Exposure XX Amplifier

In one sense, Exposure's latest integrated amplifier, the XX, is a sensational product: it doesn't play records! You'll look in vain on the back for sockets labelled 'phono', finding only 'CD' and three other line stage inputs instead. And this from a company that, along with Linn and Naim, many believed would fight the good fight for vinyl until the bitter, grizzly end.

I don't know. What with the afor-mentioned pillars of British hi-fi now making CD players, and Exposure a CD-only amp, it's enough to make any self-respecting analogue addict choke on his Scotch Porridge Oats.

But in another sense, the XX is exactly the kind of realistic, pragmatic product a small, specialist amplifier maker should be turning out in these cash-starved times: realistic because it acknowledges that not everyone wants vinyl as a main source, pragmatic because it makes good use of existing hardware.

In essence, the XX is a clever repackaging job: the excellent XV without the phono circuitry, packed into the case of the now defunct X and sold at the X's old price of £500, or £130 less than the XV. When you consider what a good amp the XV is - large regulated and smoothed-power supply, separate windings on the transformer for the preamp stage, high quality printed circuit boards throughout, and an honest 35 watts per channel output - it's hard not to be impressed by what the XX offers for the money, slightly less attractive facia not withstanding. It feels substantial and durable, the volume control operating with a weighty, well-damped feel and the row of input push buttons clicking home precisely.

There was nothing for it but to dust off my Pioneer A-400 (at £235, less than half the price), position a Micromega Logic CD player and Meridian Argent 2 speakers at either end and let the two amps get on with it. The last time the Pioneer took on an Exposure (the XV) in my system, it was hard to say which was better, each excelling in particular areas. But that was with a rich-sounding Meridian CD player at the front end. Given the Micromega's crisper, snappier presentation, it was the Exposure that sounded more convincing, putting flesh on bones, painting tonal colours more boldly and making more of the French CD player's strength in areas of timing.

This was especially apparent on the highly percussive and rhythmically complex Alex Acuna cuts, the Exposure sounding just that bit more physical and less artificial than the otherwise revealing Pioneer.

Moving on to the Steve Laury CD, the Pioneer clawed back some ground, lending a little more bite and definition to the leading edge of plucked guitar strings and creating a slightly more atmospheric acoustic. Laury seemed a more technically dextrous player via the A-400, but the Exposure amplifier made him a more emotionally expressive one. It also told you more about the wood tone of Laury's guitar and let the sound blossom.