Soon after Electrocompaniet released its first amplifier in 1976, The Audio Critic called it the best-sounding transistor amplifier in the world. It grew out of Matti Otala's research into why transistor amps of the day didn't sound credible. Many of them used heavy negative feedback, which sends part of the output back to the input to cancel errors. Push that too far, Dick Olsher of Enjoy the Music explains, and the circuit can overshoot and clip on sudden peaks in the music. Electrocompaniet's research found that feedback around individual stages works better than one big loop around the whole amplifier. Tony Cordesman of The Absolute Sound credits the brand with some of the first transistor amps to keep the "natural lower-midrange warmth" of good tube designs. CEO Bjørn Kindingstad calls the house sound the "Nordic Tone" and says listeners won't get tired, "especially when it gets loud." The brand suits people who listen for hours and want warmth without fatigue.

The integrated amps are the easy way in, and the ECI 80D is the one to try first. Steve Guttenberg ran it into very different speakers, from high-sensitivity Zus to open baffles, found that "this amplifier can scale," and called it "the most transparent integrated I've heard in quite some time." Marc Rushton of StereoNET drove 3-ohm VAF speakers, a demanding load, and found it perfectly comfortable. If you want streaming built in, the ECI 6 DX MKII adds a streamer and DAC along with more power, and the host of HiFi Huff named it his "favorite integrated amplifier all-in-one of all time." The step up is separates. The AW power amps take balanced XLR inputs only, so plan on a balanced preamp. For the flagship AW 800 M, Andrew Everard of Hi-Fi News suggests buying one for stereo and adding a second later. Electrocompaniet's Lasse Danielsen told Stereophile the company got its best results plugging the AW 800 M straight into the wall, not into a power conditioner.

Tony Cordesman reviewed that first 25-watt amplifier, designed by Otala and Jan Lohstroh, and remembers it as "a real breakthrough for the time." The brand's best story comes from a recording studio. In 1991, the company says, a pair of its amplifiers was flown to engineer Bruce Swedien at Larrabee Studio in Los Angeles, just after he had finished Michael Jackson's Dangerous. Swedien said "this amplifier changed my life," and Electrocompaniet amplification was used all the way through the production of HIStory, which carries a special thanks to the company. The AW 250 arrived in 1987 and the AW 180 monoblock in 1994. David Price of StereoNET found that the AW250 R takes speakers by the scruff of their necks and shakes them "like an Alsatian dog with a rag doll." For its 50th anniversary Electrocompaniet built the AW 800 M as its flagship. Everything is built in Tau, near Stavanger, where Hi-Fi News says circuit boards to final checking stay under one roof.