Santa squeezed an awful lot of flat-panel TVs down an awful lot of chimneys last year. (He bends the space-time continuum, that's how.) And as those lucky households recover from holiday bills, thoughts are turning to sleek on-wall speaker systems to finish the job.
The wait will have been worth it, though, because manufacturers have brought out plenty of models since the holidays. We've lined up three of the newest and most intriguing — Atlantic Technology's FS-3200 system ($2,465 to $2,625, depending on finish), the Klipsch RVX-42 package ($2,148), and the offbeat Magneplanar MC1 system ($2,250) from Magnepan, which specializes in flat-panel speakers.
I placed each pair of left and right front speakers on the wall to either side of my 42-inch plasma TV and the surrounds on the side walls straddling the listening position. I put the Klipsch and Atlantic center speakers directly beneath the screen — the Magneplanars required an unusual treatment described later. Each subwoofer went to the left of the front left speaker. (Click to see “Fast Facts” PDF for details on the different speakers that make up each system.)
Atlantic Technology
Smooth sound, slick styling
Atlantic Technology's newest on-wall speakers sport tall, slim cabinets about as deep as the frame of a typical plasma TV. The front speakers in the FS-3200 system are particularly attractive and underscore the TV's modernistic style.
SETUP Instead of reinforcing the dual woofers in the FS-3200 LR and FS-3200 C speakers with plain ports on the back, Atlantic vents them on the front with two equal-size passive radiators (cones driven only by air pressure inside the cabinet rather than directly by the audio signal). This lets you mount all three of them flush to the wall — even right up against your flat-panel TV — using keyhole slots on the backs.
Straight and angled brackets that fit into threaded inserts are also supplied if you prefer to pull the speakers slightly out from the wall. The straight brackets aim the speakers directly forward, while the angled ones toe the FS-3200 LR speakers in slightly and aim the FS-3200 C center speaker up or down. The latter also comes with an adjustable rocker base for shelf mounting. I put the left/right front speakers about 18 inches away from the TV for better imaging.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE Of the three systems here, the FS-3200 came closest to matching the balance of my everyday speakers (not surprising, since their design is similar). The sound was smooth, accurate, and even, with virtually none of the problems that can make voices sound “honky,” “cupped,” or any of the dozens of other adjectives reviewers like me use in attempting to describe a speaker's sound.
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The FS-3200 LRs produced respectably low bass in two-channel listening, avoiding the uneven, colored sound that's typical of box speakers placed on a wall. There was a little extra warmth in the upper bass even with the front speakers' Boundary Compensation switches on and their High Frequency Energy switches set to Average, which yielded the best balance.
With the system balanced and Dolby Pro Logic II engaged for 5.1-channel playback, Brian Wilson's slightly overdue (35 years!) album SMiLE sounded terrific. The CD's a cappella opening was arrestingly present and expansive, with outstanding vocal definition, you-are-there harmonies, and a gorgeous, enveloping spaciousness.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE The Bourne Supremacy is an exhausting enough whirlwind to watch without struggling to hear the DVD soundtrack's myriad details. Fortunately, the system's impressive definition kept all the breakneck busyness clear and clean. The 422 SB subwoofer ably handled the bass chores, producing plenty of floorboard-rattling volume well into the deep-bass region, with no evidence of the dreaded midbass thump.
You can switch the excellent little 2200 SR surrounds (shown below) between dipole and bipole modes to optimize the sense of depth for movies and music, respectively. But why, oh why did Atlantic Technology put the bipole/dipole switch on the back? Fat lotta good it'll do you there if you hang the surrounds on a wall.
The FS-3200 is one of the best on-wall systems I've heard in this price range. Atlantic Tech's similar-size, free-standing System 4200 cost a grand more when I reviewed it in May 2004 and sounded a shade or two better, as I recall (click to read the review online; the current version is the System 4200e). It was a little leaner and more controlled than the FS-3200, with a little more punch at high volumes. But the differences are small.
PDF: Fast Facts
PDF: In the Lab
Klipsch
Sculptural looks, artful sound
Klipsch's curvaceous RVX-42 front speaker makes a handsome bit of sculpture when you mount it on the wall, and the black-finished trio arrayed around my plasma TV looked very cool. The company's heritage is in horn speakers, and the RVX-42 has a MicroTractix horn-loaded tweeter to control its dispersion. The RSX-4 speaker for the surround channels (shown below with the subwoofer) is essentially a quarter-size, single-woofer RVX-42.
