Review: Super Slim 1400:

Best Buy Awards 1998 - Winner! "They are ideal in smaller listening rooms, are equally at home in hi-fi and/or home theatre set-ups ".

Gippsland, Victoria, is best known for its inland lakes system,home-grown cheeses and spectacular mountain ranges. Lesser known, but equally impressive, is Ambience Speaker Systems, a ribbon hybrid loudspeaker manufacturer nestled in the small Gippsland coastal town of Newmerella. When it comes to hi-fi, Ambience has to be one of Australia's main attractions, enjoying healthy domestic success and increasing international interest. There are not too many loudspeakers that measure in 1.4 metres tall and will set you back over $3,500. Then again, Ambience loudspeakers aren't exactly your average pair of speakers. Not in design, looks nor sound quality. Back in an earlier issue of Audio & Video Lifestyle magazine, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Ambience 1800 Super Slim, the bigger brother of these, the Super Slim 1400s. The two models share a lot in common, but the 1400s have primarily been designed for use in smaller listening rooms. As with all Ambience loudspeakers, seven models in all, the l400's employ a unique hybrid ribbon design. A long slender ribbon runs the entire height of the speaker, while the speaker's base comprises the bass section of the loudspeaker. The trick is to match the two components so that the sound quality remains seamless, something which many other designers have been unable to achieve successfully.

With his electronic engineering background, Tony Moore, the man behind the Ambience range, was able to track down a suitable bass driver from SEAS, a European driver manufacturer. And, with a little modification of his own, he married the two, in a speaker design that excels in openness and delicacy, but also delivers plenty of bottom end weight and power. That had been the main problem with some other designs; the lack of bass meant the speakers performed brilliantly with certain types of music, but couldn't deliver the goods when bass was needed. The Ambience 1400s reveal exquisite midrange and treble detail. They can be so revealing in fact that a filter is available from Ambience to tame any harshness from bright-sounding or poorly recorded material. When a speaker, such as these is so open, detailed and revealing, it' s mandatory to partner the speakers with decent ancillary equipment. The 1400s can show up shortcomings in the quality of a recording, so you can imagine the result if your CD player or amp isn't up to the job of driving them. Having said that, they aren't a hungry loudspeaker. Recommended amplification is a minimum of 30 watts and long term up to 150 watts for the ribbon, I00 for the bass section. A decent pre/power combo will really complement the 1400s, not only delivering more power but also extra control. You'll need a decent source too, be it CD or vinyl, otherwise you won't hear 1400's at their best, which is quite simply, breathtaking. There are few speakers, regardless of price, that manage to communicate as well as the Ambience hybrid design. Across the musical spectrum, the 1400's effortlessly convey the music in a wholly natural and utterly convincing manner. From the bottom up, the 1400's are all encompassing. The lows are low while wonderfully tight and controlled, blending immaculately with the expansive and incredibly transparent midrange. Couple that with a treble so detailed and accurate, the whole presentation from these speakers is one of exemplary unity. One of the most remarkable attributes of the 1400's is their ability to do stuff, whatever your musical persuasion. The power and emotion of grand classical works is easily taken in their stride, as is heavy rock, normally worlds apart in its demands on a loudspeaker. The Ambience Super Slim 1400s know exactly what's required, whatever your musical preference. They will quite happily let their hair down and sound dirty when necessary. The 1400s can rock with the best of them, delivering the likes of Primus with plenty of guts and pace. The bass lines really kick and the speakers' incredible soundstaging ability lends this sort of music, immense scale and presence. Switch to something a little more intimate, such as acid-jazzers, the Brand New Heavies, and the 1400s demonstrate just how involving they can sound. Stereo separation is so high, individual instruments are easily picked out from the mix, while the funky vocals of N'dea Davenport hang dead centrally between the speakers with almost uncanny accuracy. In a different role altogether, the Ambience hybrid ribbon design has to be one of the ultimate speakers to use in a home cinema system. I hooked the 1400s up to my Harmon Kardon Pro Logic amp, to see how the speakers fared as the main stereo pair in a surround sound system. Once you've heard a pair of these speakers with straight stereo, you've got to try them with a decent film sound track. They perform so well, a couple of the key speakers found in a surround sound system may not be necessary if you front the system with the Ambience 1400s. As an example, there's not necessarily any real need for a subwoofer; the bass section of the 1400s delivers bass deep enough to loosen fixtures and fittings. Secondly, the ribbons image so well, you could quite happily dispense with the centre channel speaker. Setting the amplifier's Pro Logic centre mode to Phantom knocks out the centre speaker and directs the dialogue from film sound tracks to your main front speakers. My ordinarily impressive Jamo Centre 200 speaker, seemed somewhat redundant with the l400s delivering dialogue that appeared so crisp and natural. Bear in mind, however, that the 1400s will only give as good as they get, which means partnering them with high quality ancillary equipment. You ' II also need to play around with room positioning, allowing sufficient space from room boundaries and trying out different toe-in angles The 1400's produce a definite hot spot, so experimentation is necessary to find out where the speakers work best in your listening room. Adjusting the front floor- piercing spikes and firing the speakers slightly upwards helps with higher frequency dispersion, this, just one of the delights of discovering the fine-tuning of a loudspeaker of this calibre. The Ambience ribbon hybrid design is a loudspeaker of immense quality, one which combines the sheer listening pleasure that only a ribbon can achieve, with a rich bass and seamless integration of the two drive units. Coupled with a very high quality of finish, in a range of real woods (mahogany, oak, rosewood, walnut, jarrah and teak), these loudspeakers are as elegant visually as they are sonically. As the babies of the Ambience Super Slim series, the 1400s are still a formidable loudspeaker by anyone's standard. This is a design that competes with the world's best, and at this level of performance, the price pales into insignificance. The Super Slim 1400s may be the smallest of the Ambience range, but they still display all the qualities of the larger models. They are ideal in smaller listening rooms, are equally at home in hi-fi and/or home theatre set-ups and, at just over $3,500 a pair, are something of a bargain. Compare these speakers to a European or American counterpart that requires a second mortgage and you'll hear what I mean! AWl Nic Tatham. Audio & Video Lifestyle Magazine.