Soundmatters Showcases New SLIMStage Home Theater Speakers for Flat Panel HDTVs.
By Chris Boylan
It remains a mystery to me why many consumers are happy to plunk down $1500, $2500 or more on a new flat panel HDTV and yet balk at spending even half that for the speaker system. Got the big picture, but where's the BIG SOUND?
Soundmatters is hoping to bring better sound to more people by providing integrated one box surround sound systems, optimized both in style and audio performance for flat panel TVs.
At the CEDIA Expo in Denver earlier this month, soundmatters unveiled new models in their SLIMstage™ line, the SLIMstage30 ($699) and SLIMstage50 ($1099) join the previously announced model SLIMstage40 ($899), which is slated to ship next month. The numeric designation suggests which size screen they'd best match (e.g, SLIMstage30 for 30+ inch screens, 40 for 40+ inch screens, etc.). Shipping dates for the new models have not yet been announced.
Soundmatters now offers SLIMstage models to suit flat panels TVs up to 50 inches and larger.
So how do they do surround sound with just one slim speaker module? Very cleverly. In addition to discrete speakers for the front left, right and center speakers, the SLIMstage units feature built-in surround sound decoders (Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic and DTS) as well as amplification for all 5 channels. The SLIMstage40 includes 170 total watts of amplification from eight internal digital amplifiers.
The surround channels are electronically simulated using their proprietary Euphony™HD - sophisticated audio processing built on psychoacoustic modeling (I knew a girl like that once). Because the amplification and surround decoding is built-in, you only need to connect the audio jacks of your flat panel TV, DVD player and/or set-top box to the unit, either via digital S/PDIF connections or analog RCA jacks, and the SLIMstage module does the rest.
Like a subwoofer, only smaller.
Like a basketball, only bigger, and well... nothing like a basketball.
For bass response, the 40-inch model is rated to go all the way down to a respectable 53 Hz, so you better make sure you've found the studs when you mount this puppy on the wall! But if that's just not deep enough for you, soundmatters also recently announced two diminutive new powered subwoofers that pack a big punch in a small package. Either model can be used with other satellite speakers, but response is optimized to complement the SLIMstage models.
The SUBstage™200 Stealth ($399, November, pictured above), measures in at just 4.05" x 16.7" x 8" yet it extends all the way down to 32 Hz. It can be hidden under a couch or even wall-mounted via an optional wall-mount kit. Meanwhile, the SUBstage 250 Cube ($449, November, pictured at right) measures just 10.4" x 10.1" x 9.6" yet it extends even deeper than the SUBstage 200, down just 3 db at 30 Hz.
More information is available at
www.soundmatters.com.
