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 June 15, 2006 Soundmatters FULLstageHD Virtual Surround System
My home theater, such as it is, is set up in the same room as my stereo, and it’s separate, which means I have five additional speakers in the room (counting the center). I have to maneuver things around in order to position speakers and run wires across the room -- I just haven’t taken the time to run speaker wires along the baseboard to the rear speakers, or hire someone to run cables through the walls. If it sounds as if I’m ambivalent about home theater, I guess I am. But I really have found myself enjoying movies in 5.1 channels, as long as the soundtracks have been well mastered. If I had a spare room that I could turn into a separate movie space, I might give that idea more than a fleeting thought. But the truth is that I watch movies once a week, whereas I listen to music every day. That’s where my interest is, and it’s where my money goes. For those like me, San Francisco-based Soundmatters offers an affordable, simple solution that lets us enjoy home theater without displacing any of our precious audio equipment. In fact, Soundmatters offers a few choices to people who want home theater without having to fool with a lot of gear, or who want to add some oomph to their computer DVD or gaming systems. I look at two of the company’s products here: the MAINstageHD, an all-in-one virtual-surround theater console ($429 USD); and the SUBstage100, a matching subwoofer ($329). Soundmatters sells them together as a package, the FULLstageHD, for $758. The MAINstageHD is an upgrade of Soundmatters’ MAINstage, which is designed for smaller rooms. The newer product has more power (80W vs. 40W, as rated by the manufacturer), a better signal/noise ratio, and rear-channel outputs. It also adds a few user-friendly touches, such as two volume-control buttons (+ and -) and a source selector on the front panel, and a dialogue-enhancement button on the remote. The MAINstageHD offers a couple of advantages over most home-theater setups. First of all, it’s very simple to install. Anyone who’s struggled with the rear panel of a home-theater receiver will be pleased with how easy it is to get this product up and running. Second, the MAINstageHD is small (16.75"W x 2.6"H x 9.6"D) and light (4.9 pounds). You can place it somewhere inconspicuous, or you can use the unit’s tripod-style threaded insert to place it on a wall bracket. Although Soundmatters’ products are available through retail stores, they’re not widely distributed (the only dealer in Pennsylvania is a couple hours’ drive from me). Many consumers will probably end up buying directly from the company through its website, and they’ll be pleased that Soundmatters packs its merchandise snugly in dense foam and hefty cardboard boxes. Both the MAINstageHD and the SUBstage100 unpack easily and include quick setup instructions on a poster-sized sheet of paper. The MAINstageHD takes a few more steps to set up, but all the accessories are conveniently stored in a small cardboard box packed underneath the unit. Soundmatters claims that the MAINstageHD has impressive bass, so I wanted to evaluate it first without the subwoofer. The first step in setting it up is figuring out where to place it. Soundmatters suggests putting it above your television, or under it, on a stand. I positioned it atop my TV, with the back of the unit angled about an inch higher than the front so that the speakers fired at ear level. Three rubber-tipped plastic rods let you position and angle the MAINstageHD. They’re easy to adjust, and fit snugly into holes molded into the bottom of the chassis. The instruction sheet suggests different methods for connecting the MAINstageHD, depending on whether you want convenience or the "best possible sound from all sources." Soundmatters provides acceptable coaxial and digital optical cable for direct connection of a DVD player, along with a standard RCA cable for analog. It also gives you an RCA-to-1/8" input cable that lets you connect an iPod or computer to the analog inputs, and a 1/8"-to-1/8" cable that you can use to couple the iPod or computer directly to a 1/8" analog input. The latter choice lets you fine-tune the source sensitivity via a small potentiometer beside the analog inputs. All the cables are 2m long. Two oddities: The MAINstageHD can’t decode DTS recordings or SACDs. I decided to go for the "best possible sound" by connecting my DVD player directly to the coaxial and optical digital inputs on the back of the unit, and my VCR (yep, still have one) to the analog inputs. The standard-issue power cord also plugs into the rear of the chassis, which is easy to get to, particularly since the piece is light and easy to move around. Those 2m cables came in handy; it was a long reach from the components to where I’d positioned the MAINstageHD. The remote control fits comfortably in the hand, and the buttons are clearly labeled and big enough to see in the glow of a television monitor. The remote does not, however, turn the unit on; for