Sound Off

How they sound

When I first hooked the DigiTheatre system up and had a listen, I didn't notice much. These speakers didn't cause me to contemplate how incomplete my life had been until I heard such mellifluous sounds, nor did they make me jump up and check for any mis-wiring.

Multimedia speakers have come a long way. These days no manufacturer can get away with releasing a non-competitive product. The bass response was strong, although it became a bit muddy at high volumes. To be fair, these speakers are endowed with a modest amplifier not really intended to make enemies among your neighbors. Nobody should be listening to speakers at maximum volumes anyway (unless you're soso).

I found the satellites to have pretty good imaging, not the type of imaging that made the speakers disappear, but good enough to generate a uniform sound field. One reason for this is rotating tweeter on the satellite. I like direct sound better than reflected sound, so I aimed the tweeters at my seating position. A nicer touch would have been to offer these same satellites for the rear channels, instead of having a single driver in the rear. Today most surround channel data isn't full range, but many new movies are using creative mixing techniques that do treat the rear channels to a full range signal.

Vocal tracks were clear and open, competitive with the Cambridge systems, but without the transparency of the more expensive VideoLogic Siroccos. The Klipsch Promedias are a little brighter than the DigiTheatres and have a little more kick with the subwoofer. I found it rather difficult to individually characterize the sound of the DigiTheatres as everything seemed to work well together. This synergy really came together when I switched from standard music listening to full-fledged Dolby Digital.

I was impressed with the shear amount of volume that could be coaxed from the system given the modest power ratings. I could get the music blasting to the point where I was afraid I was going to receive my neighbor's wrath, without incurring too much distortion or other signs of audible distress. The DigiTheatres aren't as loud as the Klipsch speakers, but they are loud enough for most medium sized rooms.

Almost…

One major complaint that I have with the DigiTheatre system is the presence of an additional volume control on the subwoofer. The maximum volume, as dictated by the DigiTheatre Decoder and remote was limited by the volume control on the subwoofer. While this may be good in limiting the volume of the system to protect young ears, the mature listener will have to lower the signal to noise ratios at low volumes to get the full volume range.

With the subwoofer volume set to the maximum level, I noticed an audible "hiss" emanating from the satellites. This hiss could be covered up by your computer fans, but it can be noticeable in a quiet room. Since the hiss is part of the subwoofer amplifier, it does not increase in intensity as the volume is increased on the remote. The DigiTheatre Decoder basically controls the line level input into the subwoofer amplifier.

For most people, this is not going to be a big problem since we listen to most things at around the same volume the majority of the time. In the few circumstances when we need additional power, it isn't going to be too troublesome to reach for the volume control .

Besides this minor flaw, the DigiTheatre accomplishes everything it intends to do. It's a great sounding Dolby Digital multimedia system. DTS decoding might have also been nice to have, but no other multimedia speakers are currently offering this option either.