Nirotek One-speaker Surround Sound

Less is more, the old adage has it. Torrance, CA-based Nirotek America has taken the concept to an extreme with its recently unveiled NIRO 1.1 and NIRO 1.1 PRO home theater audio systems. The systems are claimed capable of delivering full Dolby 5.1 surround sound performance from a single speaker.

Developed by the legendary Niro Nakamichi, the Japanese master engineer who designed the first three-head cassette tape deck 30 years ago, the NIRO 1.1 and NIRO 1.1 PRO were made possible through Nakamichi's unique implementation of HRTF (Head Related Transfer Function) theory, according to a mid-October announcement. "Never before has it been possible to create 5.1 surround sound from one speaker," said Nirotek sales and marketing v.p. Lonnie Pastor. "Niro has developed the HRTF algorithms and the hardware to do it. You won't believe what he has accomplished with just one speaker."

The new NIRO products are ideal for small rooms where the clutter of a full surround system might be intrusive. "Nirotek's new home theater sound systems let anyone, seated virtually anywhere in the room, enjoy their favorite DVDs, CDs or video games with Dolby 5.1 surround sound," the announcement stated.

Bundled with the three-driver $599 NIRO 1.1 and five-driver $799 1.1 PRO is a progressive scan DVD player/AM-FM receiver (with multiple 30-watt digital amplifiers) that is less than 2" high. The combo player/receiver connects to a TV. The magnetically shielded speaker sits atop the TV and the system is ready to go. The NIRO 1.1 receiver has an onboard computer that performs 600 million calculations per second in processing Nakamichi's proprietary Niroson Cinema 1.1 algorithms and S.F.N. (Spatial Filter Network). The result is surround sound with a huge "sweet spot" or ideal listening area. An 8" bass reflex subwoofer handles low frequencies, driven by a 50-watt amp module in the receiver.

NIRO 1.1 systems are said to do a great job with music, too. Both are sold exclusively over the Internet at Niro1.com.

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