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Product summary
The good: Innovative design; excellent sound quality.
The bad: Could be more stylish; vinyl veneers instead of real wood.
The bottom line: With spectacular soundstaging and a sub that belts out refined bass, this is an excellent package for midsized rooms.
Specifications: Type of speaker: home theater speaker system ; Color: Black ; Amplification type: Active subwoofer, passive satellites ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- 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.
Getting surrounded
The System T90 conjured up new epiphanies from familiar DVDs such as The Thin Red Line. We immediately heard a continuous sound field that extended the front soundstage out into the room. The T90's portrayal of the low-level ambiance cues in the jungle scenes made the experience more real. Yes, the T90 can get plenty loud, and wham-bam home-theater dynamic impact was very good. Dialogue was nicely balanced, clear, and natural. The sub's definition was fantastically tight and airy--it totally avoids the boomy murk of lesser designs. It's so clean that the PBM sub might seem too lightweight for some buyers. But it easily produced powerful deep bass down to the mid-30Hz range in our large room.
While the System T90 is dialed in for home theater, it felt a bit lean once we sampled a few CDs. To correct this problem, we nudged the subwoofer level up a tad, which made all the difference. Michael Amopol's staccato bass solo on Patricia Barber's "Postmodern Blues" really popped--the System T90 is a great communicator of nuance and emotion. The sound is laid-back, and the overall balance is sweet and gentle.
In the end, the $1,700 System T90's stunning combination of serious home-theater chops and unfailing musicality won us over. For those looking for a less-expensive package, Atlantic Technology's is quite similar but carries a suggested list price of $1,100.
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