Sonance Updates Architectural Speakers

San Clemente, Calif. — Sonance revamped its mainstream Symphony custom-speaker series, unveiled its first two THX-certified cabinet speakers, and replaced its series of THX Select-certified custom speakers.

In its Symphony two-way speaker series, the company included pivoting woofers in ceiling models for the first time, provided greater range of motion in the aimable tweeters, reduced the number of screws needed for installation to four from six, and offered new optional back boxes that can be installed after wallboard goes up.

Symphony offers the same sizes and price points as before but adds the top-end $1,000/pair price point, surpassing the previous line's top-end $850/pair.

The 13-SKU Symphony series, due in December, consists of five rectangular in-wall models and eight round in-ceiling models. Two of the round models are stereo-input models for single-speaker applications. A third round model is designed to create a diffuse soundfield for surround applications. It also features a pivoting woofer/tweeter combination to direct audio to listeners.

Five of the ceiling speakers are priced from a suggested $260 to $1,000 per pair. The stereo-input ceiling models are priced at $225 and $325 each. The wide-dispersion ceiling model retails for $525 per pair. The in-wall models are priced from $260 to$1,000 per pair.

In replacing the Cinema .5 series of THX Select architectural speakers with the Cinema Select series, Sonance is offering two THX Select-certified models. The in-wall LCR retails for a suggested $425 each. The $850/pair surrounds features a wide-dispersion monopole design using two tweeters and one woofer.

In expanding its cabinet-speaker selection, the company added its first THX Select and THX Ultra2 full-range cabinet speakers, complementing a THX Select powered subwoofer. The two models are voiced to match select in-wall stereo and home theater speakers.

The THX-certified Cinema Ultra2, like its in-wall counterparts, features rotating midrange/tweeter array for horizontal or vertical placement. It retails for $1,000 each. The Cinema Select LCR retails for a suggested $475 each. Both feature tweeter-level and boundary-compensation controls.

The first cabinet speaker voiced for the Symphony architectural speaker series retails for a suggested $425 each.

All three cabinet speakers ship in December.

In another product development, the company finally shipped its first distributed-audio receiver, the $2,500-suggested four-source, six-zone DAB-1 with 12x25-watt amplification. It works with any brand of IR-based in-wall keypad or touch screen and has been upgraded since its first showing at last year's CEDIA Expo. Improvements include paging and separate bass and treble for each zone, plus an improved power supply so that all channels are rated at 25 watts at 0.05% THD from 20Hz to 20kHz when driven simultaneously.