Snell Acoustics Announces Five All-New Models In Impressive Debut
With its twenty-third year Snell Acoustics announces its most extensive new product introductions to date. The Massachusetts firm, known among audiophiles worldwide for the quality of its rigorously designed and meticulously hand-crafted loudspeakers, has unveiled a pair of high-performance, floor-standing active-woofer systems, a tonally matched center channel speaker, and a surround channel design that uniquely resolves multichannel sound's diffuse-field/direct-field dilemma. Snellís parade of new products concludes with an all-new high-end ""build-in,"" intended for L-C-R use in very high-performance custom home theatres. Snellís two new ""power-towers,"" the XA 90ps and XA 75ps, were, according to the company, conceived and designed specifically for the arriving age of high-end multichannel music and film sound, but nevertheless retain the refined, audiophile-grade sonics necessary for serious two-channel listening. ""Thereís no debating that multichannel sound lies in the future for even the most dedicated music listeners,"" says Dave Smith, Snellís President and lead designer. ""So while engineering the new XAs we were conscious from day one of the need to balance these requirements with the absolute necessity for industry-standard sound by the criteria of more conventional ëaudiophileí auditioning. These new models result from nearly three yearsí basic research into loudspeaker directivity and room interaction under both multichannel and two-channel conditions. As a result, we believe that we have succeeded as none before us in solving the two-channel/multichannel dilemma."" Snellís new active-woofer tower systems, the seven-driver XA 90ps and five-driver XA 75ps, both incorporate powerful subwoofer sections with high-power on-board amplification. The timbre-matched, passive center-channel model XA 55cr shares their core technical features and components, while a new surround channel model, the SR 30mp, introduces a surround solution all its own. Snell is concurrently bowing a new ""installable"" L-C-R speaker, the XA 1900c, evolved from its THXÆ designs but incorporating the new XA technologies. This is specifically engineered for custom-home theatre designs requiring built-in or semi-enclosed installation. Like every Snell before them, the new XA towers, center, and surround speakers are all hand-assembled, with individually hand-calibrated driver and crossover components to deliver performance to within 0.5 dB of each modelís reference standard. Snell XA 90ps: The new Snell XA seriesí key innovation is the ""Expanding Array"" concept, an outgrowth of designer Smithís long-standing study of acoustical arrays. In the flagship Snell XA 90ps, two 6.5-inch lower-midranges units vertically flank dual 2.5-inch midrange drivers, with a one-inch aluminum-dome tweeter at the overall center. The resultant five-driver Expanding Array (""XA""), says Smith, effectively controls vertical directivity as low as 100 Hz - without the excessive ""lobbing"" response common to other controlled-directivity designs - and thus avoids their compromises in power-response smoothness. Like numerous earlier Snells the XA 90ps also incorporates a rear-firing tweeter that is said to further improves upper-octaves power response. ""By managing vertical directivity without suffering deleterious lobbing,"" says Smith, ""the XA 90ps combines extraordinary clarity and precision with the depth, transparency, and timbre detail serious listeners expect from truly audiophile-grade two-channel playback."" The XA 90psí active subwoofer section employs dual-l0-inch drivers and a dedicated, 300-watt amplifier that the company says produces virtually unrestricted bass output and extension, in virtually any room. Room-matching and subwoofer controls include continuously variable Bass-Level control; a fully independent, line-level input for LFE-channel signal with discrete level control; and a fully parametric subwoofer EQ section. The last item delivers +/- 10 dB level adjustment, with 30-100 Hz tuning and widely adjustable ""Q"" (equalization bandwidth). Further XA 90ps acoustics-matching options reflect Snellís long-standing concern for real-world room interactions. Rear-panel switches adjust crossover characteristics according to placement (NORMAL/BOUNDARY), select subwoofer roll-off shape between REFERENCE and CINEMA, and defeat the rear tweeter for over-bright rooms or locations unavoidably close to a wall. Equally unusual is the XA 90psí supplied, wireless remote controller, which permits adjustment of subwoofer levels - from the listening position-by +/-6 dB, and selection of REFERENCE/CINEMA bass shapes and of treble level. The XA 90ps is fully bi-wire/bi-ampable, and employs best-available components and wiring throughout. Snell's new XA active tower features the firmís fine-furniture exterior finish, with hand-selected, matched real-wood veneers. The XA 90ps is available in hand-sanded, black painted-grain oak or hand-rubbed cherry, with black accents, and, employs Snell's frameless, acoustically transparent perforated-steel grille. (54.5-inch H x 11-inch W x 19.5-inch D) XA 75ps: The Snell XA 75ps is conceptually identical to the XA 90ps and shares its components, differing only in their number and arrangement. The XA 75psí employs the same, three-element inner Expanding Array driver set (one-inch aluminum-dome tweeter with dual 2.5-inch midranges in vertical array) for non-lobbing controlled directivity to 400 Hz. A single 6.5-inch lower-midrange extends response to the single 10-inch subwoofer, which utilizes a 200-watt internal power amplifier. These changes, says the company, create a smaller cabinet at little sacrifice in terms