Audio Video News

Unlike the editors of Home Theater Magazine who live in palatial estates written off their taxes as "business expenses" (note to the IRS: multiroom mansions are a job requirement for product testing purposes; no audits are necessary, really), not everyone is fortunate enough to live in a home with enough floor space to devote to a pair of (or five, six, or seven) perfectly positioned home theater speakers. (You poor, poor, pitiful people, you...) There are even some folks out there who refuse to see the beauty inherent in big, bulky, behemoth speakers dominating the visuals (and the available square footage) of the average living room. (I could mention the standard sexist question about the wearing of pants in the family; but since I'm in the process of installing in-walls throughout the Wilkinson abode, we'll just move on, shall we?) Some people don't even have available wall space for in-wall speakers. Atlantic Technology's two new in-ceiling speakers are the sonic salvation for situations such as these.

The ICTS-8.3 and ICTS-6.2 in-ceiling speakers were carefully designed by Atlantic Technology's audiophiliac engineers to be "equally adept at providing spectacular sound for stereo reproduction in a distributed or local audio system, or as front or surround channels in a complete home theater system." In other words, Atlantic Technology says you can use these new speakers in just about any system configuration you can think of in rooms where you can't (or don't want to) use traditional box or in-wall speakers.

The high-tech secret hidden behind the grille in both the ICTS-8.3 and ICTS-6.2 is a one-inch silk-dome tweeter mounted in a pivoting housing that allows your installer - or you, if you promise not to tell anyone I let you in on the secret - to aim the high frequencies from the tweeter in any direction (well, any direction except 180-degrees backwards). So, if a light fixture or ceiling support just happens to be occupying the perfect perch for one of these pivoting products, you can mount the speaker where it fits and aim the tweeter toward the listening area. For surround channel applications where you'd prefer diffuse sound, you can choose to aim the tweeters away from the listening area to reflect sound off a rear or side wall. A discrete front-mounted three-position HF level adjustment lets you contour the high-frequency output for "reflective, normal, or absorptive acoustic environments."

Although the tweeters are identical, making the two models perfect companions as fronts and rears in a mixed system, the woofers are different. Each model incorporates a long-throw, Mica/Graphite-loaded polymer cone woofer with rubber surrounds and high-temperature voice coils, but the ICTS-8.2's woofer is eight inches (with a manufacturer-rated frequency response of 45 Hz - 20 kHz (+/- 3dB)) while the ICTS-6.2's woofer is 6.5 inches (with frequency response down to 55 Hz).

Street price of the ICTS-8.2 is estimated to be $500/pair (plus installation). The estimate for the ICTS-6.2 is $350/pair. Atlantic Technology provides a Limited 90 day Warranty, but every component carton contains an application for a FREE Extended Service Agreement (for five years from date of purchase) available only to consumers who complete the simple steps specified in the Agreement. With the exception of some discontinued products, Atlantic Technology does not usually authorize Internet sales. To find a local dealer where you can beg for an audition (okay, you probably won't have to beg - most likely they'll be happy to give you a demonstration), you can call the friendly folks at Atlantic Technology at 781-762-6300. Or you can save yourself the phone charges and e-mail Atlantic Technology at info@atlantictechnology.com. Either way, tell them Home Theater Magazine is the best. (It's got to be true. You just read it in print...)