Speakers

Balancing the desire for good home theater against the free standing speakers count in the family can be difficult. My better half is very understanding when it comes to this issue, but even I opted for angled in-ceiling for positions 6/7 to reduce clutter in my new (well technically different ) house that wasn't setup for proper home theater use.

Oddly enough reviews are scarce for stealth speakers (maybe because you have to make holes to test them) so being able to buy on brand is more important here than in other, better vetted, areas. So it is great that Atlantic Technology is continuing to advance their lineup of in-ceiling speakers with five new models including one with a 15° angled woofer and independently angled woofer (up to 30°) for more control directing audio toward the "sweet-spot" in the room.

PR after the click.

I love big speakers. I love the way they look. I love the way they sound. I have never owned big speakers. The closest I ever got was in college when I had a pair '70s-chic Pioneer bookshelf speakers. Instead, my desire for large speakers has been tempered by limited living room space, the strictures of child-rearing, and the bane of a clutter-hating wife. I missed THX's announcement during CES that they now have a Compact Speaker System certification program that should appeal to those, who like me, have found that they have had to sacrifice speaker girth in the process of building their home theaters. There are actually a number of companies such as Atlantic Technology and Mirage that have done a fine job of catering to the high-end compact speaker market without a THX certification logo to throw on their speakers, but that THX has finally developed a certification program for this particular class of speakers does speak to how popular, and how good, compact speaker systems have become over that last several years.

[ED:  Tech of the Hub's below quote is incorrect; it should be 1,000 cubic feet.  Good catch, richard1980.]

THX has introduced a new small speaker certification to help the consumer pick out speakers that not only sound great but also will work well with speakers from different manufacturers. Designed for rooms 1,000 square feet and under, the certification includes a battery of tests to ensure there is low distortion at higher volumes and flat frequency response so you can properly hear dialog.

Tech of the Hub

There was a time when I wouldn't have given a speaker bar a second look, but I know the quality of these speakers has improved over time and there are times and places where full surround sound speaker sets just do not work out. Samsung has a package that they would like to pitch for those times and places with the HW-D550. It packs both a speaker bar and a wireless subwoofer to help round out the sound. Unfortunately, it looks like Samsung is using some funny math to reach their specs on this kit, particularly the subwoofer. I know that these kind of devices are not aimed at the most tech and spec literate markets, but it is always unfortunate to see a manufacturer allow the marketing department to fiddle with the numbers on what might otherwise be a solid product. 

The HW-D550 is billed as a "compact speaker solution", but it comes in a box that is about as long as a TV; but only about 33% as tall.  I was very curious as to why, then when I opened it up, I realized they needed a long box to hold and protect the sound bar style speaker and some size to fit in the sub-woofer. 

BCCHardware

I have to be honest, I'm not sure how many high end customers are really demanding for their speakers to be wireless. If you are in that group and have $1200 dedicated to a subwoofer, then here is some good news.

{joomsay link=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-10358333-47.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave [C|Net]}The subwoofer is a round design, a mere 7.7 inches thick, and yet it still manages to go deep into the bass. When it's vertically oriented, it stands 15.4 inches tall, or if you prefer, it can be horizontally oriented. The subwoofer sports front- and rear-mounted 10-inch woofers. However, only the front woofer is powered by the 250-watt onboard digital amplifier; the rear woofer produces bass passively, motivated by the internal air pressure created by the movement of the front woofer. I think it's one of the coolest-looking subwoofers around.{/joomsay}