Sonance Cinema Ultra II LCR Manual

ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM

Idon’t watch movies. That may
sound odd in a magazine called
The Perfect Vision, but really, I
don’t. I listen to them. I play them
on my DVD player, but my atten-
tion is always drawn to the sound,
not the picture. A well-recorded-and-
mixed movie soundtrack pulls me
into the story and makes me feel like
I’m part of the action far more than
the picture. Think about it: Home-
theater sound is a three-dimensional
experience, and video is presented in
two dimensions. Obviously a picture
is important to follow the story, but
good sound tells a story, too. And the
story the Sonance Cinema Ultra II in-
wall loudspeaker system tells is well
worth listening to.
Sonance is synonymous with
high-quality in-wall loudspeakers
and has built its business on this
foundation. Its most recent speaker
offerings are the Cinema Ultra II
Series, designed to appeal to the seri-
ous home-theater enthusiast. They
are built to THX Ultra 2 specifica-
tions, an enhancement of the THX
Ultra spec that optimizes perform-
ance for 5.1-channel music sources,
as well as movies. The THX Ultra 2
spec designates a 7.1-channel speaker
system with left, center, right, two
surround, and two surround-back
speakers.
The Cinema Ultra II Series speak-
ers are available in two models: the
LCR model for left, center, and right
front-channels, and the SUR model
for the left and right surround and
left and right surround-back chan-
nels. The LCR model is a direct-radi-
ating speaker with one eight-inch
black aluminum-cone woofer, two
three-inch black aluminum cone
midrange drivers, and a single three-
quarter-inch silk-dome tweeter. The
SUR model has the same woofer with
two midrange drivers and two tweet-
ers positioned to project sound for-
ward and backward into the listening
area. The midranges and tweeters are
connected in-phase, making this a
bipole rather than the more common
dipole speaker. Also, the tweeters and
midranges on the LCR and SUR
models can be rotated ninety degrees
for horizontal wall-mounting.
Sonance and THX recommend
installing two LCR speakers for the
surround-back channels if your sys-
tem will primarily be used for multi-
channel music sources, or two SUR
speakers if your system will primari-
ly be used for movies. More about
this later.
The only way to effectively evalu-
ate an in-wall loudspeaker is to
install it in a wall—or, in this case,
seven speakers in multiple walls. I
wasn’t enthusiastic about cutting
seven holes in my living room walls
to evaluate speakers and then patch-
ing the walls when the review was
completed. So, I built seven portable
walls using the same construction as
a typical interior residential wall. I
used two-by-four studs, five-eighths-
inch drywall on both sides of the
walls, and R-13 insulation inside the
walls. The size of each wall was thir-
ty-two inches wide by forty-eight
inches tall. With a two-by-four base
attached to the bottom for stability
the LCR speakers were positioned at
the height recommended for the best
sound. I used a taller base for the sur-
round and surround-back channels
to raise them to recommended
height. The portable walls were
heavy and not very attractive, but
they were certainly functional and
also allowed flexibility in “room
placement.”
The Sonance in-wall speakers can
be installed during new construction
or retrofitted into an existing wall.
For new construction Sonance offers
an optional FlexBracket that serves
as a guide for the drywall installer to
reserve a location for the speaker.
Installation into an existing wall is
relatively simple, and can be done by
a homeowner, assuming that you
have interior walls made of drywall.
Walls made of lath and plaster may
require more work and a profession-
al contractor. A template is included
with the speakers to trace the hole to
be cut in the wall. After ensuring that
there are no pipes, wires, or other
blockages behind the wall, use a dry-
wall saw to cut a hole eighteen-and-
three-quarter inches tall and ten-and-
one-quarter inches wide (the Cinema
Ultra IIs are larger than most in-wall
speakers). A depth of three-and-fif-
teen-sixteenth inches (less the thick-
ness of the drywall, usually one-half
or five-eighths inches) within the wall
is required for installation. However,
AUDIO REVIEW ❘Gary Altunian
My first reaction was
that the Ultra IIs sounded
more like a well-tuned
floorstanding speaker
than an in-wall.
