In a world where marketing is king and style consistently triumphs over substance, hype has become the norm, and 'mere' competence has become a dirty word. And now that every product has to be a stellar performer, the good all-rounder has fallen out of fashion too. And yet, ironically at the same time domestic pressure has created a market for a high quality one box solution to amplification. The answer has been a flood of expensive line-only integrated amps, started by Krell, and sustained by the likes of Rowland Research, c-j, Gryphon and even Sutherland. But now the established brands are facing competition from the likes of Plinius from New Zealand, and Advantage from Sweden, who have simultaneously cut the cost of admission and upped the ante.

The Advantage I 200 amplifier is aggressively priced at £1795, and whilst it may take minimalist styling to its logical extreme, the amplifier itself doesn't exactly break any conceptual moulds. Operationally however, it's a different story the unit operating from a beautifully executed remote control handset which gives the user access to the comprehensive range of input and configuration options (see "Plenty More beneath the Surface" at article end). Under the lid is a beefy and load tolerant 120 w/ch Class A/B amplifier with full onboard protection circuitry All those options are just the ticket to keep you occupied whilst the Advantage warms up. It's sound from cold is most politely described as ordinary and it takes at least a couple of days to come on song. Then you'd better watch out.

The I 200 is all about control. Out of the box it sounds as tight as an air jacked wheel nut, but give it time and it begins to stretch itself and take a few deep breaths. What develops is a musically capable and totally unflappable performer; an amp that simply gets on with the job; an all-rounder in a world of specialists. And like any good all-rounder, the Advantage offers a set of well-balanced virtues. But whilst it doesn't scream its character from the rooftops, it still has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Most of these have to do with the power necessary to qualify as an all-rounder in the first place. Musically speaking, there's always a price to be paid for excess power, which in turn means that the I 200 is happiest when its considerable reserves are being used to terrorise some small box of lowish efficiency or drive a system to decent levels. And whilst it's far from sluggish, it doesn't have the agility to compete with low-powered designs driving efficient speakers when it comes to sheer delicacy and really complex rhythms. But give it its head and a trip hammer beat, and it's away.

If you want to hear what I'm describing, you could do worse than reach for the Chuck Brown and Eva Cassidy duets disc The Other Side (BIix St Records G2-10066). Track five is the smoochily languid 'Gee baby ain't I good to you' and whilst it's nice enough, the Advantage lacks the directness and micro dynamic clarity which really brings these two performers' special chemistry to life. We're talking two people who both worked together and, perhaps more importantly trusted and encouraged each other as only an old-timer and first-timer can. Instead it's a little veiled and reticent, almost as if they've only just met. There's no sense of that sixth sense that connects artists who play together a lot. And there should be.

Track Six is a complete contrast, the out and out rock belter 'I'll Go Crazy', which comes on like a pile driver. The I 200 gives it all the solid presence you could ask for. Filling out both the band and the arrangement plays straight into the hands of the amp's ability to control and keep things separate but together. The more you give it to get its teeth into, the happier it is. It's never going to be top of the class when it comes to intimacy or the kind of immediacy that's tailor made for small scale recordings, but its version of keeping a grip on things thankfully doesn't involve crushing the life out of them altogether. Chuck Brown lets fly and his voice has a real blues growl to it which works beautifully in contrast to the power and pure control of Eva Cassidy. The band ar tight, the arrangement works, and you don't get a brain strain trying to work out why these two people chose to sing this song. It's made for them.

Under the circumstances you would have thought that the quick and clean Nordost SPM cabling would be ideal. Not so. The Advantage displays the typical tonal bleaching which goes hand in hand with curtailed micro-dynamics and thus harmonics. (Don't panic, like I said, it's actually typical of nearly all affordable high powered solid state designs. You know, that old cost I benefit thing and the price you pay...). The 1200 is best used with a cable that doesn't exhibit the slightly hollow upper mid that characterises so many silver plated / Teflon insulated conductors (and which adds to that open, fast sound). I opted for Reference Cables monocrystal MS2.15, whose combination of good dynamics, evenly spread harmonics and easy rhythmic flow proved ideal.

