Highly musical, good control, powerful, drives hard without loosing its composition

bass sometimes a little soft, noisy at low volumes

I am in general very pleased with the Exposure Super 20. It works well with my Dali Grand Coupe speakers. The amp drives hard and shows good control despite the low sensivity of 85 dB(A) of the Dali speakers.
With all good recordings (jazz, pop, rock or techno) it sounds involving, sweet and enjoyable. This is so much
better than listening to my old Thule amp.

One little complain is the soundstage, which is good but does not show much depth. This is compared to other amps like the Copland CSA-8 or the Primare A-20 which are rated at the same price. The bass performance could be a little more tight. But with good speakers, however, it still sounds nice.
But then again, you really have to partner the super 20 with good speakers to gain the best performance.


In fact, this is probably one of the best amps you can buy for money. I am very satisfied and I will keep this amp for a long, long time.

Similar Products Used:

none, i used to drive my speakers with the Thule IA-100

When I originally listened to the Exposure SuperXV it was as an extra as I was actually auditioning the Audiolab S and the Cyrus amps. However I liked the sound so much that I waited until I could afford the Exposure rather than buying one of the other amps immediately.
I know that I am being a little "woolly" but if asked to characterise this amp I would say it is the most musical for the money. I admit it is slightly coloured and does work much better with some speakers than others but it gets to the soul of the music in a way that is rare. It made the Audiolab sound dry and overly anylitical and the Cyrus too sweet and bright. It is a very fast amp with good separation of channels, very good power resevoir, solid soundstage and amazing control for 55wpc. It teams up best with Ruark speakers although I am currently using B & W matrix 805s and I am pleased with the result.

IMHO I would need to upgrade to something of the order of Chord pre/power combo or diverge into tubes to really get a different sound.

For the price I think it is unbeatable but my score is based on the value for money. My only regret is that whereas an Audiolab or Naim amp gave an obvious upgrade path whilst retaing your original amp the Exposure is purely a stand alone integrated.

One of the most musical amplifiers that you'll get for under 1000 UKP

Noisy at low volume levels - not much to look at

On paper, this amp doesn't have a great deal going for it. The quoted performance puts it firmly in the middle of the pack of mid-priced 50-watters that have saturated the market for years. Aesthetically it's nothing much to write home about either. A close look at the casework and controls might have you concluding that the amp had been made from a kit by a reasonably competent home-builder.

Power it up for the first time and it sounds even more home-made. A potentially tweeter-destroying pop issues from the loudspeakers and the low-level noise from the power amp section would have me reaching for the soldering iron and the instruction manual had I just finished putting it together.

(Not that there aren't some damned good home builders and fine amp kits out there BTW :-))

However, if you take a pair of good speakers, couple this amp to a decent source and sit back and listen, I don't think you could fail to realise a couple of hi-fi home truths almost immediately.

1. Paper specifications and ultra-quiet stages give no indication as to how an amp will sound in anger.
2. What it looks like has got nothing at all to do with anything.

When partnered with the right components, this amp has the capability to sound extremely rich and sweet. The presentation is detailed and revealing and the overall coherence of the soundstage means that this sonic resolution does not become tiring or irritating, even when listening for extended periods.

The channel separation is superb, and the amp will allow a good pair of speakers to present an extremely stable and solid soundstage.

Having lived with the amp for some time, I find it to be satisfying in use with all kinds of music. On the occasions when I have wound the volume control beyond the usual nine o'clock position the amp has maintained absolute control over the music, and I suspect I would cause structural damage before encountering distortion if I were to really push it.

In terms of value, I would give the amp five stars. It is unlikely that you'll find anything better for the price if you want your music rich and sweet. If you prefer something drier then go for the Naim Nait 3 or one of the entry level Copeland integrated units. On the other hand, if you want it sweeter than this you'll have to go for tubes - nothing in transistor-land at this sort of price is as kind on the ear as the Exposure.

The overall rating drops to four because of the criticisms raised at the start of the review. Despite the musicality of the amp, there is no reason why the output stage should be as noisy as it is. In addition, whilst I understand the potential signal degradation caused by placing relays on the output lines to the speakers, there should be some sort of power-on protection given the size of the "bang" when the unit is switched on. Oh, and it's not my own unit which is faulty either. I spent an afternoon at my local hi-fi shop trying about five identical Super XVs and they all had the woofers heading for the opposite wall at power-on.

A rough and ready solution ? Physically disconnect the positive-going side of the speaker cable to each speaker when powering the amp up or down. It would have to be a hell of a thump to get past that !

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Quad, Denon, Sony, Pioneer, Sugden, Thule, Technics