Boston Acoustics Adds Reflection Series

Launches New Co-Promotion With Denon

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 11/3/2009

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Peabody, Mass. - Boston Acoustics replaced the middle series in its three-series component-speaker selection, shipping a six-SKU Reflection series designed to complement flat-panel displays and to bring select flagship-series technologies to lower price points.

The RS 334 floor-standing speaker at $699 (street price) each tops out the Reflection series of component speakers with rounded edges and scratch-resistant piano-black finish.The company also launched a co-promotion with sister brand Denon, offering consumers up to 25 percent off a combined purchase of any six Boston Acoustics speakers and select Denon electronics.

With Reflection's launch, Boston Acoustics turned over all three of its component-speaker series over an 18-month period, said Joe Stinziano, sales and marketing senior VP.

The new series features piano-black finish, rounded edges and shallow magnetic grilles, and it includes a 23.38-inch by 5.94-inch by 5.94-inch LCR said to be the thinnest-ever LCR produced by the brand. Reflection replaces the broader Horizon series of molded-cabinet speakers with backward-curving front baffles and grilles available in optional colors. Reflection delivers higher performance compared to Horizon, and it adopts a less radical cosmetic design that nonetheless differentiates the series from square rectangular black boxes, Stinziano said.

The series consists of a subwoofer and five two-way speakers, all with 1-inch tweeter. They include the RS 230 compact speaker with 3.5-inch woofer at $249 street price each, the RS 260 bookshelf speaker with 6.5-inch woofer at $399 each, RS 244C center channel with four 4-inch woofers at $499, and the $399-each RS 223 compact LCR with dual 3.5-inch woofers. It's the brand's thinnest LCR. The series also includes the RS 334 floorstanding speaker with four 4-inch woofers at $699 each and the RPS1000 10-inch 500-watt (1000-watt peak) powered subwoofer at $899.

The two-way speakers' smooth baffles and magnet-mount shallow grilles, which lack mounting pins, "nearly eliminate acoustic diffraction," and tightly spaced driver placement delivers "near-point-source sonic coherence," the company said of the speakers.

From the flagship six-SKU VS series priced at $399 to $1,699 each, Reflection borrows extended wide bandwidth tweeters to deliver stabilized linear motion, lower distortion, improved dispersion and power handling, and improved clarity via rear chamber venting and a central diaphragm termination, which creates a dimple in the middle of the tweeter, the company said.

The series also borrows the VS series' Deep Channel woofer design but use cones made from a composite of fiber and ceramic materials impregnated in a proprietary copolymer material. The combination delivers high-output bass along with smooth response over their operating range, in turn delivering midrange subtleties and detail with minimal distortion, the company said.

The Reflection and VS series are targeted to A/V specialists. The value-oriented Classic series is an open line.

Reflection speakers are eligible for the Boston Acoustic-Denon co-promotion in which any six Boston Acoustics speakers can be purchased with a Denon A/V receiver priced up to $2,000 to get a suggested savings of 20 percent. When a Denon Blu-ray player priced up to $2,000 is included, the savings goes to 25 percent. Boston Acoustics offsets the price reduction for dealers that provide proof of performance, the company said.

The promotion ends Jan. 16, 2010.

Denon and Boston Acoustics are owned by D&M Holdings.