Having sorted that out, the Advantage really settled into its stride. Never less than competent, its preference for larger scale works really came into its own on the mainstream classical repertoire. The Brahms Symphonies (Boult / LPO I LSO. EMI SLS5009) were handled with aplomb, as was a brief flirtation with Shostakovich (Berglund I BSO. The Leningrad Symphony EMI SLS897). Looking to lighten the mood I settled on the Reiner Pastoral Symphony (Chesky RC109) and was immediately rewarded with a broad and ultra stable soundstage. Combined with Reiner's discipline, this allowed the music to unfold through each succeeding theme and movement, Beethoven's grasp of structure and his rhythmic solidity playing straight to the I 200's strengths. Each step on the gently rising path to the crescendos was beautifully differentiated, the resulting climax satisfyingly solid and powerful. Tonally the Advantage errs to the light and lean through the midband, though not destructively so. More the difference between the Festival and Wigmore halls than anything more sinister. And it certainly adds to the separation of instruments on complex works or lazy speakers.

But don't go getting the idea that this is a 'classical music' amp. Far from it. I knew Victoria's collection of dance CDs would come into its own one day. The Advantage simply lapped up everything from Sash to Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong to Robert Miles. Like I said, this amp just loves a trip-hammer beat. The busier the better, just so long as it arrives in slabs. On the kind of rollicking forays beloved of the Fairports, or the fractured rhythms of an Ulla Meinecke, you can trip it up if you really try but it recovers more gracefully than most, and consequently the lack of agility is far less intrusive than it might be.

But let's not get too picky here. Once set up, the Advantage I 200 is capable of fuss free delivery of musical enjoyment no matter what you throw at it. It's never less than competent, and on large scale orchestral work it is capable of magnificence out of all proportion with its price. If you live on a diet of exclusively small scale acoustic works, then look elsewhere. But if your tastes are catholic and include the odd party, you are more interested in music than hi-fi, and you want fit-and-forget, you'll not be disappointed.

The I 200 is an accomplished entry into the two box system market. Add one of the company's equally stylish (or should that be featureless) CD players, and you have the heart of the perfect no-nonsense music system, just the thing for the house proud executive seeking quality relaxation. And the available power means that speakers can be suitably discrete. Is it the last word in hi-fi performance for the dedicated audiophile?

Probably not, although its ability to remain unphased despite the indignities thrown at it would probably go some way to compensating for such an owner's wilder flights of fancy. This amplifier is a genuine all-rounder, and offers the ability to build through the range of matching power amps. A genuine eight out of ten for everything merchant, it's probably the product that Audiolab wish they'd built.

Plenty More Beneath The Surface
If the ideal amplifier is a straight line with gain, then the Advantage I 200 gets pretty close, conceptually at least. This is a black box with gain. A very pretty black box I grant you, but pretty much as featureless as can be. Without a control knob or button in sight, it's fairly obvious that the I 200 can only be operated via its remote handset. What is less obvious is the degree of control that affords.

The back panel offers connections for five single-ended and, unusually a single balanced input. There's also both a tape and pre-out, along with a single set of loudspeaker binding posts. Other than that you get a switched IEC mains socket and a pair of Comms connections, enabling you to link the I 200 to other Advantage components, such as a CD player and external power amp.

What isn't immediately apparent is that as well as all its normal switching functions, the remote control also allows you to drive an Advantage system as a whole, as well as configuring the various inputs. Basically each input can be individually configured for gain and balance, making it easy to ensure that every source arrives at the same level, thus making those sphincter loosening moments when you inadvertently switch from Phono to CD a thing of the past. It also makes matching the I 200 to an external processor a piece of cake, although Advantage are yet to produce such a product.

In the context of a complete Advantage system, the Comms links allow you to control the system through a single unit, switching the whole lot to standby, automatically switching to a new source as you activate it, and even dimming the displays in sync. But bear in mind that once the displays are off they don't come on automatically if you change a setting.

The remote handset itself is one of the nicest I've used, being solid without weighing enough to make it a two hand lift. It's nicely laid out, and the buttons have a crisp, positive feel. You won't be left wondering whether you pushed them hard enough. Despite a personal loathing for the things, I soon settled down with the Advantage remote, my only real complaint is the narrowness of its operating window. Why can't companies get this right. If they are going to insist that we use handsets, they might at least ensure that they operate from anywhere within the room.

That aside, its nice to see a company actually building so many useful and well considered facilities into what is (in terms of the competition) a budget product. Thumbs up to Advantage.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Input Impedance:
Single-Ended: 50 kOhms
Balanced: 100 kOhms
Output Impedance: 0.01 Ohms
Power Output: 150 w/ch into 8 Ohms
Bandwidth: 1 Hz - 100 kHz, ±0.2dB
Dimensions (w x h x d): 450 x 130 a 370mm
Weight: 18 kg

Price: £1795

Distributor
Zentek Ltd.
Tel. (44)(0) 1892-616383
Fax. (44)(0) 1892-547004

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