Saturday, 01 December 2007
,
Written by
Andrew Robinson
Introduction
As
of late, I’ve become increasingly interested in in-wall speakers, not
only for their practicality, but also because they have become
exceedingly good in providing truly reference grade sound in a sleek
unobtrusive package. Nothing is sexier than having a guest walk into
your listening room and be blown away at your system’s sound, only to
ask, “Where are the speakers?” Because of these facts, my reference
room features a complete in-wall speaker system from Meridian entirely
hidden from view by a custom fabric wall as seen in the August edition
of AVRev.com.
However, not everyone has the budget or the means to welcome a speaker
system such as the Meridian into the home. Hence my interest in the
Atlantic Technology IWCB-52 in-wall speakers reviewed here. Why did I
choose Atlantic Technology’s IWCB-52s for this review (and for my home)
over the many other reputable and wonderful-sounding brands out there
today? Simple. The IWCB-52s sound ...
Wednesday, 01 August 2007
,
Written by
Andrew Robinson
Introduction
When
it came time to finally design and implement my new reference home
theater, there were two things I knew I had to have. First was the
ability to easily integrate and audition various components of all
types without costly professional installation fees or outside
programming. Second was for my reference system to feature only in-wall
speakers. I have been a fan of in-walls (and on-walls, for that matter)
for a long time now and, as technology has progressed, so has the
quality of their sound. While nearly every speaker manufacturer has
some sort of in-wall or on-wall line of products, finding ones that are
truly reference grade can be a bit more daunting. I looked high and low
during my search and compiled a list of potential candidates that
would, I hoped, fit my needs. I met with and/or demoed the top
offerings from RBH, Paradigm, Definitive, PSB and Meridian. While RBH,
Paradigm, ...
Wednesday, 01 November 2006
,
Written by
Jerry Del Colliano
Introduction
There
have been many challenges in rebuilding the AVRev.com reference theater
(which I have previously written about and archived for Modern Home
Theater how-to features, with more details to come). One of the
challenges not discussed is what I was going to do with the living room
where my former reference system lived. Removing the large equipment
rack thankfully created more space that allowed for the sleek
installation of a lightly tinted glass wall. Removal of the
floor-to-ceiling, bird’s-eye maple media storage cabinet that housed my
Stewart roll-down screen also opened up some serious space. The design
challenge was unique, considering the entryway to the new theater, as
well as the stairs leading to the new addition, is exactly where my
Wilson WATT Puppy right speaker used to be placed – how could you get
great sound in a room or, in this case, a series of rooms, including
the living room, dining room ...
Introduction
When
building my home theater, one of my biggest dilemmas was where to put
the surround speakers. My theater is located in a room where a
sectional sofa runs the full length of the back and side walls, so
stand-mounted surrounds were out. Wall-mounted surrounds were out, too,
as only one wide wall is available for speakers. The answer was to go
up and ceiling-mount the surrounds. For my application, I chose the
MC-615-70 from Utah-based speaker manufacturer RBH. This $299 (each)
in-ceiling speaker features a 6.5-inch aluminum woofer and a one-inch
swivel aluminum dome tweeter. A tweeter level control, accessed from
the front of the speaker, allows you to choose from a standard-level
setting or from -3dB or +3dB. The MC-615-70 has a frequency response of
50Hz - 20kHz±3dB, is 88dB efficient and features a built-in 70-volt
multi-tap transformer. These speakers are rated at 120 watts at eight
ohms and have a crossover ...
Wednesday, 01 September 2004
,
Written by
Bryan Southard
Introduction
There’s
often a division between what men and their wives feel is important.
The book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” clearly pointed out
these idiosyncrasies. This separation of priority is never more
magnified than with that of audio/video gear, which has proven to be a
focal point of tension in many homes. Men typically want big, bad and
powerful. Women are typically less interested in performance but rather
opt for modern elegance, void of large annoying speakers and unsightly
cables.
There is a popular belief that you cannot achieve high
performance from anything other than large floor-standing speakers. In
many cases, these large speakers are at their best when set several
feet off from the wall. Another option, originally made popular by
Bose, is small cube speakers placed in the corner of the room’s
ceiling. This made for a much more concealed look, but at a huge
expense in performance, although ...