I’ve had a short but intense love affair with Engström amplifiers. I’d been unaware of this Swedish brand prior to the High End 2023 show in Munich, Germany, but my first experience in their room, featuring Marten speakers and Jorma cables, turned me right around. The same thing happened two years later, at High End 2025, where Engström teamed up with Kroma Atelier to produce the best sound I encountered at that massive event.
At HE 2023, I put a bug in the ear of CEO Timo Engström suggesting a review, but at that time he didn’t know me from Adam. So I can’t blame him for being sketched out at the idea of shipping a large, heavy, fragile, expensive amplifier to a random Canadian wearing a Rush T‑shirt. We did have a nice chat, though.
Fast-forward two years to that Kroma Atelier–Engström room in Munich. I spent a short spell chatting with Timo and with Lars Engström, Timo’s uncle and the company’s chief engineer. We discussed Engström’s new M‑Phono, a fully balanced phono stage that was an optional extra to the company’s Monica preamp and is now available as a standalone unit.
In a synchronistic happenstance, I’d recently discovered that Engström electronics are represented in Canada by Boutique Audio, which I’ve visited on several occasions. At that point, having established an equilateral triangle, I firmed up a review of the Engström Arne integrated amplifier.
The Arne has been in my system since mid-February, percolating through several sets of speakers, including my neighbor Ron’s Tannoy Stirling Gold References, my own Aurelia XO Cerica XLs, and—most recently—the magnificent Sphinx Element 3s. You’ll read a full review of the Arne shortly. In the meantime, Jason Melman, the owner of Boutique Audio, recently reminded me that Timo Engström was flying in from Sweden to co-host a meet-and-greet along with Michael Plessmann, the gregarious owner of SoundSpace Systems, a speaker manufacturer that Boutique Audio also represents.
I’d known about Timo’s upcoming visit for a while, but appreciated Melman’s reminder. So, on a bright and sunny Friday, I made for my local bakery to pick up a half-dozen butter tarts and Nanaimo bars—uniquely Canadian sweet treats—for the foreigners, and then hightailed it up to King City, about an hour north of Toronto.
As I’ve related in previous articles, Melman’s facility is lovely. Walk through any large shopping mall (remember those?), and you’ll likely notice that the expensive, exclusive shops are on the upper floors. Further, there will be a clear, repeatable, inverse relationship between the number of items on display and their prices. Dealers offering affordable brands pack their spaces with products, but the more luxurious and exclusive the marque, the fewer items will be on display: clean, brightly lit, austere spaces with one or two clothing racks, a couple of tables with a few ties, purses, or wallets. That’s it—except for the rail-thin, judgmental staff who need to see a stock portfolio before they’ll even let you in the store.
For the most part, Boutique Audio falls on the exclusive side, with a clear focus on its well-presented systems; there are no accessory displays, and no retail clutter. Departing from the archetype, however, Melman and company are welcoming and don’t miss many meals.
Anyway, you can read more about Boutique Audio in my January editorial. My focus on this expedition was to pick Timo Engström’s brain and snap a shot of him standing next to the Arne integrated amplifier.
The Arne, which retails for $38,600 (all prices in USD), was set up in one of Boutique Audio’s smaller listening rooms, driving a pair of Zellaton Plural Evo speakers ($89,000). The room might have been small, but the speakers were large, as was the sound. The Weiss streaming DAC was being somewhat uncooperative, which seems to be a theme in specialty computer-based audio, but an audience-sourced community project soon sorted that.
This particular Arne was decked out in an iridescent white powder coat, in contrast to my black review unit. I’m quite taken by my black version, but the white one—oh boy. It’s got a pure, virginal, Scandinavian cleanliness to it that makes me want to reach into my bag of adjectives for a description as crisp as that thing looked. The Engström style itself isn’t that radical. The company’s trademark is the tempered-glass tube “cage.” With the glass removed, Engström’s amplifiers assume a much more conventional appearance—one that’s nice and all, but far from showstopping. But drop that glass over the tubes and everything changes. Now you’ve got a sculpture, something that sounds good, drives fast, and flies high, before it even plays a note.
I mentioned to Timo that I’d been captivated by the appearance of his amplifiers from the first moment I saw them in Munich in 2023. “We have begun offering our electronics in several finishes,” Timo said. “You can choose any color. Our standard finishes are white or black powder coat or natural anodizing. If you want a custom color, you can choose from lacquer, powder, or ceramic coating at an extra charge.”
Once the hive mind got the Weiss streamer working, we listened to a wide range of music. I chose several tracks I know well—some Tragically Hip, a bit of John Zorn, a couple of St. Vincent songs. The big Zellatons spec out at a fairly benign load, 4 ohms and 92dB efficiency, but they’re heavy, complicated speakers. Despite that, the Arne’s 30Wpc maintained good control over those disparate drivers.
The overriding sensation was of a warm feather bed—totally without edge or bite, while still resolving mountains of detail. The bass was startlingly tight and full, which is never a given with an amplifier of this topology. Of course, I’d already spent some time with the Arne, so I wasn’t much surprised by the sound, although I was extremely impressed by how well the matchup with the Zellatons worked.
While I had planned this visit around the Arne, I definitely still wanted to check out the bigger room, where a pair of Engström Lars monoblock amplifiers were driving SoundSpace Systems Aidoni speakers. These speakers take no prisoners. Each cabinet is armed with two 15″ woofers, and each woofer is powered by its own 1000W DSP-controlled amplifier. One of the two midranges is a field-coil driver, and the ribbon tweeter is a massive unit capable of insane SPLs. And since, according to the manufacturer, it’s 101dB efficient, the Lars amps were loafing.
Because it was a weekday and there weren’t too many people in attendance, I indulged myself with some of my favorite bass-heavy tracks. I mean, really. We’re talking four 15″ woofers here with a total of 4000W slapping them around. This wasn’t the time for string quartets. “Purple Hat” by Sofi Tukker is always a crowd-pleaser, and I was in charge of the volume control. I kept turning it up, louder, louder, while looking at Plessmann out of the corner of my eye. He was not worried. I’ve done this before in other demos, and most times I keep bumping the throttle until I see the organizer start to show signs of distress, at which point I back off. A dick move, I know, but I’m a button-pusher.
This time, I backed off first. The Aidoni is a muscle-car of a speaker, but it’s not a one-trick pony. We cycled through a whole bunch of tracks, with the Lars amps rolling the sound in honey infused with gold flakes.
When I arrived back home, I went straight down to the basement and fired up the Arne. Right now, it’s still hooked up to my Aurelias, as one of the Sphinx Audio Element 3s got shipped off to Ottawa for measurement in the National Research Council’s anechoic chamber. It should be back soon, and I’m extremely keen to spend some more time with those wonderful speakers. In the meantime, my Aurelias, driven by the Arne and fed by the Meitner Audio MA3 streaming DAC, sound just magical. For details on exactly how magical, you’ll have to wait for the review.
. . . Jason Thorpe
jasont@soundstagenetwork.com
