Flatness is what it’s all about today when you go shopping for home theater gear — and I’m not talking frequency response. Now that plasma and other flat-screen TVs rule, depth — the kind measured in inches — has become the kiss of death for anything that might share the light from the screen, like speakers.
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In fact, the L5’s drivers are nearly identical to those in the M5 satellite of the earlier Evolution system, re-engineered into a sleek, aluminum half-cylinder. NHT sent five L5s for the main channels, plus its four-piece U2 subwoofer system (photo on facing page): two passive subwoofers, each a 14-inch cube with a 12-inch driver, a slim A1 mono subwoofer power amp, and the similarly sized X1 crossover/controller.
Installing and connecting all the pieces of the U2 is more involved than hooking up your typical powered subwoofer, plus you need space for its two electronic components. But the system provides unmatched flexibility, with no fewer than five controls on the X1 to fine-tune subwoofer and crossover characteristics, including adjustable boundary compensation. You could experiment with placing the two subs in dissimilar locations, which some people believe can help smooth out the deep bass, though I’ve found little if any benefit over simply stacking two subs in my preferred location.
I started by connecting my receiver’s subwoofer line-level output to the X1’s RCA line input, then the X1’s subwoofer output to the A1’s input and the amp’s single speaker-level output to the first U2 subwoofer. A pair of dual-banana jumpers on the first sub served to connect the second.
I arranged the five L5s in my usual manner for satellite speakers, though to avoid drilling holes in my walls, I placed the front left/right pair vertically on small, heavy stands flush against the wall, flanking the TV. The center speaker went horizontally on a shelf atop the set, though in a real installation it would also be wall mounted, either just above or just below the screen. And that brings up an important point: since the L5 is designed strictly for use with flat-panel plasma or LCD TVs, it’s not magnetically shielded and will cause color distortions if placed too close to direct-view CRT sets. Finally, I placed the surrounds vertically on high side-wall shelves, angled in toward the listening position.
Since the Evolution L5 was never really intended to be a full-range speaker, I began my stereo listening with the U2 sub system active. My initial impressions were much in line with what I remembered of the Evolution M5 system: tight, almost dry, highly defined sound with outstanding imaging and the kind of rigorously accurate vocal range that can seem a bit severe or even cold compared with the many speakers that emphasize lower-midrange “warmth.”
But in truth it’s not cold at all, and this kind of accuracy lets you hear tremendous detail. When I played the stereo mix of the Police’s Every Breath You Take on SACD, for instance, the sound was clear enough to expose the thinness of Sting’s tenor on tunes like “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and the harsh effect of the digital processor used on much of this reverb-drenched singles collection.
Like the freestanding Evolution M5, NHT’s L5 has a lateral midrange-tweeter layout — at least when the L5 is positioned vertically — that controls directivity, reducing sound spread to the sides and focusing it toward the listener. This tends to maximize clarity and articulation while slightly restricting the sense of soundstage depth that good stereo recordings can deliver via two speakers.
Initially, I had some trouble achieving a really fine subwoofer-satellite/bass-to-midrange blend. But this was due mostly to the L5s’ on-wall placement, a setup that usually doesn’t sound good in my room — which is why I generally place speakers 3 or 4 feet out from the wall.
I eventually reconfigured the system with the X1 wired between my preamp and pow er amp so that I could individually select its low- and high-pass crossover frequencies. By adjusting these settings and the boundary-EQ control, I achieved a reasonably accurate blend, which sounded better than other on-wall arrays I’ve auditioned in this room. In other rooms, your mileage will vary.
Mounted horizontally, the center L5 was still a good tonal match with its vertical left/right mates. It also had unusually even response as I moved from one side to the other, meaning that viewers on both ends of the couch won’t miss any dialogue. The center speaker can be turned so the tweeter is either above or below the midrange driver, depending on placement height, to help focus the highs toward the listener’s ears — simple but effective.
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The L5 also worked well as a surround speaker, producing a nice compromise between the diffuse sound of dipole speakers and the more direct sound of regular monopole speakers.
All in all, the L5 array did a very credible job of holding together the many all-around sequences in Daredevil (the hero’s blind, remember?), like the organ-loft fight toward the end. Dialogue was unfailingly clear, and the U2 sub system put out massive deep bass. Sequences such as the final fight, with its ludicrously powerful body slams, produced big-cinema impact at big-cinema volume.
While the L5s couldn’t absorb the full 200 watts per channel of my main power amp — they began sounding edgy at extreme volumes — they produced enough clean sound at lower power levels to deliver loudness and dynamics well beyond what you get in a movie theater. And they sounded very good on surround music, too, both studio recordings like the six-channel remix on that Police SACD and naturalistic recordings like the six-channel Telarc SACD of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite with Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony.
NHT’s Evolution L5/U2 setup is a first-class surround speaker system. It may not be perfectly suited for playing stereo music, but it provides excellent sound from movies and multichannel music alike. If you gotta have flat, this is one set of speakers that demands a close listen.