Since just about the time the television was invented, people have been trying to find ways to make their TV sets go away. For a long time, disguising them was the answer: Remember those "Mediterranean style" TV consoles in the Sears catalog? Then, finally, salvation arrived in the form of the plasma TV. The design—sleek, sexy, and capable of hanging on the wall like a picture frame—had home decorators and spouses everywhere rejoicing.
The problem, however, is that at about the time we started getting those plasma sets, folks started demanding more-elaborate sound systems for use with them. So, just when we found a way to replace that big ugly box on the floor with a sleek modern panel on the wall, we quickly filled the floor space with a half-dozen new ugly boxes—the speakers we needed for our new surround-sound systems. Spouses and home decorators were up in arms, and the gauntlet was thrown down for speaker designers to come up with designs that could complement those oh-so-sleek plasmas.
At first, many people turned to in-wall speakers, and they remain an excellent way to go if you’re equipped to accommodate them. Good-quality in-wall speakers have been around since the 1980s, and when skillfully installed, they can practically disappear. But you need to own the home or condo, be willing to hack big holes in the walls, and have luck on your side (i.e., all of the wall studs positioned in such a way that the speakers just end up exactly where you need them). Other people turned to the small, sleek, inexpensive speaker designs that are found in home-theater-in-a-box systems. While this may look fine, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of performance. Clearly a more widely acceptable solution was needed, so many speaker designers turned their talents toward creating sleek, high-quality surface-mounted speakers that would go well with a plasma TV.
We looked into what some of the top speaker manufacturers have developed to meet this need, searching specifically for slim high-tech wall-mounting designs that would match the style of a plasma screen. The following is a sampling of what we found.
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| Artcoustic makes nearly flat wall-mounted speakers with numerous designer-fabric covers. |
Artcoustic
Definitive Technology
Definitive Technology has created its new Mythos models specifically for use with plasma monitors. The Mythos Twos are designed for vertical orientation on either side of the monitor or in the rear for the surround channels, while the sonically identical Mythos Three is specifically designed for horizontal use as a center channel. Both models have two woofers flanking an aluminum dome tweeter, plus a pair of passive auxiliary bass radiators that extend the bass surprisingly deep for such a slim and shallow design. To complete the system, you can add one of Definitive’s Super Cube or Pro Sub subwoofers.
Artison
Cary Christie has a long and distinguished history in the loudspeaker field, having been one of the founders of Infinity Systems, manufacturer of such legendary speakers as the Infinity IRS Series V. His latest creation, the Artison Portrait Home Theater System, tackles many key aesthetic issues head on. With typical surround-sound packages you have five speakers plus a subwoofer, and it’s finding a place for that fifth speaker, the center channel, that often proves to be the biggest headache. With the Portrait system, Christie uses two slim enclosures that attach directly to either side of the screen, with each enclosure housing what is, in effect, two different loudspeakers. One is aimed outward (away from the screen) to handle the main left or right channel, while the other is directed inward (towards the listener) to deliver the center-channel dialogue information. The sounds from the two center-channel speakers reach the listener simultaneously, and the resultant effect sounds like one speaker positioned in the middle of the screen.
To make the two main speakers blend aesthetically with your monitor, Artison can supply custom grille covers that match the height of your screen exactly, making the finished combination look like an integral part of the screen. Rounding out the system are components designed by Christie: a pair of unobtrusive surround channel speakers and a clever push-pull–powered subwoofer.
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| Jamo’s A 355 (floor-standing) and A 325 (wall-mounted) speakers take up little space. |
The Danes have always had a knack for creating ultrastylish home furnishings, and Danish speaker giant Jamo is no exception. For its A 3 family of home theater speakers, Jamo wanted to achieve maximum WAF (wife acceptance factor). So the company enlisted the services of renowned female design team Smedegaard and Weiss, who lent a feminine touch. Available in two systems, the A 325PDD, which uses the same A 325 speaker for the front and surround channels, and the A 355PDD, with its larger A 355 front speakers, the A 3s can be used without grilles for a silver, high-tech look, or with black grilles for a more discreet approach. To minimize the overall size of each speaker, Jamo has used small but powerful neodymium magnets that maximize the internal volume of the cabinet. The main speakers can be used with floor stands, or wall-mounted using a bracket that allows the speaker to be tilted up to 30 degrees for optimal dispersion. Even the styling of the included A 3SUB.5 subwoofer was carefully considered, and it too can be wall-mounted if such positioning is desired.
Magnepan
Founded almost 35 years ago, Magnepan is a well-respected, high-end American company with a level of customer loyalty that is the envy of the industry. Similar in many ways to electrostatic speakers, Magnepan’s Magneplanar designs are also of the thin-panel variety, but like the MartinLogan ATF, they use permanent magnets instead of an electrostatic charge to drive the panel. As with electrostats, Magneplanar speakers have traditionally been floor-standing models that sound best when pulled well out into the room, but Magnepan’s designers have also taken advantage of the trend towards multichannel systems with subwoofers to create new models that break some of the old rules.
The Magneplanar MGMC1 is a 10-by-46-inch panel with a hinged bracket that you attach directly to the wall. What’s particularly neat about this design is that the hinge allows you to fold the speaker completely flat against the wall and out of the way when it’s not in use; and you simply swing the speakers out into the proper position when you want to play the system. Magnepan has hinted that there are plans for a motorized version that swings out from the wall automatically when you power up the rest of your components—a trick that may impress even James Bond.
At only one inch thick, these panels practically disappear when folded against the wall, and the fabric covering and little-strip-of-wood trim give them a somewhat more-traditional look, rather than a strictly high-tech one.
