Phase Technology ATS-1, Power 8 Brochure

~ Performance Review

BY MARK FLEISCHMANN

PHASETECHNOLOGYATS-1SPEAKERS

SURROUNDSOUNDFORTHEGREATOUTDOORS(ANDINDOORS)

Phase Technology of Jacksonville, Fla., born in 1955, has

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manufactured some of the earliest bookshelf speakers for Avery

Fisher in 1959. His other patented achievements include the soft
dome tweeter, the self-damping woofer coil and silicon-injected dri-
vers that defeat resonance. He's now part of a father-and-son team
with his son Ken Hccht who recently dropped by my Manhattan

been around longer than I have. I was still learning how to
walk and talk when Bill Hecht, a certified audio pioneer,

fortress to set up a 5.1-channel array of the Phase Technology ATS-

1 with the Power 8 subwoofer.

ATS stands for All-Terrain Speaker and the ATS-1 is indeed an
indoor/outdoor model. Since I live four floors up, I was more inter-
ested to hear how it would hold up in my home theater system. The

two-way design includes a I-inch soft dome tweeter (of course) and

a 4-inch mineral-filled woofer with rubber surround in a curvaceous
ultraviolet-resistant molded-plastic enclosure. The grilles are alu-

1

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E-GEARJULYIAUGUST 2002

minum. A short cast aluminum
pedestal attached to the base allows

vertical or horizontal placement.
Plastic nut-binding posts and video
shielding are standard equipment.

Rated impedance is 6 ohms, an
appropriate load for all but the weak-
est receivers, and sensitivity is 89dB,
about average in the age of surround sound. The speakers can handle
up to 80 watts with a continuous test tone, making them arguably
ideal mates for one of the many low- to mid-priced surround receivers
with about that amount of power. Rated at 80 Hz to 20 kHz, the sats
have a little upper bass, but I instructed my surround processor to run
them "small" and leave the bass-making duties to the Power 8's front-
mounted 8-inch driver. On the Power 8's back panel are a slotted vent
(which I nearly missed), Phase button, volume control, crossover
control (50 to 125 Hz), line-level and speaker-level inputs and outputs
and a button that switches the auto signal-sensing mode on or off.

Ken Hecht fooled around with different sub settings and settled on
inverted phase. I wasn't surprised when he set the volume up only 35
percent, however, most subs sound their best in my room with vol-
ume settings of 35-40 percent. Ken also dialed the crossover control
all the way up since I usually select crossover settings using my sur-
round processor. We listened with the surround processor's crossover
at both 100 and 80 Hz. Noting that the sats are rated down to 80 Hz,
I left it there. Ken, who is something of a stickler where review con-
ditions are concerned, said that my 19 x 14 ft. room, with its hard
plaster walls, sounded pretty good. Of course I agree!

My receiver of the month was the Rotel RSX-I065 (81,999), with

100 watts times five, a beautiful and slightly laid-back tonal balance,
and dynamics to die for. Signal sources included a Pioneer DV-37
DVD player, Marantz DR6050 two-drawer CD recorder and a Rega

Planar 25 turntable with Shure V15VxMR phono cartridge and NAD
PP-l phono preamp.

Yes, I did play vinyl, and yes, I played it loud, and yes, the system
did deliver every bit of the matchless groove on Bryan Ferry's cover
of "Take Me to the River" (from The Bride Stripped Bare) and the

unadorned piano and voice on Randy Newman's Live. Piano, let's not
forget, is a percussion instrument and thc sub did a precise job of ren-
dering the leading-edge hammer attack, leaving the sats to sound the
fundamental tones and overtones. My vinyl rig is on the warm side,
and as a result will often bring out midrange coloration in certain
speakers, but with the ATS sats I heard no nasality, no chestiness.

