Sonance expanded its Visual Performance series and Cinema series at the CEDIA Expo, where it also showed a concept product that turns an iPod Touch into a permanent in-wall touchscreen that controls home systems.
To its Visual Performance series of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, the company added more than 30 SKUs to broaden the selection to more than 70 SKUs, all of which feature a low profile and a 0.2-inch-wide micro trim to make the speakers less visually obtrusive.
To its Cinema series of custom speakers, the company added its first in-ceiling models to complement in-wall models. All Cinema models feature the micro-trim grille design used in the Visual Performance series. The company also showed prototype Cinema-series in-wall subs that would deliver higher bass output with more bass extension than current models in the series.
Also at CEDIA, the company displayed an expanded Invisible series, which are completely invisible because they become part of the wall.
For installer feedback, the company demonstrated its Control Dock concept, which turns a Touch into an installed in-wall touchscreen to control home systems. It’s positioned as an option between $500 in-wall keypads and in-wall touchscreens priced from $1,000 to $7,000, CEO Ari Supran said. The Touch would run apps already developed by other custom-install companies, such as Crestron, to operate their systems via the Touch’s embedded Wi-Fi.
In Visual Performance speakers, the company launched eight two-way models with 4-inch woofers in round, square and rectangular variations, some of which are single-speaker-stereo models. They’ll ship in December at $300 to $900/pair. Thirteen two-way models with 6-inch woofers, also due in December, are priced from $350 to $1,400/pair. They include round, square and rectangular models as well as models for shallow-depth installs and models for shallow-depth installs in humid environments like saunas, showers and boats. Ten 8-inch three-way models at $1,300-$2,850/pair ship in April and include a single-speaker stereo model and two 70-volt speakers for commercial applications.
In its Cinema series of custom speakers, the company added its first three in-ceiling models, all three-way square models. Two are LCRs, and one is a surround. The LCRs are the $1,000-each LCR1S and $650-each LCR5S. The SUR1S surround is $1,000 each.
All three in-ceiling models feature coaxial tweeter/midrange drivers and dual 5.25-inch woofers in non-resonant enclosures made of 0.75-inch-thick MDF.
To prevent the LCRs’ grilles from protruding from the ceiling, Sonance installed drivers on both sides of an inverted-V baffle, with tweeter/midrange drivers facing viewers and woofers firing in the opposite direction toward the video display. The surround uses the same design to deliver diffuse surround channels.
All of the in-ceiling Cinema-series models are shipping.
The prototype subwoofers in the Cinema series are 10- and 12-inch in-wall models with integrated back boxes, requiring installation before drywall goes up. The former features 250-watt Class D amp, and the latter features 500-watt amp. The integrated enclosures are made of MDF. Pricing and ship dates hadn’t been set at the Expo.
In the Invisible series, three new models on display were launched earlier this year, bringing the Invisible selection to five SKUs. They are the $1,400/pair SA3, $1,000/pair SA1.5 and $1,000 in-wall SAW subwoofer.
Like their predecessors, the new models feature drivers covered by a primed, flat radiating surface that’s flush with the wall. Contractors mud over the existing models to make them disappear, but the new models improve on their predecessor’s acoustic performance by requiring contractors only to mud up to the panels and over a little, said Supran.
