Home theater fans will tell you there’s no substitute for a high-quality home theater system that’s been carefully installed and tuned to a particular room. But everyday humans will often tell you that acquiring, installing, and tuning a home theater audio system is better left to another species entirely.
That’s where products like soundmatters‘ SLIMstage40 hope to get a foothold in the home theater market, offering high-quality home theater audio without requiring complicated installation or a degree in funny-colored wires and cryptic interfaces to install. The SLIMstage40 is an all-in-surround bare designed to fit neatly beneath a flat-screen TV and offer 5.1 surround sound experience. Measuring just 3.3-inches tall, the SLIMstage40 offers 170 watts of amplification from eight internal amps: they power four main speakers and nine bass drivers, including three down-firing subs with six mass radiators. Folks who want more bass can attach an optional subwoofer.
The SLIMstage technology uses a virtual surround sound technique developed by former MASA engineer (and soundmatters founder) Dr. Godehard Guenther to simulate a 5.1-channel sound stage with a clear center channel. The system sports three digital audio inputs (two optical, one coaxial), three analog inputs) two in back plus a front-mounted input for iPods and the like), an RS-232 port, and a backlit LED display for easy configuration from across the room with the included remote.
The SLIMstage40 is available now for $899, and for $1,199 they’ll throw in a SUBstage100 subwoofer.