SETUP Since the RVX-42's extruded-aluminum cabinet is vented by small ports on both sides, you can't mount it flush with your flat-panel TV. Threaded inserts on the back of the speaker, one at the bottom and the other in the middle, let you orient it either vertically or horizontally, whether on the wall or on the supplied shelf-top stands. A rocker switch on the back, labeled On-Wall/Off-Wall, adjusts the bass for each mounting scenario. I set all three RVX-42s to On-Wall, which tightened sounds in the upper bass, like male voices. To optimize the imaging, I pulled the L/R pair about a foot and a half out from my TV screen.
The RSX-4 surround has only a single port, on the back. Its integrated, swiveling ball-joint stand/mount lets you place it either on a shelf or the wall — but holds it a good 3 inches away because of the port.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE During two-channel playback, the pair of RVX-42s produced enough bass to hold their own with TV shows, if not for serious DVD movie watching. The bass on pop music tracks — like the insistent bass/piano unisons throughout Brian Wilson's SMiLE — sounded warm and solid, though a shade looser than on my regular speakers.
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But the Klipsch system really came into its own with the RW-10 subwoofer engaged, producing a big, well-balanced soundstage with realistic presence and crisp drum attacks. The dense, musical-comedy textures of SMiLE 's “Song for Children” came across with the puckish grace Wilson was no doubt going for.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE The Klipsch array delivered all of The Bourne Supremacy's cinematic impact without breaking a sweat. Pick a car chase, any car chase — Chapter 20's, for instance. Despite all the vehicles whizzing from channel to channel and street noises being panned every which way, there was no sonic discontinuity to pull my attention from the screen — not even an out-of-position tire squeal or an unrealistic, thin-sounding crash.
The RVX-42 worked very well as a center speaker. It was a close tonal match for the vertically placed front left/right speakers, and it sounded pretty much the same even when I moved to the far side of my couch. A woofer-tweeter-woofer layout often makes male voices distinctly more colored when heard from off-center positions, but that wasn't the case here.
The RSX-4 surrounds performed about as well as most small, conventional, front-firing two-way satellite speakers. Atmospheric effects — like the sounds of the protest-rally crowd in Chapter 12 of The Bourne Supremacy — weren't as spacious as from good dipole surrounds, and the speakers didn't have the heft and openness of the best bi poles on multichannel music. But their ball-and-swivel bases made them easy to aim to enhance the sense of space.
The RW-10 subwoofer provided deep and smooth bass except for a little extra oomph in the upper bass, which sometimes made the sound slightly warm, though with no midbass thump. Having the sub's level control mounted on the side made it easy to adjust, but if you have inquisitive young children, it might be a little too accessible.
Klipsch's RVX-42 on-wall setup is a well- balanced performer. It might sound slightly warm (depending on the room), but it provided the cleanest sound in this group at high volumes, and the subwoofer really delivered the goods.
PDF: Fast Facts
PDF: In the Lab
Magnepan
Swing out, sweet dipoles
And now for something completely different from Magnepan, a name synonymous with flat-panel speakers for more than a quarter-century. Like most “Maggies,” the Magneplanar MC1 speaker is a hybrid, combining a large planar-magnetic driver for the bass and midrange with a ribbon tweeter in a flat panel about the size and depth of a window shutter.
SETUP You mount the MC1s on the wall with very simple hinge brackets that let you fold them away almost totally flat — less than 2 inches deep — when off duty, or swing them out at 30° or so for action. This swinging-door design serves two purposes. First, like virtually all panel speakers, the MC1s are dipoles, which means they radiate the same sound from the front and back, but out of phase. Swinging them out reduces the front/back cancellations that can wreak havoc with tonal accuracy. Second, adjusting the angle also lets you control how much direct or reflected sound reaches your ears, which has an impact on the perceived depth of the sonic image.
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Magnepan sent three pairs of MC1s, suggesting that one pair be placed well to either side of the TV, the second pair bordering the screen to serve as dual center speakers, and the third pair in the usual side-wall surround positions. I followed this recommendation closely, mounting the front L/R pair about 4 feet from each side of the screen and the center pair (wired in series) flush to it. The L-shaped brackets need only one screw each, but the short input cables are hard-wired, so you'll need to splice on your own extensions. Magnepan doesn't make a subwoofer, but the MC1 system needs help at the bottom end, so I used my regular sub, a Velodyne DD-12 ($2,399).
