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| The piercing sounds of the action/splatterfest Freddy vs. Jason showed which systems had the chops and which ones couldn't cut it. |
For this report, we corralled a trio of surround sound speaker packages in the $1,500 to $2,000 range from JBL ($1,575), Sapphire Audio ($1,750), and Phase Technology ($1,925). Each system represents a different design approach: JBL’s sub/sat configuration includes a pair of powered subwoofers; Sapphire Audio’s rig is built around a pair of tower speakers equipped with side-firing woofers; and Phase Technology’s system uses a single sub to augment its front towers. Aside from being in the same price range, what each system shares is a mission to fully surround you and rock your world when watching movies or listening to music. So let’s stop talking and give them a spin.
PDF: Fast FactsJBL Northridge E Series
You might think that in naming its speaker series Northridge, JBL was trying to capitalize on the massive 1994 earthquake centered near Northridge, California. But the simple reality is that the company’s manufacturing headquarters is located in this sleepy Los Angeles suburb. Nonetheless, with its bone-rattling dual subwoofers and rugged durability, there’s something about the system that suggests a shifting of the earth’s crust.
Design-wise, the JBLs are pretty unassuming — the E20 front left/ right bookshelf speakers and EC35 center speaker all have black, boxy cabinets and cloth grilles that taper in slightly at the outer edge. Strip off one of those grilles, and you’ll see a titanium-laminate tweeter ensconced in what JBL calls an Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal waveguide (try saying that three times fast). Whatever it is, it’s meant to disperse sound over a wide angle.
Each E250P sub combines a 12-inch driver and a 250-watt digital amp in a slim cabinet that’s styled to match the front trio. JBL’s E10 surround speakers, though, represent a slight aesthetic departure. Designed for wall mounting, the slim, 5 1/4-inch deep E10 radiates sound from a single set of drivers mounted on the front baffle, while each tapered side accommodates a port.
If you use the subwoofer’s line-level input, a switch lets you engage or bypass the built-in crossover. And if you do use the crossover, a frequency control with settings from 50 to 150 Hz will help optimize the sub’s blend with the other speakers. There’s also a 0/180° phase switch.
Setting up the JBL system was no trouble — I placed the two front bookshelf speakers on stands at either side of my projection screen and put the center speaker on a low table directly below it. The surrounds went on high stands located near the side walls to the left and right and slightly behind the listening position.
In an average-size room, you could probably get away with using only one E250P sub and save yourself 450 bucks in the process. However, JBL recommended that I double up on subs to ensure maximum performance with the system, so that’s the way I listened to it. One advantage of using two subs is that it can help even out bass “bumps” created by the physical layout of your listening room. Sure enough, I found myself getting smooth bass response from the pair of E250Ps after only minimal
level tweaking and fussing with placement.
With two subs operating in our 21 x 13-foot listening room, I expected lots of bass, and the JBLs didn’t disappoint me. As I watched a scene from Freddy vs. Jason where a dreaming girl wanders through Freddy Krueger’s industrial hellhole, the throbbing bass effects delivered by the system created a persistent sense of menace. The sounds of dripping water and creaking metal pipes coming from the surround speakers also added to my sense of being in a thoroughly icky, cavernous environment. And in a scene where a cop discusses strategies to eliminate Krueger with a group of terrified teens (at seven sequels and counting, I don’t think they can do it!), dialogue coming from the EC35 center speaker sounded consistently clear even at off-center positions on my couch.
With such a good start on movies, my high expectations for the JBLs continued as I slipped Led Zeppelin’s DVD into the player’s tray and cued up the band’s 1970 Royal Albert Hall concert. In “I Can’t Quit You Baby,”both John Bonham’s kick drum and John Paul Jones’s bass sounded full and powerful — the dual subs displayed excellent low-end extension without ever being boomy. The system rocked on “Dazed and Confused,” capturing the wide dynamics of the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and imparting a sense of the live performance as the surround speakers enveloped me with the sound of swirling guitars and screaming fans.