The system's performance was equally impressive with digital. My
most frequently used CD-R is a series of quick musical tests that give
speakers ample opportunity to t1unk out. A little too bright on female
voice? Not really, though the overall tonal balance was somewhat for-
ward, and that's not at all a bad thing in a speaker that has to perform
outdoors. How was the string sound on the quartet? It was superb,

including the cello, which showed good integration between sats and
sub, with no obvious jumps-the instrument sounded whole. I heard
a good steel-string guitar sound as well as a well-proportioned string
bass. In overall tonal balance, the ATS approached my reference, the

Paradigm Studio/20, though the Paradigms have a slight edge in inner
detail and overall fullness.

This particular test disc moves from folk and classical music to hard

rock, from acoustic to electric, and you can imagine my surprise
when the Phase Techs did a fairly credible job on "Fortune Teller" and

PhaseTechnologyATS-1All-TerrainSpeakers

Sub/Satsystemdesignedforindoor/outdooruse

Powerasubwooferwitha-inchfront-mounteddriver

Outstandingperformanceforthispricerange

www.phasetech.com

"Tattoo" from The Who's Live at

$875

money, not only offering up the band's towering wall of electric gui-
tars but also conveying much of the drum sound. It's a drum sound
that's more felt than heard, submerged beneath the guitars but with a
certain raw physical power. These tough little sats and the Power 8
sub maintained their front-row clarity with little sign of strain. The
limiters provided for all drivers probably helped out in that respect.

Grabbing a sound pressure meter, I noted that the volume level at
this time was about 90dB. I've been at plenty of concerts that were
louder-often with earplugs or cigarette filters shoved in my ears for
protection-but for home use, this is about as loud as I ever go.
Moving around the room, I also noted that off-axis response was
remarkably good. These aren't the kind of speakers that imprison you
in a sweet spot. The Absolute Phase crossovers make sure that all dri-
vers are moving in the same direction at the same time, endowing the
speakers with a generous soundstage that stands up to lateral and
front-to-back pans with aplomb.

Movie time! As I do when reviewing any set of speakcrs, I ran

through a few randomly chosen DVD rentals. Probably the most

memorable one wasAmericas Sweethearts starring John Cusack and

Catherine Zeta-Jones as an estranged Hollywood couple loved by
moviegoers and hated by each other. Billy Crystal-who co-starred,
co-wrote and co-produced-maintains a gently mocking tone that
even carries over to the score. It comments on the action at every

turn and thus gave me a good chance to hear orchestral sounds inter-
leaved with dialogue. Both sounded quite natural. The scene where an
enraged Cusack crashes through the front window of a Chinese

restaurant to confront his philandering wife gave the speakers a
chance to depict sudden, violent, complex, directional action explod-
ing through the surround soundfield.

I would speculate that one of the reasons these speakers maintain
an admirable control, regardless of viewing/listening material, is
that Phase Technology itself maintains control over every aspect of
the design and manufacturing process. There are a lot of good

speakers made by companies that source their parts (and even their

manufacturing) from other companies-that's how Phase
Technology got started, by making speakers for other companies.
Every major component of this sat/sub set hails from Jacksonville,

where the patriarch keeps a close watch over the company that rep-

resents his life's work.

I am deeply impressed by what I've heard from the Phase
Technology ATS-l and Power 8. These are the best indoor/outdoor

speakers I've ever heard as well as one of the strongest wall-mount
sat/sub sets. More surprising still is the pricing-just 8875 for the
whole package, or 8110 for each satellite and $325 for the sub. Matc

these little bargain speakers with a mellow, modestly priced receiver
(Harman Kardon or Technics come to mind) and you just may be sur-

prised to hear what they ean do. ..

Mark Fleischmann is the author of Practical Home Theater, avail-

able through www.pmcticalhometheater.com or [phone].

Leeds. Enter Metallica with "Enter

Sandman." The drums pounded
moderately hard, the cymbal sound
hissed just right. By the time I fin-
ished up with Mountain's "lvIississippi
Queen" this sat/sub set was giving
powered towers a run for their

E-GEARJULY/AUGUST 2002.