April 2001 Reviewed by Wes Phillips	Soliloquy Home-Theater Speaker System

Description Model: Model 5.0s speakers Price: $1395 USD per pair, including stands/$995 w/o stands Dimensions: 14"H x 7.5"W x 11"D Weight: 22 pounds each Model: C3 center-channel speaker Price: $795 USD Dimensions: 7.5"H x 24"W x 11"D Weight: 35 pounds Model: SAT5 surround speakers Price: $595 USD per pair Dimensions: 12.25"H x 7.25"W x 6.25"D Weight: 18 pounds each Model: S10 powered subwoofer Price: $1395 USD Dimensions: 20"H x 12"W x 18"D Weight: 100 pounds Warranty: Five years parts and labor (with return of registration card)

Features Curly Maple, Cherry, and Rosewood veneers available Poly-fiber midrange/woofer cones with die-cast magnesium baskets and vented magnets Hand-coated silk-dome tweeters Magnetically shielded Four heavy-duty 24-carat gold-plated binding posts per speaker (5.0s and C3) Acoustically transparent double-knit grills 10" aluminum driver with dual 50mm voice coils, cast magnesium basket and vented magnets (S10) L-Port system (S10) 125W amplifier (S10) Auto-on mode (S10) High-level and line-level inputs/outputs (S10) Adjustable crossover (S10) 180-degree phase switch (S10)

I read an interesting theory about home-theater sound recently. It posited that if the system started with a first-rate two-channel system, it ended with first-rate home-theater sound. Lacking that two-channel foundation, the theory went, a system had less than a 50/50 chance of really sounding special.

I suspect there's a kernel of truth there. Most of us have a great deal of two-channel experience, so starting from known two-channel coordinates isn't a bad way at all of achieving multichannel realism. After all, even Archimedes needed a place to stand before he could move the world!

Not too long ago I reviewed the Soliloquy 5.0s stand-mounted loudspeakers and their matching S10 subwoofer for onhifi.com and was struck by their natural sound, superb integration and exceptional build quality. Then I noticed that Soliloquy also made a center-channel and a pair of compact stand-mounted monitors that would make nifty surround speakers. I was instantly hooked -- if I liked their two-channel presentation so much, what could their 5.1 channel sound be like?

A sense of duty is useful in work . . .

The first thing I noticed about the Soliloquys -- the first thing, it seems, that anyone notices about them -- is their astonishingly attractive wood cabinets. This is as true for the $595/pair SAT5s as it is for the $1395 S10 subwoofer. The quality of the veneer-work is exceptional, amazingly so given the relatively modest prices ($4180 for the system with stands). My samples came in a lightly figured curly maple that would qualify as "AAA" or better from any of the luthery-supply shops I've ever dealt with. The satin finish is flawless, without hazing or orange-peel -- I've reviewed $10,000/pair loudspeakers that can't claim the same.

The 5.0s employs four massive five-way binding posts. Take the hint and biwire -- the sound is far better than when you utilize the included bridging strap. The speakers have threaded inserts in their bases that facilitate bolting them to their (optional) custom stands. They are constructed from 1" MDF and they’re hefty, weighing in at 22 pounds. Their driver complement consists of a 5.25" rigid poly-fiber coned midrange/woofer and a double-chambered, magnetically shielded 1.125" hand-coated silk-dome tweeter. The parts employed are all first rate: only metalized polypropylene capacitors, wire-wound ceramic resistors, silver solder, 12-gauge StraightWire hook-up wire and point-to-point connections are used throughout the design.

The 25" custom speaker stands designed for the 5.0s are also works of art, although they aren't cheap at $500. The stands consist of a solid steel base plate with Soliloquy’s signature threaded spikes -- these are massive spikes that thread from the top of the base plate. Leave ‘em up while sorting out your speaker placement and crank ‘em down when you’ve determined a permanent location -- they’ll easily penetrate carpet and pad, definitively stabilizing the speakers. On top of the steel plate, Soliloquy places a slab of hardwood that matches the speaker cabinets; on top of that goes another steel plate. A hollow tube rises 22" to the steel support plate onto which the 5.0s can be securely bolted. Soliloquy suggests you fill the tube with sand or lead shot to add mass and to damp vibrations. You can buy less expensive 25" stands, but they won't be as pretty as these. Or you could opt for a shelf placement for the 5.0s -- which is what I was forced to do for home-theater use because of room constraints -- but I don't recommend it. The speakers sound far better on a freestanding rigid stand.