The E20/E250P combination also proved capable of delivering realistic performances on stereo recordings of acoutic instruments. On a reference Richard Thompson track, “King of Bohemia,” the imaging was solid, with a realistic sense of depth — Thompson’s voice emanated a few steps back from dead center, as it should. Vocals sounded clean, and there was a natural sense of decay from the plucked guitar strings.
Priced below $1,600, JBL’s Northridge E Series system is an amazing value that delivers exceptional sound. And for that price you get not one, but two subwoofers! To be honest, you could probably live happily with just one sub, but given the system’s reasonable price and my positive experience with it, I’m not gonna second-guess JBL’s recommendation to use two of them.
PDF: Fast Facts
Sapphire Audio ST2
Sapphire Audio is a new speaker brand, and just one look at the ST2 tower speakers that anchor this system tells you the company is trying to do something different. With their tall, slim design and glass-capped cabinets, the ST2s cut a dramatic figure. The speakers are finished with black vinyl woodgrain sides and satiny black lacquered front panels. Pop off one of the grilles, and you’ll find a distinctive blue-tinted tweeter lurking beneath. Wow!
My first thought after setting up the slender towers was how perfect they’d look next to a large, console-type rear-projection TV. If you do go that route, make sure the set has ample surface on top — at over 18 inches wide and 12 1/2 inches deep, the system’s SC center speaker is a real space hog. Both the SC and Sapphire’s dipolar SS surrounds are designed to match the towers, presenting a united all-black front.
The reason I’ve said nothing so far about subwoofers is because the system doesn’t have one. Sapphire Audio’s first sub isn’t due until later this year. Even so, with a specified bass floor of 30 Hz, the ST2s are designed to be pretty close to full-range.
To set up the Sapphires, I attached the supplied plastic feet and metal spikes to the bottom of the towers and then dug them firmly into the carpet (protective end caps are also provided for bare floors). After inserting the leveler foot into the center speaker, I aimed it up toward ear level from the low table it was sitting on. Meanwhile, I set the SS surrounds on high speaker stands against the wall on either side of my listening position — the standard placement for dipoles.
The Sapphires did a great job of rendering the spooky scene from Freddy vs. Jason where a stoner girl wanders away from a rave and into a cornfield. The system’s surround speakers successfully captured the ambience of the booming PA system in the background, but also managed to deliver a solid image of the stalks brushing against the girl as she passed through. Skipping ahead to the roundtable discussion between the concerned cop and the teens, I found the SS center speaker up to the task of cleanly rendering the officer’s authoritative lines as well as the kids’ more mumbled banter. When I switched to an off-center seating position, the dialogue remained clear.
After the Sapphire system’s realistic handling of the cornfield scene, I wasn’t surprised to hear it pull off a good approximation of the Royal Albert Hall when I put on the Led Zeppelin DVD. During “Dazed and Confused,” I had a sense of being smack in the middle of an enthusiastic crowd, and the scratchy, psychedelic sound of Jimmy Page’s bowed guitar came across with equal power as it panned from the front to rear of the room. It was about this time, though, that I started to wish the system had a subwoofer. Although the bass guitar sounded clean, it didn’t have much range at the low end, and Bonzo’s kick drum lacked the bone-vibrating slam I’m used to hearing.
When I listened to stereo music on the Sapphire towers, their rock-solid imaging impressed me. Each instrument in jazz saxman Charles Lloyd’s “Amazing Grace” was precisely positioned in the soundstage, which maintained its seamless quality even when I cranked up the speakers. Brass instruments came across cleanly, but there was also an edgy character to the ST2s’ sound that I occasionally found fatiguing. These are definitely speakers that will sound better in a room with lots of rugs and curtains than in a spare, acoustically live environment.
