Atlantic Technology 6200E

R

rolyasm

Full Audioholic
Equipment Setup:
Atlantic Technology 6200e Center, 6200eLCR, 4200eSurrounds
Earthquake MK IV 12" sub
Amp: Atlantic Technology A2000
Processor: Atlantic Technology P2000
Pioneer Elite DVD 45Txi

First off, these speakers are bigger than I thought they would be. Not monstrous, but you don't want a wimpy stand for them. The build quality is supurb. They come packed in an actual cloth bag, and double boxed. The binding posts are very sturdy, gold posts. I also like the magnetized metal grill frames. Yup, no cloth to rip or tear, but actual metal grills.

I used my Radio Shack SPL to setup my system. My sitting position is about 8 feet from the center channel, 11 feet to the left and rights. I have a 65" Mitsubishi. The center is just below the TV screen. My Polk Center sits on top of the TV, but he is just a little guy. I was afraid the 6200 would crush my screen. I don't have a lot of wiggle room. The wife only tolerates so much. I ended up with the sides about 5 inches lateral to the TV and 3 feet from the wall and about 2 inches in front of the TV.

I only do about 20% music, but I always like to check out a few songs before I hit the movies. I first put in Bachs Violin Concerto in D minor. It is a dual violin concerto. No break in needed here. The speakers sounded great. I could clearly define each violin's sound and hear many minute changes. Very subtle changes and nuances were clear and precise.
Dido was next up. Again, nothing to complain about, but only praises. My Polk's just can't compare, and they are twice the size. Everything I played sounded wonderful.
I switched to 5 speaker stereo mode and noticed that from the listening position the sound was wonderful. If I sat too close to the surrounds, I could tell they weren't keeping up with the mains. Of course I shouldn't expect them to. The are meant for surround duty. I currently had them set in Bipole mode.

Next to movies. Love them, Love them, Love them. I like my center to have a little more umph, so I clicked up the trim 2dB louder than the LR's. I found that I could really turn these speakers up without sounding strained. My volume conrtol usually sits at about -18, which is about 85 dB for most listening. At one point I was reaching the zero mark, and it sounded clean, clear, non-stressed and powerful. Usually when I listen this loud I tend to feel a little agitated after or during. With the Atlantics, I just felt impressed.

I changed from bipole to dipole and could hear a difference between the two. In my room, the bipole mode sounded better, but more localized. Since the fronts are magnetized, it is very easy to change any settings.

One fault I can see with the speakers is this. The LR's and center all have 3 switches to help accomodate any room. Boundary Compensation, Location Selection and 3 position Room Environment (Live, Dead, Normal). The problem is that they switches are on the back of the speaker. If these were in a cabinet, it would be a pain to pull them out everytime to make adjustments.
I played with the switches and could hear the differences. I ignored the function of each switch and simply made changes until it sounded best to me.
I ended up having the settings as if I were behind a sound screen, in a normal room and boundary gain off.


The movies I used were Jurassic Park III. Dual of the Dino's, or something similar. I could hear clear dialogue, the leaves rustling under the dino, and the very clear, crunchy sound of the neck breaking.

LOTR, The Two Towers. ...."So it Begins."
The battle scene here is wonderful. I like the rain and the thunder to test the surrounds. I really felt like I was in the storm. Dialogue was clear and crisp.

The Matrix. When Neo is rescuing Morpheus and he opens up with the gattling gun on the chopper. Just before the gattling gun fires you can clearly hear the gun chamber starting to spin. Sounds like a little whine. Bullets are striking all areas of the screen and the soundstage was intense. The water splashing was crisp, each metal bullet casing hitting the floor was clear, but not too bright.

Open Range. Opening Scene. Again, I was immersed in a storm. The thunder rolled off the rolling ranges in my room, er, I mean the movie.

I really love these speakers. My room is shared with another room, so total space is about 5000 cf. My couch and setup fill up half of that. I think I have found my final speakers. Other speakers I have listened to recently: Klipsch, Polk, Def. Tech, Triad, Tannoy. Here is the website.

http://atlantictechnology.com/default.asp?NodeId=128
 

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