Introduction There's a new contender on the mini-home theater block, the Mirage AVS-Series MicroSystem. This young, up-and-coming lightweight delivers a great combination and has the wherewithal to go the distance for a mere $500 for the five-piece system. Throw in an extra $300 for the active subwoofer and you're in the 5.1 game for $800. And now for the introductions. The AVS-200 is the loudspeaker used to cover the front and rear of your listening arena. A total of four AVS-200s are included on this fight card. The tale of the tape is as follows: Two-way high-performance acoustic suspension enclosure including a 1 inch textile dome tweeter and a 3+1/2 inch woofer with polypropylene cone. The physical dimensions are 7 inch (h) x 4 1/8 inch (w) x 5 inch (d). The enclosure utilizes a revolutionary crosscutting and crimping technique allowing a single piece of wood to be molded seamlessly, greatly reducing resonance and defraction. ...

Introduction It is truly a wonderful time to be entering the home theater market. Prices on systems are at all-time lows and the cost-to-value ratios are at all-time highs. The RM6500 is no exception to this trend. This RM6500 is a space-saving six-speaker, five-channel home theater loudspeaker system offered at a modest $1,099. The nuts, bolts and polymer aggregate material: As I began to set up this system, I noticed that the mini-satellites were heavy for their size – six-and-three-quarters inches high by four inches wide by five inches deep. After reading up on the subject, I learned that the satellite enclosures are made up of a polymer aggregate material that contains the appearance and acoustic characteristics of stone. This stone-like substance helps limit the enclosure from resonating, which is a good thing since the RM6500 includes a neat little bracketing system that allows you to mount the satellites against surrounding walls. Without this resonating ...

Introduction The Belles Audio Nearfield Desktop System, known as BAND, is a complete two- channel audio system consisting of two satellites and one subwoofer, powered by an amplifier encased in the subwoofer. Also included are a manual preamplifier/switcher and remote control. At $1,995.00, this system can be configured for a variety of nearfield applications. Upon unpacking this system, I was first impressed with the care and effort that went into the construction of the enclosures. There are three finishes available: natural cherry, medium oak and natural maple. The corners are rounded and the wood grain is seamless. Finishing touches include a black lacquer bottom and floor spikes for the subwoofer, as well as black lacquer backs and rubber pads for the bottom of the satellites. As I continued my unpacking, I noticed that all of the cables necessary to get this system up and running were included – and not the cheap cables you find with ...

Introduction Trying to find the right home theater speaker system can be an anxiety-ridden process, but listening even once to the warm, dynamic and articulate performance of the Atlantic Technology System 370 may be the audio Prozac that will relieve your blues. The 371LR and 373C are sealed box designs consisting of two 6 inch coated composite graphite woofers, two 3-inch composite graphite midrange drivers and a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter arranged in a D'appolito configuration. The rear surrounds, deemed "TwinPolar," have their two 5-1/4-inch composite graphite woofers and two inch silk dome tweeters mounted on two sides of a triangular cabinet. Both speakers have frequency responses of 80Hz-20kHz. The 372PBM subwoofer is powered by a 275-watt amp that can drive the 15-inch-high excursion cone to a peak SPL of 108dB with a frequency response of 25Hz-500Hz. The System 370 retails for $4,300 without the optional floor pedestals. Performance One of the biggest challenges faced by a manufacturer is to ...

Introducton NHT's VT-1.2 System ($2000 - 5 channels) is one of a growing niche of mid-priced, attractive, relatively small, highly efficient, home theater loudspeaker packages. The 1.2 system is perfectly suited to run with a either an upper end A/V receiver (Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite) or separate decoder-preamp and 5 channel amplifier (Millennium, Cinepro, Acurus). With deep roots in high end audio with successful loudspeaker designs like the 3.3 and an aesthetically appealing and sized design this 1.2 system delivers on its huge potential. It's rare that a speaker's physical attributes catch my eye but the NHT (Now Hear This) 1.2 Home Theater speaker package is gorgeous in a high gloss black laminate, resembling rosewood. The main VT-1.2 Towers are about 3 feet tall and very skinny at 5.5 inches. They are really no deeper than most speakers but strike a very attractive, narrow profile, due to the side firing 8 inch woofer. The upper ...