that, there’s a rocker switch on the rear panel. The MAINstageHD switches to standby mode after one minute without analog sound input (immediately for digital), and turns on again when the sound resumes. According to the user’s manual, the only time you need to turn the MAINstageHD off is if you won’t be using it for a long period of time. I wanted to audition the MAINstageHD first with a DVD that I knew had a good surround mix. Episode III of the Star Wars series, Revenge of the Sith, is an impressive 5.1-channel experience, with plenty of things coming at you from all speakers during the action scenes -- the bulk of the movie, in other words. The MAINstageHD created an impressive three-dimensional soundfield that did, in fact, give the impression of sounds coming from different directions. The rear panel is curved and ported; I assumed that rear-channel information was being fired out of the rear of the unit, to be reflected off the front wall and into the room. A quick check with Soundmatters revealed that I was wrong. The unit contains just two main, front speakers (50mm x 70mm) and a subwoofer (4"). It uses a Zoran VMD processor to digitally time-delay the audio signals and send them to four class-D digital amplifiers. The company’s website says the speakers use a "patented Linear Magnetic Drive technology and ultra-powerful neodymium-sandwich magnets which allow them to go deeper, play louder and cleaner than otherwise possible." The surround experience with the MAINstageHD was, as described, virtual, and therefore an illusion. It was a pretty convincing illusion, however; the battle scenes in Revenge of the Sith had tremendous power and impact. I wondered if the MAINstageHD would improve the sound of badly mixed DVDs, so I popped a copy of Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper into my DVD player to hear if the surround sound was as bad as I’d said it was in my review for Home Theater & Sound. The MAINstageHD confirmed that, indeed, the 5.1 mix on that DVD is as bad as I’d thought. If anything, concentrating all the channels into one box, even one that creates as wide and deep a soundstage as the MAINstageHD, made for a more confusing listen. Was that crowd noise? Slapback from the hall? Switching the MAINstageHD to two-channel mode helped, but changing the audio setting on the DVD player to two-channel mode made for the most enjoyable listen.
A Tribute to Frank Zappa, a DVD of a 1994 concert by The Band from Utopia, a group of alumni of Frank Zappa bands, also has a poor 5.1 mix, and the MAINstageHD emphasized oddities I’d heard through my own setup. The vocals, in particular, seemed to skew to the left channel. On the other hand, the Pixies’ live DVD, The Pixies Sell Out: 2004 Reunion Tour, has an exceptionally good surround mix, and the MAINstageHD presented it cleanly and with a convincing sense of space. However, I doubt that I’d spend any length of time listening to CDs or other music sources through this device. I run the analog outputs of my Samsung universal player to my tube amp, and I found that instruments sounded more full-bodied and real that way than through the MAINstageHD. Even my standard setup, which uses inexpensive Pioneer speakers, conveys a better approximation of the resonance of drums and standup bass than did the MAINstageHD. Adding the SUBstage100 subwoofer to the MAINstageHD was a simple task. The MAINstageHD has a 1/8" subwoofer output, and the SUBstage100 uses an RCA input (Soundmatters provides a 5m stereo RCA-to-mini-jack cable). The subwoofer can be used with the MAINstage units or with other amplifiers and receivers, and its small size (16.7"W x 8"D x 4.05"H) makes it easy to place in an out-of-the-way spot. The MAINstageHD by itself had impressive bass for its size, but lacked the visceral rumble the home-theater experience demands. The SUBstage100 added that punch, and can be controlled through the MAINstageHD remote, which allows for more volume from the latter with less distortion. Soundmatters has done an impressive job with these products. The combination of the MAINstageHD and the SUBstage100 will provide most people with a satisfying home-theater experience at an affordable price. The MAINstageHD by itself gives solid bang for the buck and will satisfy the casual movie fan. The more serious movie viewer who has limited space will want to go for the FULLstageHD. …Joseph Taylor Soundmatters FULLstageHD Soundmatters International E-mail: support@soundmatters.com
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For a long time, I
didn’t give much thought to multichannel home theater. One of my friends has a very
impressive home theater, and I like watching movies at his house -- it’s better than
going to the multiplex. Still, for me, serious entertainment means music, and music means
two-channel stereo. (I think my dad felt the same way about mono when stereo came along.)
Despite that mindset, I’ve ended up with a basic multichannel setup, mainly because I
wanted to be able to review multichannel SACDs and DVDs for SoundStage! and Home
Theater & Sound.
