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Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 03/17/2002
Tricked-out system
Atlantic Technology's System T90 includes six smartly crafted speakers: a pair each of T90 LR bookshelves and T90 SR surrounds, a T90 C center, and a T90 PBM sub. The satellites are all outfitted with a new 5.25-inch, titanium-coated, molded-graphite (TCMG) woofer. These laminated cones offer superior heat dissipation, which leads to improved power-handling capabilities. The T90 LRs and T90 C are both mated with a nifty 1-inch, silk-dome tweeter.
At first glance, the T90 C center speaker looks pretty standard, but closer inspection reveals a few novel traits. The speaker's bottom is outfitted with rubberized curved runners that fit into grooved slots on the supplied base, so it's easy to aim the T90 C directly at the main listeners. The continuously adjustable tweeter-level control lets the user customize his or her audio experience. Raise the tweeter level, and the sounds will appear closer; reduce it, and the soundstage will open up a bit; or leave it at the midpoint for the most neutral sound. This hefty speaker measures 16.5 by 7.4 by 8.8 inches.
The T90 SR surround speakers have a few tricks as well: their forward-firing 5.25-inch woofers are the very same TCMG drivers found on the other sats, but the side-mounted .75-inch polymer-dome tweeters are fluid-cooled and capped off with dispersion-enhancing acoustic lenses. Atlantic Technology's engineers combined the diffuse spatiality of a dipole surround speaker with the strong directionality of a conventional design. At 9.7 by 6.3 by 7.7 inches, these guys are fairly compact.
The full-sized sub measures 13.8 by 20.5 by 14.8 inches. Since the T90 PBM has a sealed, acoustic-suspension design, it can produce far cleaner and tighter bass than your average ported sub. This 42.75-pound bruiser has a front-mounted 12-inch woofer. Connectivity options are routine, except it has line-/speaker-level throughputs, jacks that allow you to daisy-chain an additional sub. A built-in 150-watt amplifier makes this baby go.
Black Ash (vinyl wrapped) is the only color scheme, but you can get the SR surrounds in white. The sats' sturdy binding posts accept banana, bare wire, or spades, and wall-mounting hardware is included. One cautionary note: As the sats are all somewhat inefficient, you'll need at least 75 watts per channel to play Pearl Harbor at satisfying levels. Continue reading
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