of performance or bass extension. The smaller XA 75psí controls are identical to its larger sibling, including the independent and adjustable LFE input, save for the omission of the parametric Subwoofer EQ, and of wireless remote control for its crossover adjustment controls. Instead, treble-level and bass-shape controls are delivered via rear-panel switching. Like the larger tower, the XA 75ps is available in black painted oak, or natural cherry wood veneers, with perforated-steel grilles. (46-inch H x 11-inch W x 19.5-inch D) Snell XA 55cr: The XA 55cr is a tonally matched center channel design that combines with either new XA tower to produce what the company says is a seamlessly coherent ""front-stage"" array for home theatre and multichannel music playback. It employs the same vertically oriented, three-driver Expanding Array as the XA 75ps, in a passive configuration with dual 6.5-inch woofers. Smith says, ""this geometry preserves the important directivity control of the tower, but in a format that ñ critically - avoids the significant horizontal lobbing and consequent off-axis íhonkí that are all but universal among conventional, horizontal-format center channel speakers. Equally important, the XA 55crís unusual bass extension (to 50 Hz) engenders naturally balanced male-voice reproduction and notable spatial solidity. The center model was carefully engineered to reproduce the full dynamic range of even the most demanding recordings - with power handling to 300 watts - because Snell understands that in film sound in particular the center channel is the most important, and most frequently stressed channel by far."" The XA 55cr, too, includes unique controls. A rear-panel switch with NORMAL and BOUNDARY positions compensates for the low-midrange/upper-bass reinforcement that must occur when a loudspeaker is located close to a large surface - such as the screen surface of a large-screen video display. ""This makes the Snell design,"" says Smith, ""virtually the only high-performance center channel model that can avoid the íchestyí vocal tones so often heard from other competing designs, including very high-end ones."" A second two-position, treble-level switch matches the speaker to room acoustics or personal preference just as do the companion model XA 90n5ps controls. And again like the XA towers, the XA 55cr is available in handcrafted black painted oak or natural cherry wood veneers, with perforated-steel grilles. (9-inch H x 22.5-inch W x 11-inch D) Snell SR 30mp: With its new SR 30mp, ""mp"" for multi-pattern, Snell addresses the ongoing debate over diffuse pattern (dipole) versus direct-radiating pattern (often bi-pole) for surround-channel playback. First, Snellís solution delivers either radiation pattern at the throw of a Diffuse/Direct switch conveniently placed behind the right-panel grille of each speaker. But the new design goes further, with what Smith calls ""a classic, dilemma-busting third alternative:"" Employed with a 7.1-channel processor such as those already available from several makers, the SR 30mpís two sets of input terminals are dual-connected to such a processorís ""side"" and ""rear"" surround outputs, and its mode switch set to ""7.1,"" for a unique, program-dependent reproduction pattern that is claimed to offer the best of both worlds. The SR 30mp driver layout is unique. A pair of cross-firing, ""matrixed"" 3.5-inch midranges are reinforced by a single, top-mounted 6.5-inch woofer with unusually extended response to below 70 Hz for smooth surround reproduction. More unusually still, three identical one-inch aluminum-dome tweeters are employed: An outward angled pair operates in dipole mode for effective reproduction from the SR 30mpís Diffuse-Pattern mode, while the single centered tweeter is said to produce coherent, focused sound in the Snell speakerís Direct-Pattern mode - without what Smith says is ""the directivity effects and destructive interference that in-phase dual tweeters would impose."" The SR 30mp includes hand-tuned crossovers and selected drivers to assure performance to within 0.5 dB of its Master Reference, best-quality components throughout, and meticulous attention to assembly and finish. The SR 30mp is available in black or white satin-texture finishes. (16-inch H x 16.25-inch W x 8.25-inch D) Snell XA 1900c: Snellís newly refined ""build-in"" LCR design deploys the XA components in a space-efficient cabinet engineered to be concealed in custom home-theatre walls, or behind acoustically transparent front-projection screens or wall coverings. The XA 1900c employs the three-driver inner Expanding Array of the XA 75ps and XA 55cr, with a side-by-side arrangement of its dual 8-inch woofers. ""The resulting system,"" says Smith, ""controls directivity with non-lobbing response that matches the XA systemsí unique clarity and spaciousness."" Also like the XA designs, the XA 1900c incorporates Boundary and Treble-Level crossover-adjustments switches on its rear panel. Smith says these are specially tuned to allow the designer-installer to optimize the speaker for built-in or freestanding (projection screen) placement, and for effective tonal matching with other XA models and surround-channel units. Despite its ""utility"" nature and one-color (satin-black) options-list, the XA 1900c is assembled to the same demanding standards of quality and finish as other Snell designs. And, of course, it relies upon Snellís hand-selected, hand-tuned components and crossover manufacturing procedures to maintain the firmís 0.5 d B-of-reference-standard performance. (16.5-inch H x 21-inch W x 11-inch D) Manufacturer's suggested retail prices: XA 90ps: $7,000/pr. XA 75ps: $4,200/pr. XA 55cr: $1,300/ea. XA 1900c: $1,500/ea. SR 30mp: $1,500/pr.