Forewords

Monrio has become one of the best-known names in Italian hi-fi market; their specialty are quality electronics at down-to-earth prices.
Their web-site, www.monrio.com, is on-line but still under construction. During my long, low-profile audiophile career, I didn't have the chance to listen to many of their products, but I have always kept Monrio in high esteem, both for their consistency in delivering good products to the market and for their well-thought technical solutions. I remember, in particular, their use of a CLC (capacitor-choke-capacitor) PSU on a solid state amplifier of theirs, a remarkable solution in a world where the PSU of most amplifiers, even those carrying substantial price tags, is made of a rectifier bridge and a host of huge capacitors. Old memories, which, while revealing my age, also confirm the fact that Monrio has been in this market sector for a long while.
In this review we will investigate the Asty, their entry-level integrated amplifier.

How it's built

The Asty is really good even at first sight: restrained and stylish, in a black case, with a nice, substantial faceplate in 10mm brushed aluminium; its solidity and compactness makes for a nice feeling of sturdiness. On the simple and clean faceplate we find four knobs, from left to right the input selector, the balance control, the volume control and the on-off switch. On the back panel, as it is normal, the input connectors are placed; these are a little bit too close each other, especially if you need to use those audiophile-approved interconnects of garden hose size, and the high quality output binding posts. One of the inputs is named "direct"; according to the user manual, this input is the one to use in an A/V system, after operating a switch inside the amplifier.
Lastly, an IEC mains socket is present.

Inside the chassis, the good first impression is fully confirmed. The inside is very well engineered, there is a motherboard, upon which almost all the electronic components are located, a toroidal transformer and a side board which hosts the input selection circuitry (and, I think, the phono preamp one - I can't be sure, as my sample was line only)

All of the components seem to be good quality and the circuit is completely dual mono from the bridge rectifiers on. The potentiometers would seem to be quite low-cost ones, but you won't hear a word from me against these components as, most of the times, cheap ones are almost better-sounding than their more expensive counterparts, their main drawback being a slight lack of reliability. Rated output power is 55w/ch, almost certainly Class AB, as the amp is always barely warm, small heatsinks notwithstanding.

Sound quality

To put it bluntly, I think this test of mine is inconclusive (but don't worry, read on and you'll find a report by someone whose opinion is valued much more than mine) as the marriage between this amplifier and my speakers is not an ideal one.
The Monrio wasn't bad sounding, far from that, but reviewing a 55W amplifier with 100dB/W/m speakers is quite unfair. I know, I know, I will eventually have to treat myself to a pair of "normal" loudspeakers, but for reviewing purposes ONLY, right?
Anyway, if I had to summarise the impressions I had of this amplifier, I would say, as an old Italian ad for a whisky, "clear in colour, clean in taste"; this is the kind of basic character of the amp's sound quality, the first impressions confirmed in longer listening tests.
The balance is tipped towards the clear, but this doesn't mean that the bass is lacking, far from that, but it's a well articulated and restrained one. Vocals, and midrange in general, aren't up to the quality of the ones provided by my reference amp; the human voice, in particular, is lacking in body and in that "breathing" quality which makes it more credible, but this is nitpicking, as this is a product which achieves much more than it's fair to ask from it. The frequency extremes are fine, always present and lively as they are.
The soundstage is good in width, slightly less good in depth, as a little shortening of perspectives is apparent.
To summarize, this amp's sound is fine, a down-to-earth, honest sound quality, which doesn't achieve the reference level in any parameter, but never lets down.

Summing up

The Asty is, no doubt, a good product. It is well built, it employs good quality components and it's sound won't make you think you could have spent the amount it costs in a better way, Yes, let's not forget this amp just costs 650 Euro, which in my opinion makes of it the integrated amp with the best price/quality ratio I have had the chance to listen to.
It surely has some drawbacks, but, at this price level, if it didn't have any, it would be a miracle.
Nice one, Monrio!

