Faithful British Bulldog
The Age
Thursday April 17, 2003
The new British-made amplifier from Exposure plays it straight.
IN THE past we have bemoaned the fact that many of the most famous names in British audio are no longer in British hands, nor made in Britain. So when we glimpsed a Malaysian address on the new brochure for Exposure's 2010 integrated amplifier, we assumed the worst.
We shouldn't have. This amplifier is still being built in East Sussex, mostly by hand.
It is available in titanium and black (we would not touch the black) and the front panel has clean lines with iridescent blue indicators for the power switch, volume control and input selector.
Designed to appeal to audiophiles, the amplifier lacks tone controls and loudness contour circuitry. There isn't even a channel balance control, even though it would have been handy for older CDs, which were often recorded louder in one channel than in the other. But the most contentious omission is a headphone socket. Although some audiophiles prefer to use electrostatic headphones, which connect to the speaker outputs rather than a standard headphone socket, it seems madness not to include one, particularly given the high price.
Exposure has also not done itself any favours with its HS-1 remote control, either. This small black plastic unit does not even approach the quality of the amplifier.
It controls all the amplifier's functions, as well as those of a matching CD player, and adds a muting control that is not fitted to the front panel. The muting circuit works correctly if the remote is used to operate the amplifier, disengaging automatically whenever the volume up button is pressed, to prevent your speakers being blasted by high power levels. However, it is not clever enough to disengage if the volume control on the front panel is moved instead.
Another design oversight is that there is no light on the front panel to show that the muting circuit is active. Most other manufacturers would design the diode on the volume control to blink. But the LED on the 2010's control blinks only when it is rotated by remote control.
Up to six source components, including a CD player, can be connected to the 2010 but a turntable is not one of them, unless you pay an extra $248 for the optional phono stage. There is only one record/play loop, so only one audio recorder can be used at a time.
Exposure rates the 2010 at 50-watts per channel at 1kHz (eight-ohm load). Our sample managed this quite easily, producing 55 watts per channel under the same test conditions. Into more difficult four-ohm loads the amplifier's output increased only marginally to 61 watts per channel.
Whereas many audiophile amplifier designers try to tailor the sound of their amplifiers by playing tricks with frequency response or output impedance, Exposure plays it straight. There are no lush soundscapes or soft-sounding highs; just honest hi-fi sound.
Greg Borrowman is the editor of Australian Hi-Fi Magazine.
SPICKS & SPECS
PRODUCT Exposure 2010 Integrated Amplifier
RRP $1998
DISTRIBUTOR RPM Audio Imports
PHONE (08) 8272 7922
EMAIL jamest@exposurehifi.com.au
WEB www.rpmaudio.com.au
© 2003 The Age