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We've been skirting around Lyngdorf for some time. The idea has seemed great, and the (Tact) credentials, impeccable. It's just that every time we heard it at shows it has failed to impress.

Finally, we have had a chance to try the first in the range, the TDA 2200 amplifier and matching CD-1 (yes it's a CD player) on home territory and the results have been impressive. The TDA 2200 offers 200 watts RMS per channel and the option of full room correction (all within the digital domain) for around £3200. The CD-1 costs £1400 and connects to it via a single digital lead. Mind you there are both standard phono and balanced XLR analogue outputs too which we have so far failed to try.

There is something interesting and fundamentally different about these products. They're nicely built too, with (all) aluminium casework available anodised in black or silver. On the black components, the controls are contrasted in silver. The amplifier has an enormous knob which reminds us of Densens of old. Clearly some kind of Scandinavian compensation thing . . .

Talking of compensation, the digital room correction is a £1095 option on the basic £2095 amplifier. This is the Lyngdorf USP (beyond the comparative rarity of a pure digital amplifier) and it's the bit we are still trying to get our heads around. Whatever the outcome, the TDA2200's ability to control just about any loudspeaker is refreshing in such a (relatively) affordable package.

Hands-on with the Lyngdorf has done nothing to dampen our enthusiasm. In fact it has really made its mark!

These products are riddled with options from the in-built menus. On the CD, you can output digitally at sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz (192 is the default and seems best), you can even adjust time-out and brightness for the display, coms speeds, analogue output levels (or turn it off) and whether it is controlled by IR commands or RS 232. Its basic CD replay controls are intuitive and the control feel is excellent.

The amplifier goes much further. Even without the optional Roomperfect digital room correction, it offers a variety of profiles from 'soft' to 'open air'. Call us old-fashioned but 'neutral' seems like the best option. We were similarly unsure about the full blown room correction but tried listening though our Naim n-Sats (no sub) in the AV room.

Unassisted, the system sounds pretty good, if a little ‘cuppy’ in the mid and a tad light in the bass. Using the Roomperfect simply involves plugging the microphone (it comes with a stand) into the amplifier, positioning it in the primary listening position and running the programme. A weird collection of sounds are played and you are asked to move the mic to another location, this is re-run until at least 90% of data is collected (it tells you all this) and it will finally save the profile. You are then given three options: ‘bypass’, which is uncorrected, ‘Focus 1’, which is set up for the main listening position or ‘global’ which is a sort of best-of compromise.

And in this situation it is pretty persuasive. Somehow it loses the slightly ‘cuppy’ signature and gives the bass some serious grunt. Amazingly, they still go satisfyingly loud and still sound dynamic. After acclimatization, the 'bypass' alternative sounds completely cack!

A full understanding of the Lyngdorf takes some time, so be prepared for a long-winded demo.

Update 23/1/09

Great product, but it has failed to sell (for us). We have sold on our demo stock, and the prices have risen significantly from the figures mentioned above (fully loaded TDA 2200 is now close to £4700, for example). The effects of the weak pound are dramatic. Can almost certainly arrange a demonstration should you be both local to us and interested.

So far, this has been too much of a rarity!

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