To complement the MGMC1 panel, the company makes a dedicated center-channel speaker called CC3. One of the first Magneplanars to use a curved panel, CC3 offers exceptionally wide horizontal dispersion and keeps sound consistent, even when the listener is seated well off axis.
Below 80 Hz, both MGMC1 and CC3 are designed to be supplemented by a subwoofer. Magnepan does not supply a sub, but there is no shortage of suitable candidates on the market.
Final Sound LLC
Audiophiles have long revered electrostatic speakers for their exceptionally transparent sound, but most electrostats, in achieving that level of performance, won’t exactly blend easily into a room. They generally have to be really big to play loud and get a decent amount of bass. And because electrostats radiate sound equally from both the front and the rear, they usually sound best when positioned well out into the room away from the walls. Making matters worse, electrostats need a source of power to keep their panels charged, and they require large, heavy transformers for the audio signal. Although this might sound prohibitive for creating an elegant, sleek design that can hang next to a flat-panel TV, a Dutch company called Final Sound has worked to solve the electrostatic speakers’ ergonomic issues in a number of clever ways.
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| Final Sound’s electrostatic speakers can be wall-mounted thanks to a separate power supply. |
Final Sound makes three panel sizes: Model 90 measures roughly 8 by 20 inches; Model 100, about 8 by 28 inches; and the largest version, Model 200, about 8 by 48 inches. The latter is intended primarily for systems with a projector. Each panel is less than 2 inches deep, and because the panels don’t house all of the associated electronics, they weigh only a few pounds each. Rounding out the
system is a dedicated center-channel speaker, Model 200 Center, and a powered subwoofer, Model S200. With their satiny silver finish and see-through panels, these speakers have a decidedly high-tech look that complements most plasma screens perfectly.
Monster Cable Products Inc.
If recent product introductions are anything to go by, Monster Cable of San Francisco will soon have to change its company name to Monster Not Just Cable. Continuing its expansion into new areas, Monster Cable has introduced an entire range of products called M Design, created to bring a new level of harmony, style and integration to home entertainment systems. With an array of solutions designed to fit into many different types of home design, the M Design range is based on the company’s three basic product lines: Eleganza, Centra and Cinerama.
The Italian-influenced Eleganza cabinetry line uses hardwood veneers and solid wood to hide the components behind doors. There are two basic speaker choices: a set of elegant tower speakers finished in fine high-gloss veneers, and the InvisiSound Frame 6000, which integrates the speakers into a frame that creates a surround for a flat-panel TV. Completing the system is the Action Couch, a sofa with built-in subharmonic drivers that bring deep bass to a visceral level.
The Centra line uses smoked glass and high-gloss black and aluminum accents to create its own individual style and can be ordered with tower-type speakers or the InvisiSound Frame 3000. It also boasts its own leather-covered Action Couch.
The Cinerama line doesn’t include speakers, but consists of a range of open equipment housing solutions with integrated Monster power-line conditioners.
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| MartinLogan’s Fresco, shown with the Grotto sub, is made with ATF technology. |
The industry standard for electrostatic speaker manufacturing is probably Kansas-based MartinLogan. The company has recently introduced a new push-pull permanent magnet driver technology called ATF for its new Fresco model. Fresco has been designed for either horizontal or vertical wall mounting and can be used for the main, center or surround channels. With its modern, sculptured industrial design and its wide variety of available finishes, the Fresco model has the style to match most plasma TV screens.
To complete the sound system, MartinLogan offers its Grotto subwoofer.
Vienna Acoustics
You might expect a speaker company hailing from a music capital like Vienna to draw inspiration from history’s great classical composers; and thus you’d be right to think this about Vienna Acoustics, with its product names like Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. When creating its stunningly sculptural aluminum-bodied Schönberg series, Vienna Acoustics chose to name the different models after the composers of the Second Viennese School: Schönberg, Berg and Webern. The smaller Berg and Webern models are tailored specifically for use up against a wall, and can be supplied with wall-mounting brackets or a tabletop stand. The various models can be combined in different ways to create a complete surround-sound package. A typical system might include a pair of Weberns flanking the plasma, with three Bergs handling the center and surround duties, supplemented by the Subson subwoofer.
Paradigm Electronics Inc.
For years, Pardigm's Monitor Series speakers have been widely regarded as some of the best overall values in all of audio. Now, the Canadian company has created special low-profile versions of several of its Monitor Series models specifically engineered for on-wall use. Mounting any speaker right up against a wall will emphasize the response in the lower frequencies, and unless the speaker has been specifically tuned for boundary use, it will usually sound somewhat thick and congested with this type of placement. While the OW versions of Paradigm’s Monitor Series may lack the super-sleek styling of some of the other offerings in this list, they are tuned for on-wall placement and definitely lead the way in the price-for-performance contest. See Brent Butterworth’s review of these speakers in this issue.
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| Pinnacle’s Quantum Plasma models 5 and 3 are five- and three-driver systems, respectively. |
New York–based Pinnacle has introduced the Quantum Plasma 3 and Quantum Plasma 5, and, as their names suggest, they are three- and five-driver models, respectively, designed specifically for use with plasma TVs. Housed in long, slim aluminum enclosures, each model comes with both black and silver grilles, plus brackets for vertical or horizontal wall mounting. Pinnacle also makes a wide range of subwoofers, including the tiny SubSonic and Baby Boomer models.
ENDING NOTES: With such a wide array of different styles available, those angry decorators and spouses are sure to reconsider their protests. There’s no longer any reason why you can’t have a great picture and great sound without making the living room look like a recording studio.
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