Sonance Cinema Ultra II
In-Wall Loudspeaker System
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the Cinema Ultra II speakers are
enclosed in an ABS (heavy-duty plas-
tic) enclosure that can be removed to
accommodate a wall that is not deep
enough. With the enclosure removed
the speakers require an in-wall-depth
of only three inches.
Attaching the speaker to the wall
is simple. The speakers use a
Rotolock clamp to secure the speak-
er to the wall. After attaching speak-
er wires to the dual-binding posts on
the back of the speaker, insert the
speaker into the hole, and tighten six
screws on the front of the speaker
enclosure, which automatically puts
the Rotolock clamp into position and
secures the speaker to the wall. The
Rotolock clamp holds the speaker
tightly to the wall and prevents
potential vibrations. After installa-
tion, the speaker grille is attached.
Incidentally, both speaker and grille
can be painted to match your interior
décor. If painted to match your walls,
the speakers would virtually disap-
pear. There is even a “paint plug”
included that covers the drivers to
protect them while applying paint to
the frame around the front of the
speaker.
While preparing to listen to the
Ultra IIs, I paid close attention to the
recommended placement of the
speakers. Sonance and THX recom-
mend that the surround speakers be
to the sides of your listening position,
and the surround-back speakers
behind the listener, either close
together or about three feet apart. If
your listening position is against the
rear wall, check to see if your A/V
receiver or processor/amplifier offers
the ability to electronically compen-
sate for your distance from each
speaker. Ideally, you want your lis-
tening position to be equidistant
from each speaker, but this is not
always possible.
After positioning the speakers I
was ready for a listening evaluation.
But first, I allowed each speaker to
pre-condition or “break-in” for sev-
eral hours, using a test disc that out-
puts beat frequencies. Since beat fre-
quencies are not the best test of the
capabilities of a loudspeaker, I tried
some two-channel and multichannel
music discs, too.
One would not expect an in-wall
speaker to sound as good as a speak-
er in a tuned enclosure. Speaker man-
ufacturers use the laws of physics to
design and construct a cabinet that
optimizes the characteristics of the
drivers. Most residential walls are
anything but well-tuned enclosures.
Nonetheless, my first reaction
was that the Ultra IIs sounded more
like a well-tuned floorstanding
speaker than an in-wall. Although
they benefited from a powered sub-
woofer for low bass, midbass
response was robust and full from
the eight-inch woofers. A cello is a
particularly good musical instrument
for midbass testing, and Eugene
Friesen’s cello performance in
“Remembering You” [Arms Around
You, Living Music] sounded full and
resonant, even without a subwoofer.
The Ultra IIs also displayed a notice-
able lack of tubbiness in the midbass.
Instead, they sounded tight and crisp.
Vocals were outstanding. Linda
Ronstadt’s rendition
of “What’s New”
from the DVD-
Audio disc What’s
New [Elektra] pro-
duced a transparent
vocal presence with-
out overpowering the
Nelson Riddle orches-
tra. Her voice was dis-
tinct, very articulate,
and lacked even a hint
of sibilance. Likewise
Anjani’s delicate ver-
sion of “Over You”
from Freddie Ravel’s
Sol to Soul [Kalimba
Records], a 20-bit DTS
multichannel CD. This
disc is very well recorded and
you can close your eyes and feel
like you’re right in the studio listen-
ing to Anjani’s performance. The
Cinema Ultra IIs also revealed all of
the subtle details in James Taylor’s
Hourglass SACD [Sony]. Imaging
was very focused and complemented
by a coherent soundstage. Visual
placement of instruments and vocal-
ists was effortless with both two-
channel and multichannel sources.
Equally impressive was the
soundtrack from Master and
Commander [Universal]. Music was
completely enveloping, adding to the
mystery and intrigue of the story.
There are many scenes filmed in the
ship’s hold where the creaking of the
ship and the stomping of boots from
the crew on deck overhead not only
surround you, but are also accurately
positioned overhead. I felt like I was
swaying on the couch in stormy seas.
