Pre/Power Amplifiers

To misquote Sly & The Family Stone just a little, Swedish hi-fi company Engström – it only makes tube amplifiers – is a family affair. Founded by engineer Lars Engström and his industrial designer nephew Timo as recently as 2008, the company is based in Lund, just northeast of Malmö, and has its R&D HQ some 600km away in Nacka, south of Uppsala on the Baltic Sea coast. The division of labour in the company sees Lars Engström as chief engineer, having given up work in fields as diverse as navigation, microcomputing and railway signalling systems in 2001 to concentrate on amplifier development, while his nephew is responsible for the look of the products, and the company operations.

When Exposure launched its 3510 series in 2021, as a replacement for the venerable 3010 range, attention was first given, perhaps unsurprisingly, to the integrated amplifier [HFN Nov '21]. One year later it was joined by a stereo power amp and partnering preamp [HFN Nov '22], and a year after that we witness the arrival of the 3510 Mono, tested here. Such an approach is not unusual for a boutique brand – a fair description of the Sussex-based company – but it's perhaps also indicative of the hidden differences between Exposure's amplifier designs.

Available with silver (‘titanium’) or black front panels, both with black main casework, Exposure’s 5010 models replace the rather more overtly styled – and huge – MCX series, with their large outrigger feet, as the company’s flagship models. They sit atop a range running from the entry-level 1010 series through the 2010S2s and 3010S2s [HFN Dec ’14], with the half-width XM lineup as an alternative [HFN Apr ’18]. This top-end range is kept much simpler than its junior counterparts, for where those lineups extend to disc players and integrated amps, here we have just two models: the £2000 5010 preamp, and the £4550-per-pair 5010 mono power amps.

The name of this new product from Polish company HEM, selling under its Ferrum brand, is spelt ERCO, but pronounced 'ertso'. Apparently it's Esperanto for 'ore', and so follows on from the mineral-based brand-identity – Ferrum, OOR – you get the idea. What's also not immediately apparent, given that all the Ferrum products basically look the same, is that the £2395 ERCO is perhaps the most comprehensively equipped model the company has made to date.

There are two piles of magazines, some 150cm tall, sitting in my lounge. They consist mainly of hi-fi titles that I can't read until they're 'out of date'. Why? Because I don't want to be influenced by the reviews, and I don't always know whether or not I'll be reviewing a component I've just seen slammed or praised. Thus it was that I tried to avoid whispers about the Halcro amplifiers from Australia. Even so, I kept hearing about these 'amazing amps' from all and sundry.

After an extended period of Covid and component shortage-related calm, Oslo-based Hegel has seemingly shifted into overdrive, launching multiple new products in just half a year. First up in 2023 was a major update to its flagship pre/power system in the form of the P30A and H30A [HFN Jun '23], followed by the Viking CD player [HFN Sep '23]. The third act is the launch of the H600, which takes over from Hegel's popular, top-tier H590 integrated streaming amp, and sells for £10,500 in a very dark grey, almost matt black finish.