The soundtrack from the DVD of last year's King Arthur offers up barbarous sonic attacks and thrilling surround effects. The latest speaker release from Paradigm, the Cinema 110 Compact Theater, delivers some pretty exciting surround effects as well. But could this value-priced system produce truly civilized sound from King Arthur's medieval mayhem?
Out of the box, the Cinema 110 CT resembles many systems in its $800 price range. There are three baguette-size front speakers shaped from a silver-gray polymer, a pair of wedge-shaped surrounds about half the size of the front trio, and an average-size compact subwoofer. All come with silver fabric grilles. (The system is also available in black.) The handsome, understated styling will let you place the speakers unobtrusively in most rooms.
But the Cinema 110 CT isn't standard fare. Its Adapted Dipole (ADP) surrounds are a relatively uncommon feature in this price range, and you may find them a key benefit. Initially advocated by THX, dipoles typically radiate sound from the left and right sides of the cabinet rather than the front. You point the front at your listening position, so most of what you hear is reflected sound. The drivers themselves are wired out of phase from one another to enhance the effect. Proponents say dipoles provide a more diffuse, and thus more theaterlike, surround sound field.
SETUP I placed the Cinema ADP surrounds as suggested in the manual, radiating toward the front and back of the room from high shelves on the side walls. The Cinema 110 L/R speakers went on knee-high stands about 6 inches to either side of my 40-inch widescreen rear-projection TV and even with the screen. The Cinema 110 C center speaker went atop the TV.
The curved design of the satellites makes it difficult for the front left/right speakers to stand on their own without applying the supplied rubber feet. Unfortunately, some of the feet lost their adhesive when separated from the protective paper, a minor inconvenience I hope Paradigm will correct. Paradigm also supplies wall-mounting brackets, or you can place the speakers on stands (shown in photo) from its sister company, Premier. (Paradigm recommends the 37-inch-tall LS-20 stand for the front left and right speakers and the LS-30, which is a bit taller, for the surrounds. Each is $119 a pair.)
In its impressive 14-page manual, Paradigm tells you to place the 10-inch front-firing subwoofer close to a wall, though because of its dual rear ports you need an inch or two of space behind it. I placed it just to the right and rear of my TV.
Unlike most subs in this class, this one has no speaker inputs, just line-level inputs for the subwoofer/LFE output from your receiver. There are the usual controls, including a continuously variable crossover (50 to 200 Hz) for flexibility in blending the sub with the satellites, though most people will use their receiver's crossover.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE Hollywood 's latest iteration of the tale of King Arthur, by the director Antoine Fuqua, mainly ignores the romanticized legend of Camelot in favor of a continuous blur of blood and guts and clashing metal. But the THX-certified DVD had plenty of other sound effects to test the mettle of the Cinema 110 CT system. For example, great doors in Hadrian's Wall grinding open and slamming shut with authority, wagon wheels rumbling on sod and ice as the ice starts to fracture, feet crunching on snow, and arrows finding their mark with a heart-piercing thud rather than a “thfft.” This Paradigm system sounded as smooth as the Saxon warriors were coarse. The creaking of a bow as the string was drawn seemed to carry the tension of the bowstring itself. And even a blacksmith would be convinced by the cold steel clashing of swords.
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Even more impressive was Hans Zimmer's musical score, which envelops you in a continuous sea of music and probably descends to lower frequencies than most of the sound effects, telegraphing the action with its growling low notes. The score flowed out of the Cinema 110 sub like a deep ocean current. Though it didn't rattle the room and lacked the visceral quality of a larger subwoofer, it got the job done.
Beyond the music, the soundtrack reserves surround effects mainly for crowd scenes and a few of the battles. The Cinema ADP surrounds put me right in the action, spreading the roar of the combatants around the sides and back of the room. When the arrows flew, I almost ducked. The system as a whole created a wide, deep, and enveloping sound field, with the dialogue rock solid front and center.
Happily, I heard no obvious distortion even at substantial volumes. There was no sizzle, sibilance, or crackle at the high end and little or no boominess at the low end. On the other hand, the midrange was mildly muddy, with music and effects occasionally obscuring dialogue.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE For a taste of multichannel, I spun the Super Audio CD of Herbie Mann's Caminho de Casa. Producer David Chesky and engineer Bob Katz mainly send subtle ambience through the surrounds, which the Cinema ADPs conveyed. Mann's flute sounded smooth and mellow, though not as defined as I've heard. Romero Lubambo's fingers on his guitar strings in “Gabriela's Song” might have benefited from a tad more articulation.
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Staying south of the border, the Cinema 110 CT system proved more satisfying on the multichannel DVD-Audio mix of Steely Dan's Gaucho, which really rocked. The tight, clean thwack of Bernard Purdie's drums and Crusher Bennett's crisp rhythm section hit the mark in “Babylon Sisters.” Donald Fagen's honeyed vocals, with a sprinkle of sand, came through emphatically, and the horns and backing vocals sprang from the surrounds with ideal intensity and presence.
For plain vanilla two-channel stereo, I returned to an old favorite, Dire Straits' Making Movies. Imaging — the illusion of a real soundstage — was good but not outstanding, with the sound pretty much confined to the space between the left and right speakers. The system played impressively loud, and the music swelled effortlessly. Once again, I appreciated the solid, tight sound of the drums.
BOTTOM LINE In a highly competitive category, the Paradigm Cinema 110 Compact Theater is a bargain. It reproduces full-bodied sound without calling attention to itself, and if it errs, it does so toward the mellow side rather than with the blistering highs or pompous lows that spoil so many “budget” systems. These speakers are as smooth as Excalibur is sharp, and they can really attack when the fierce swordplay begins. They stand as a civilizing influence in the battlefield of affordable home theater.
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