. Interested in the 2 though
@@superlvminalvery good parable 👌. I have worked on ATC in other studios but not my own. I really don’t get along with them. I don’t think I’m a fan of the way they present the low end and lower mids.
How would you compare them to the Sonos sound profile? I know that Abbey Road uses Sonos Era 300 as a reference consumer speaker - which surprises me because studio speakers seem to be more tame compared to the brighter/elevated sound of Sonos speakers. Curious to know what someone with discerning ears thinks about the Sonos sound.
The incredible thing with Sonos is they actually come with a form of room correction via their app on iPhone. So mine don’t sound overly bright at all. I love listening to music on the Sonos and often when I’m done play it on my Sonos surround sound set up. But I wouldn’t trust them to mix on. The mid range is way more open on the Amphions and you can hear much further into the sound. I would say the Sonos is also more top end heavy.
The same person who said that about them being “slow” is all over the place when it comes to having a basic idea of acoustics
😅😅😅😅
Would Amphions be pleasant to produce on? Or would the honesty of them throw you off your zone when you're purely creating music?
I love producing on them. Cause the transients are so quick and midrange is lovely. I’ve recently added the flexbase one25 which has really taken them to the next level
How Exactly is the low end ?Are they good for dance music production?Can you feel the kick when you are listening dance music?
I’m absolutely loving them. I would mint day I can feel the kick. I’d need a sub for that. And you wouldn’t not want to play unmixed low end of these too loud as they start to distort on the woofers. This is why they designed the subwoofer to go with them! But it’s very expensive.
However I don’t find myself wanting anymore from a studio monitor and simply love them!
@@WhoIsAlexElliott
I already owned Yamaha Hs8,and the low end was fine for me,how do you compare it with the low end of Amphion Two18?
If i get the Amphions,will i miss something in the low end?
Nah you won’t miss anything. It’ll be only improvements (as along as you take the time to measure and set them up right of course). They are two complete different league of speakers. 🙌💯❤️
Do you really have to keep these speakers in the equal triangle especially if you're using a room correction software ? I also own the 218.
@@allandoyle7454 the two18 are much more fussy & I really noticed a difference when I didn’t have them set up that way. You can still use them of course but they certainly sound their best when set up properly 👌. Other speakers are more forgiving on placement but I would say my two 18 are heavily dependent on placement because they are two way not three way. The two woofers are playing back the same signal so if your not equal distance from them you get some phase cancellation’s.
Do you use them with a room correction like trinnov or dirac? I'm thinking of upgrading my kh120ii but I really like the ma1 system since my room is treated but i still have a 10db peak at 140hz. Would u recommend using them with dirac to get rid of that peak?
Hello thanks for you comment. I don’t use any room Correction and I find the negative impact of dynamics from phase isn’t worth the trade off. So I went the organic route with GIK acoustics and treated my room and good old fashion speaker movement. Moving forwards, back, wide or narrow a few inches can have a HUGE impact.
I would say try some more room treatment and speaker positioning first. Just to make sure the RT60 decay time is resolved as that’s more problematic.
high end speakers are tools. The layman doesn't listen on these speakers. Tools are used to fix and build. No one uses tools every day. After you build and fix then go and listen on regular speakers.
Absolutely. You need tools to get the job done. And then after that check it again & listen on everyday speakers.
The same way video editors colour grade/edit on really high end screens and then people watch on normal TV’s
What about musical instruments? There are no rules - tools and toys are not always mutually exclusive.