Dialogue was clear and distinct. I
used this disc as a test partly because
the nineteenth-century accents in the
film sometimes make the words diffi-
cult to understand. Even dialogue
from modern-day films is often diffi-
cult to understand, but from the
Ultra IIs dialogue was intelligible,
clear, and distinct.
Additionally, the soundfield cre-
ated by the Ultra IIs enhanced
scenes from Seabiscuit
[Universal]. The
excitement and emo-
tion in this film is far
more powerful when
the picture is comple-
mented by a good
sound system. The
Sonance made the
experience better. Go
Biscuit, go!
Up to this point,
my opinions have
been based on using
two LCR speakers for
the surround-back
channels. As mentioned
earlier, Sonance and
THX recommend using
one or two LCRs for the
back-surround if your sys-
tem will be used primarily for music
sources and one or two model SUR
for movie sources. This review would
AUDIO REVIEW
I would highly recommend the Sonance Cinema
Ultra II speakers for a home-theater speaker system.
September/October 2004 ❘www.theperfectvision.com

not be complete if I hadn’t listen to
the same system with two SUR
speakers for the surround-back chan-
nels, so I swapped speakers and con-
tinued listening. The RotoLock
clamps are as easy to remove as they
are to install, which means servicing
will not be difficult.
I would be remiss if I didn’t
express my annoyance about choos-
ing between music and movies for a
speaker configuration. I enjoy listen-
ing to both, and in my opinion, so do
most consumers. It’s like asking me if
I want to eat my steak with a knife or
a fork. My answer is both! I under-
stand that the objective of different
speaker configurations is to duplicate
in the home the sound that the
movie’s sound designer or the music’s
recording engineer hears in a dub-
bing stage or studio, but I find it
unfortunate to have to choose.
However, after listening to both con-
figurations, I would recommend
using two SUR models for the sur-
round-back channels for both music
and movies. Although the LCR
model provides more pinpoint place-
ment of sounds in the rear channels,
the SUR model adds a more diffuse
quality to movie soundtracks and
was not distracting for multichannel
music.
It’s also important to mention
that the Cinema Ultra IIs are not just
for systems that incorporate THX
Ultra 2 processing. Although I prima-
rily used as a reference receiver the
Marantz SR-9300 with THX Ultra 2
processing, I also used a Yamaha RX-
V3300 A/V receiver without THX
processing with excellent results and
sound quality.
I would highly recommend the
Sonance Cinema Ultra II speakers for
a home-theater speaker system.
When installed correctly they sound
as good as many floorstanding enclo-
sures. And when permanently
installed in a wall they virtually dis-
appear. I think part of the secret to
their sound quality is the ABS enclo-
sure, which tends to take the “sound
of the wall” out of consideration.
Each speaker is housed in an enclo-
sure, designed to optimize the char-
acteristics of the drivers. Build quali-
ty is also excellent. If you’re consid-
ering in-wall speakers for movies and
music, they are a must-audition.
OK, now it’s time to remove the
portable walls and put my living
room back together again.
AUDIO REVIEW
SPECIFICATIONS
Cinema Ultra II LCR
Recommended amplifier power: 5–200 watts
Frequency response: 70Hz–20kHz ±3dB
Sensitivity: 90dB SPL
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Price: $950 each, sold separately
Cinema Ultra II SUR
Recommended amplifier power: 5–200 watts
Frequency response: 40Hz–20kHz ±3dB
Sensitivity: 90dB SPL
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Price: $1950 per pair, sold only in pairs
SONANCE
212 Avenida Fabricante
San Clemente, California 92672-7531
[phone]
[phone]
www.sonance.com
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
Excellent sound quality
Excellent build quality
Attractive cosmetics
Easy installation
Choosing between direct sound and
diffuse sound loudspeakers for
surround-back channels
Recommendation: Add a subwoofer for deep
bass in movies and music; Sonance offers
several subwoofers including in-wall and cabinet.