Soundmatters Releases SLIMstage40 5.1 Surround Bar Speaker Unit For Flat Screen TVs

For those of you looking for the surround sound experience without having to litter your room with obtrusive satellite speaker units, Soundmatters’s new, ultra-slim SLIMstage40, which is billed as being ‘the industry’s first high-performance, low-profile all-one-surround speaker/amplifier/processor console’ may be the answer as its been designed to compliment flat screen TV units whilst offering 5.1 surround sound in a single package measuring in at a tidy 3.3” x 3.4” x 39”.

Sporting no less than eight D-class amplifiers offering a combined output of 170W, the SLIMstage40 has been designed to be mounted directly under your plasma or LCD TV and, apart from producing what Soundmatters’ press release boasts is ‘convincing, detailed surround sound from both stereo and 5.1 signals’ the SLIMstage40 manages to achieve this without relying on reflecting sound off walls (unlike many single surround solutions) thanks to ‘patented surround and speaker technologies that don’t rely on walls or subwoofers to produce a pinpoint surround-sound image’.

Consisting of four Linear Magnetic Drive main/satellite speakers housed within the main unit paired with nine bass drivers (including three downward facing Extreme-Energy subwoofers) the SLIMstage40 utilises EuphonyHD technology to deliver both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 channel sound from even 2 channel signals and, apart from sporting three digital audio inputs (2x optical, 1x coax) the unit also comes with three analog inputs – one of which is mounted on the front of the unit to allow your iPod (or other MP3 player) to be connected to the SLIMstage40 with ease – as well as an RS-232 port and, naturally, its own IR remote.

Soundmatters SLIMstage40 Key Features:

• Projects convincing, detailed surround sound from both analog and digital 5.1 signals - no rear speakers or a/v receiver required
• Three models to complement any width large-screen flat-panel or rear projection TV
• Elegant super-slim design - only 3.5″H x 3.7″D
• Mount on wall or on a shelf
• Deep bass response from multiple Extreme-Energy active/passive bass arrays
• Patented, single-plane Linear Magnetic Drive speaker array with discrete L+R rear channel drivers
• High efficiency and realistic theater-level output levels from multiple internal class-D power amplifiers
• State-of-the-art EuphonyHD “pinpoint” 5.1 surround processing by DiMAGIC - no reflecting walls required
• Decoding: Dolby Digital Surround and DTS Digital Surround
• 3 digital and 3 analog inputs
• Virtual surround headphone output
• Outputs for external subwoofer and rear channels
• Front panel controls and display
• User-friendly remote controls bass, surround depth, EQ presets (including night and dialog boost)
• RS232 serial control interface
• Piano Black finish with wrap-around grille

Soundmatters’s SLIMstage40 has just been made available and retails at just shy of $900 (or $1200 when bundled with the optional SUBstage100 subwoofer).

Soundmatters