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There was a time when installing a home cinema system meant encircling your armchair with a ring of wooden cabinets, but with the move to flat TVs, much more discrete 5.1 systems have become the norm. These one-stop speaker solutions incorporate five satellite monitors that can be free standing or fixed to a wall and a subwoofer to handle the bass frequencies. We tried out four such systems that can deliver real home cinema thrills without clogging up your front room.
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Audio Pro Allroom
Audio Pro has taken a traditional speaker design, miniaturised it and given it some Swedish style with a range of colourful finishes. The five Allroom satellites are identical and well carpentered from glued MDF panels and given a lustrous lacquer coating available in a wide range of colours. Thoughtfully, a pair of white groves is included in the box, so you won't spoil it with grubby fingerprints.
The cabinets seem well carpentered and the eight layers of hand-applied lacquer make for a terrific finish. With the same speaker design handling all five channels, the voice matching all the way around is spot-on, but with most movie soundtracks piling the emphasis onto the centre channel to deliver dialogue as well as central special effects, it can sound strained.
Audio Pro has pedigree when it comes to subwoofers as it invented the ACE-bass amplier in the seventies and the Shiny Allroom subwoofer is similarly impressive. The downward firing port and front firing woofer design provides a punchy low end for this system.
In stereo mode first, the Allrooms deliver capability beyond their stature, reaching the highs without sibilance or fizz and the lows (provided you have programmed your amplifier to bring in the sub in stereo mode) equally well. As a team, the five speakers and sub handle movies well, but struggle when you turn up the volume. These speakers best suit a small room and a modest cinema set-up to make them sing.
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Plus points
Attractive and beautifully finished compact cabinets
Minus points
The subtle sound is limited to moderate volume levels |  |
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Boston Acoustics MCS 130
Boston Acoustics has put together the most flexible 5.1 speaker package in this group with five bookshelf or wall-mountable satellite speakers and a subwoofer that could double as a footstool.
The odd shape of the speakers and sub helps eliminate the build-up of standing waves inside the cabinets and it also gives them a distinctive look. The wonderfully tactile rubberized finish adds to their appeal and you can even buy different coloured grills to personalise them, although they are rather expensive.
The front three speakers have three drive units each and can lie horizontally or vertically on their built-in stands. They also have keyholes at the back for wall mounting. The two smaller rear speakers can hang on the wall too. The angular subwoofer uses a potent 100-watt amplifier and ten-inch driver to deliver a punchy and well extended bass channel.
There's plenty of power and poise between the front three speakers too. Crisp treble and a snappy bass characterise the tone, which suits action movie soundtracks particularly well. If you pump up the volume too much though, it quickly becomes tiring and with music, I'd have welcomed a little less edge and rather more warmth.
With their interchangeable grilles and range of installation possibilities, this system would sit happily in most home cinema situations, although it has to be said it's not the most musical in this group.
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Plus points
A highly flexible package with forward sound that suits movies
Minus points
Brash with music and edgy at full volume | |
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