With their slick, contemporary looks and good sound, Sapphire Audio’s ST2 tower-based speaker system could be an intriguing addition to your home theater. At $1,750 for the lot, its price is right, but I’d recommend springing for a subwoofer, or at least for an upgrade to the ST2’s bigger, more bass-heavy brother, the ST3.
Phase Technology Velocity Series V-10
If you’ve ever thought with a note of alarm that speaker cabinets with a natural wood look — something that was the norm when I was a kid — had all but disappeared, then you’ll be glad to know Phase Technology is keeping the idea alive in its Velocity Series speakers. The system that I checked out came not in aluminum, not silver, but a refreshingly earthy finish called Sun Maple. (Okay, it comes in black, too.) Yet another traditional element of the Velocity Series speakers is their boxy, hard-edged design. Phase Technology’s crew may be tree-huggers, but they’re obviously not yet ready to embrace the lifestyle-speaker phenomenon.
The Phase Technology system’s total cost is $1,925 — not exactly lunch money, but a reasonable sum for a rig this decked-out. The V-10s are substantial-looking towers that each come with a pair of plastic feet and two sets of metal spikes to keep them firmly planted on the floor. A wall-mounted speaker that can be switched between dipole and bipole operation with a rear-panel control, the unobtrusive V-Surround measures less than 5 inches deep. Rounding out the system is the V-6 center speaker, a model designed for either vertical or horizontal placement, and the HV-1000 subwoofer. The relatively slim sub has a 0/180° phase switch and a crossover control continuously adjustable between 40 and 110 Hz.
System setup was uneventful. After positioning the V-10 towers and attaching their feet and carpet spikes, I placed the center speaker on a low table and the V-Surrounds on high stands located parallel to my ears. I listened with the surrounds in both dipole and bipole modes but chose the bipole setting since it sounded better with surround music tracks. The subwoofer, meanwhile, was stowed in the front left corner of our listening room.
Returning to the cornfield scene in Freddy vs. Jason, I found that the bipolar surrounds delivered a palpable sense of envelopment as the doomed teen wandered drunkenly through the stalks. And when the action cut back to the rave, the bass lines in the booming techno soundtrack sounded punchy and low. But I was most impressed by a later scene in a hospital. As a terrified security guard approached a metal door being pounded by the bloodthirsty Jason, the accompanying sound effect had a startling, full-frequency throttle. The V-6 center speaker also held its own, delivering clean dialogue at both on- and off-center seats during a heated confrontation between the cop and his superior officer.
A 5.1-channel mix of “I Can’t Quit You Baby” from the Led Zeppelin DVD also fared pretty well on the Phase Techs. The system’s wide dynamics lent muscle to Bonham’s drumbeats, although on this and some other tracks the HV-1000 sub audibly bottomed out when pushed to high volume. Both the crowd ambience and the guitar flourishes in the surround channels came across in a believable manner. For example, a 360° sonic pan during Page’s “Dazed and Confused” solo sounded continuous as it arced around the room.
The V-10 towers displayed both good detail and a natural tonal balance on stereo music tracks. During Thompson’s “King of Bohemia,” the British folkie’s voice sounded appealingly smooth yet clear. And I could easily hear the breathy texture of Lloyd’s saxophone on “Amazing Grace.” On some tracks I felt the V-10 towers’ spatial delineation was slightly less precise than that of the other two systems, but for the most part their imaging was very good.
Phase Technology’s Velocity V-10 system may look traditional, but it’s up to date in its handling of movie soundtracks. It also sounded great with all sorts of music. If you’re looking for solid speakers that were designed with performance in mind, I’m sure you’ll like this system as much as I did.
Expensive toys like plasma TVs may be all the rage, but what’s the point of a great picture without equally great sound? You could spend less on home theater speakers, but any of these systems can deliver a sonic experience equal to the visual jolt you’d get from looking at a cool flat-panel TV. They might not be designed to hang on the wall or merge with your décor, but with sound this powerful you’ll be proud to put them out in the open.
PDF: In the Lab