MUSIC PERFORMANCE My experience with panel speakers goes back to the KLH 9s and Quads of the wacky '70s, but it's been a while since I've had any in my system. Playing two-channel music, the Magneplanar MC1s made me sit up and smile. It's hard not to love the deep, spacious, effortless sound that dipole panels can deliver from a really well-produced CD, like Mark Knopfler's latest, Shangri-La.
The Maggies were highly transparent, with impressively accurate tonal balance. This made them slightly brighter and less rich in the lower voice regions than the Atlantic Tech and Klipsch systems, both of which were slightly warmer.
As with any dipole design, all those room reflections made a difference. In my studio, centered soloists sounded slightly less distinct and “right there” than with an excellent pair of box speakers. But the Maggies' tendency to accentuate reverberant material made the soundstage depth more palpable.
Each adjustment in the outer front pair's angle from the wall changed the intensity of these effects, and to a lesser degree their overall tonal balance. Fortunately, finding the “sweet angle” each time isn't as hard as you might think.
Like most panels, the MC1s aren't jam-kickin' rude boys. They'll play plenty loud, if not as loud as the Klipsch or Atlantic Tech system. And in a quiet room, which preserves dynamics, they'll deliver lifelike impact and detail.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE With all six Magneplanar MC1s (plus the Velodyne sub), 5.1-channel movie soundtracks produced as large and seamless a sonic “bubble” around the listening position as I've heard in my room. I was swept into the movie in scenes with enveloping sound, like the South Atlantic storm in Master and Commander, and certain surround effects sounded eerily natural — like the moment in Chapter 15 of The Bourne Supremacy when a car pulls away from front center to rear left.
Swinging the pair of center speakers out about 45° kept voices anchored to the screen as long as I stayed fairly close to the center. Further off to the side, voices “pulled” slightly to the closer speaker. One way to address this issue — as well as the awkwardness of having to place four MC1s across the front of the room — would be to use a single center speaker placed horizontally. Magnepan makes a horizontal center speaker, the CC3 ($990), a curved dipole design that can't be wall mounted but could be positioned above or below a TV. I didn't have a CC3, but I tried a conventional center speaker I had on hand, and while it would have needed more tweaking to optimize the setup, it was a promising experiment.
The dramatically different Magneplanar MC1 system breaks the “rules” of cinema sound, which attempt to take the room out of the equation by limiting reflections in the front of the theater. That's the opposite of what dipoles try to do. But no matter: the proof is in the listening, and this setup sounded great — even seductive, making me want to listen more and more.
PDF: Fast Facts
PDF: In the Lab
The Bottom Line
The Atlantic Technology FS-3200 and Klipsch RVX-42 systems sound very good, and their stylish, compact designs will add to the on-wall elegance of a big LCD or plasma TV. Between the two, the Atlantic system sounded a bit smoother and more accurate, while the Klipsch exhibited warmth that some listeners may even prefer. Magnepan's Magneplanar MC1 system is a special case. If you have a bit of audiophile in you, and don't mind that the front speakers aren't visually as well tailored to today's flat-panel TVs, then you owe yourself a listen. (And don't forget to budget for a really good subwoofer.)
Freestanding speaker systems are still the performance champs and usually offer better value. But if the siren song of a sexy, space-saving on-wall setup has you in its grasp, don't fight it, because you won't be giving up much in terms of performance. If I could have the home theater of my dreams, instead of the perpetually cluttered disaster area of my reality, I'd give in, too.
In the Lab
All of the speakers in this text exhibited predictable behavior during measurements and showed no problematic aberrations. The Atlantic Technology FS-3200 LR was notable for tightly controlled directivity, and its frequency response was characterized by a slight midrange elevation between 1 and 2.5 kHz, a mild notch at 3kHz, and falling response in the top octave.
The response of the Klipsch RVX-42 was characterized by falling low frequencies below 80 Hz, an elevation between 500 Hz and 15 kHz, a dip at kHz, and some roughness at higher frequencies.
The bottom end of Magnepan's MC1 dipole panel rolled off significantly below 160 Hz, its meaningful bass limit. Minimum impedance measured under 5 ohms below 200 Hz and above 10 kHz, which could be an issue with some amplifiers not designed to drive low-impedance loads.