Bebo Moroni's listening test

I think Giovanni Aste's choice of keeping his listening impressions of the "little Italian amplifier which is hitting the world like a storm" short was a wise and correct one. In fact, it's quite difficult to provide the reader with universal, neutral listening impressions by reviewing the amp testing it with his Lowthers, which are critical and difficult to match, both because of their configuration and of the peculiar sound of the wide-range drivers.
Still, I thought it was a good idea for Giovanni to try this amp: I trust his ears, and I thought it would be interesting to know how this amp could perform with such peculiar loudspeakers; I think Giovanni's results speak for themselves. And then, let's say it clearly, we wanted to pull our readers' legs a bit: Moroni and Aste test the Monrio (try to anagram Monrio and you'll get Moroni) Asty! I guess someone humour-impaired enough could even take exception to this… But let's talk about this latest (if the never satisfied Giovanni Gazzola isn't preparing the next release) version of the Monrio Asty, an amp which had a number of really impressive reviews from all over the world. In fact, most Asty are sold in the UK (a difficult market for foreign hi-fi) and in the Far East (Japan, Korea…) and this could be a recommendation by itself.
Our Italian-speaking readers might have read my message on our forum about the Italian hi-fi production; in the past I have been a promoter of the Italian hi-fi school, now I am more than a bit perplexed.

I have the impression that many old and new manufacturers are somehow trying to capitalise an international success - which initially belonged to Sonus faber, then Aliante, Opera, Unison, Diapason, Lector and Monrio - which was, at times, a huge one, and was supported by great design ideas, a painstaking attention to styling and an excellent sound quality.
But nowadays, most products seem to me to be Sonus faber's or other manufacturers' clones. It's not a good idea to try and build a lasting success on rounded edges solid wood cabinets; so, instead of talking about an "Italian invasion", I'll talk about the products which I will review case by case, without special attentions to their country of origin. Much to my relief, the Asty doesn't need easy aesthetical artifices. It's a down-to-earth amp, it only needs to be nice and well built - no fashion, just a mirror of its sound and build quality. I partnered it with a number of speakers for this review: Tannoy Berkley + Tannoy ST 50 Supertweeter, Tannoy Saturn S8LR, Aliante Moda, Pro Ac Tablette and Grundig Hi-Fi Box 650b. Sources were an Harman Kardon CD 710 and a 0-oversampling-modified Philips CD 210 - I didn't use the Micromega Reference SACD, which would have been out of place in this context. Interconnects were the Monster Cable Interlink II, speaker cables were Monster M2. The "vintage" Grundig speakers were connected to the amp with their stock integral cable.

I'll begin by telling you that I knew the first Asty very well, and that I thought it had an outstanding price/quality ratio - it wasn't perfect, but it was provided of a personal, pleasant musicality, with a sweet and transparent mid-high range and a surprising soundstage, offset by a somewhat light bass range and a good, but certainly not explosive, dynamic ability. I took notice of the fact that things have changed, even radically for some of the parameters, as soon as I connected the amp to the Tannoy Berkeleys, old grandmas which are able to perform superbly in the bass range - courtesy of their 38cm coaxial woofer - if the amp is able to control them; otherwise, the noticeable peak in the 100-150 Hz range becomes excessive and leads to a confused, "rubber-like" kind of sound. This doesn't happen with the Asty, which seems to be able not only to superbly keep the midbass range under control, but also to let the woofers perform in an excellent way: the low bass is powerful, well-controlled and plain big. I could now expect a good performance with the much smaller Tannoy Saturn S8LR, with their beautiful 20 cm coax driver. This is a match which should be seriously considered by anyone looking for high level performance at realistic prices.

The midrange is well delineated, rich in details and devoid of nasal colouration; the mid-high range is transparent but not hyper-analytic; both the high range and the soundstaging abilities have stayed the same, almost surprising for its extension and lack of grain the former, for its dimensions, definition and depth the latter. The same qualities I find in the same measure listening to the amp connected to the Aliante Moda, a particularly interesting match (trio?) even for a "serious" music listener, with a tonal and dynamical balance which would be hard to find in even much more expensive systems; my old, beloved Grundig speakers replace what they lose in aggressiveness with body and coherence between the ranges. Maybe that's because its surname is "Moroni" (well, almost) and its name is "Asty", but I really like this integrated amp, and I enthusiastically recommend it In its price range I think there is no likely competitor at this time.

But then it's perfect… Well, not quite: it somewhat simplifies the mid range, and I would sometime like a better sense of presence, even at the cost of some sweetness in the highest range, but, if high fidelity is a matter of balance, well, this is one of the best balanced blends between price, performance, build quality and reliability I know of…