Depending on how you to choose to employ them, the JOB stereo amplifier and single yes, single stereo speaker can be either the world's coolest table radio, a terrific sound system for your PC, or - if you add the dedicated JOB sub-woofer for full(er)-range sound - a nifty small main system, or - if you add a second amp, speaker and woofer - a compact home theater system for small-to medium size rooms.

The JOB story is something of a Swiss fairy tale: a group of university students in Zurich, working on their masters degrees, decided to try and build the world's smallest high-performance 200 watt amplifier for professional in-field monitoring. With more time for R&D than most real world companies have, the team not only succeeded in its goal, but also achieved exceptional levels of bandwidth (10 MHz) and time coherence with its design. Word spread among friends and university colleagues who had heard the group's effort, but their subsequent attempts to sell the design in the pro market went nowhere. Fortunately, the reputation of the little-amp-that-could continued to grow in the audiophile community and in 1996 JOB was acquired by Goldmund, and therefore, came under the wing of one of the high end's most experienced and market-savvy individuals, Michel Reverchon.

If you've been a FI reader, you've no doubt seen Jonathan Valin's highly favorable reviews of two Goldmund amplifiers based on the JOB amplifier circuit, the SRA stereo amp [October '96] and the SRM mono amps [March '98]. Both units are essentially JOB amplifiers in ready-to-wear as opposed to couture Goldmund dress (though, come to think of it, the dressier Goldmunds are scarcely clothes-horses, either). Although I've not directly compared the JOB Stereo amp to the Goldmund versions of same, I have no reason to doubt Reverchon's claim that they are sonically identical. The sound I hear from the $1250 fifty-watt-per-channel JOB Stereo is consistent with the sound JV described in his review of the Goldmund SRA (there is also a 100 watt mono-JOB). I have little to add to Mr. V's thorough description of the sonics (physically the JOB is even smaller than the Goldmund box and sports a front panel volume control). This little amp - picture a paperback mystery novel with heat sinks - is not only fast and super wide of bandwidth, it is exceedingly transparent, detailed, and musical. Though no powerhouse, it is strong enough to drive a wide range of speakers and good enough to drive some very good ones without apology. And the volume control allows for a system of the utmost simplicity: plug in a CD player and add...

The JOB Speaker, though not as ultimately swelegant sounding as the amplifier, is one of the most unusual and fun hi-fi products of all time. A triangular enclosure, roughly the size of a human head (unless that head belongs to an audio reviewer), houses both the left and right speakers, which are placed pretty much the same distance apart as our ears. The small drivers (a 4" mid/bass driver and 1" dome tweeter) are of only average quality and, to my mind, sound like it. But it's not what the drivers are but how they are used that makes this speaker work anyway. You see, no matter where in a room this talking head is placed, or where we are in relationship to it, it is capable of throwing a rather remarkable stereo image (those working at computer stations take note). With the JOB Speaker, there is no such thing as a "sweet spot." Place it on a table or desk, a stand, a TV, or, for best results on top of the JOB Subwoofer, and, even if one is sitting radically off-axis, it maintains a surprisingly holographic stereo image yet one never senses that the music is firing sideways from a tiny triangle. Now, the downside to those average drivers is tonality. They can sound tinny and can only move so much air, so dynamics are limited and big rooms are not recommended...

But that's why there's the JOB stereo subwoofer (the "sub" is misleading), a matching gray lacquer box upon which the JOB speaker fits perfectly. I'm a firm believer in the advantages of stereo bass (especially in the frequencies this unit covers, 55 ~ 190 Hz). The JOB approach (based on research by the Swiss firm Stereolith) naturally lends itself to a single-cabinet stereo design. And it works very well. Hooking the sub up to the JOB Speaker in series limits the frequency response of the speaker and allows it to play significantly louder and with less audible strain or, you can connect them in parallel for the most transparent sound but no gain in loudness or dynamics. Either way the woofer increases the musicality of the system, yet still makes for a small, easy-to-place package.

I'm not going to say this combination, except for the amp (which, by the way, I envision as a dream amp for custom installers), is "high end." On the other hand, it is "way cool." Especially when used to augment a computer or as a small system in less critical applications. (It's also one hell of a conversation piece.) I have yet to try it in home theater applications but I imagine that, just like the stereo rig, its design strengths will lend themselves beautifully to smaller instalIations where space is at a premium.

Note: JOB amps and speakers can be purchased through the company's dealer network or via the internet. Check out JOB's excellent web site, http://www. jobsys.com.