The S10 subwoofer is a ported, powered sub with a 10" aluminum woofer. Its compact proportions are complemented by its superb woodwork. The S10 employs discrete Darlington circuits that provide 125W of amplification. It employs a second-order active Linkwitz-Riley crossover and a continuously variable second-order subsonic low-pass filter. The subwoofer has an interesting feature called an "L-Port." The internal cabinet configuration has the port firing straight down; an L-shaped vent guides the flow through the dual slots in the front. By removing the spikes and metal base plate, you gain access to the woofer’s wooden base. This can be rotated 180 degrees, so the port fires rearward. I never needed this option, but it's nice to have if you're having a problem matching the subwoofer to the room. Options are always a good thing.

The C3 is relatively large for a center-channel speaker, but that probably says a lot about how low many other companies have placed the bar for center-channel performance. It employs two of Soliloquy's magnetically shielded 5.25" rigid poly-fiber bass-midrange drivers and a single 1.125" double-chamber silk-dome tweeter. It, too, is biwirable -- and it should be biwired for best sound.

The SAT5 also employs Soliloquy's standard drivers -- the 5.25" poly-fiber cone and the 1.125" silk-dome tweeter. A single pair of binding posts is utilized. Its sealed-box design and high power-handling capabilities make it ideal for a wide range of applications -- and allow it to be placed near boundaries or even in shelving units. Five of these with an S10 would make a very affordable home-theater system for anyone with space (or budget) constraints.

Its first duty is to shun the temptations of monopoly . . .

In the early days of home theater, it was accepted knowledge that the left and right speakers were the most important and that smaller, less expensive speakers could be used for the surrounds and center channel. Perhaps that's true for surround, although even there I've found that better speakers still mean better sound (amazing, ain't it?). But when it comes to the center channel, downsizing is just plain wrong, wrong, wrong.

Think about it for a second: Movies are theater, and theater is a language art. If you don't hear the dialog, you don't understand the movie -- and if you think I'm exaggerating, just unplug the center channel and watch a movie for the first time. Feel like something's missing? Of course you do.

Also, most soundtracks mix an awful lot of effects into the front three channels, so if the left, right and center channels are mismatched timbrally, you'll hear it as the action moves from left to center to right and back again. This can jerk you right out of the movie experience, which sort of negates the whole point of home theater -- if you wanted to be roused out of your movie reverie, you could have just gone to the local googolplex, and enjoyed every yahoo in the audience giving vent to his inner film critic.

Soliloquy obviously understands this, and they designed the C3 to do the most important job in home theater. It's also a perfect timbral match to the Model 5.0s, so it's easy to get that all-important front-channel match going. There's a slight difference in efficiency between the C3 and the 5.0s, so you'll need to adjust the output of the front three channels with your processor's test signals and a SPL meter, but it'll only take a minute and then you're done.

If you're not an absolute bottom-end hog, you might question your need for the S10 subwoofer -- for most non-action-oriented movies you actually do get enough bass through the front three speakers to almost do without one. In fact, if you need to forego anything initially in order to afford this speaker system, I'd leave the S10 out and add it later (most processors let you designate the front channels as "large" and turn off the subwoofer output). But, in the long run, the S10 more than justifies itself by reproducing the very lowest tones -- not just the explosions and deep rumbles of action blockbusters such as Men In Black, but also the tension-inducing sub-bass tones that mark Clarisse Starling's visit to Hannibal Lechter in prison in The Silence of the Lambs. Those tones are an essential part of the mise en scène and play as important a role in establishing its mood as do the subtly warmer and warmer colors used every time Lechter and Starling meet.

These days, $1395 can buy you a lot of subwoofer -- and it does in the S10 -- but you can get more bass for the money than the Soliloquy delivers. What I felt the S10 had going for it was its superb ability to blend seamlessly with the front channels for music presentations -- a particularly important consideration if you can only set-up a single system for your music and theater enjoyment -- and its almost infinite room/speaker adjustability.

The Wes Phillips rule of subwoofer placement: "No matter where in a room a subwoofer sounds best, you won't be able to put it there." That spot will be in front of a door or behind a radiator or in the middle of the room's traffic pattern. So I put a lot of stock in being able to compensate for less-than-ideal placement, and the S10 has oodles of such adjustments, ranging from phase adjustment to being able to redirect the port by 90 degrees. Sweet.

The SAT5s make incredible surround speakers. As discrete surround gets more and more sophisticated, the need for better-sounding speakers in the rear keeps growing -- as does the need to mate them tonally to the front channels. The SAT5s may still be more speaker than anybody needs in the rear, but they sure get the job done. In fact, the superb way they generate ambient sound in the best of my concert DVDs, such as Jim Jarmusch's Year of the Horse, makes me wonder if we haven't all been underestimating the value of timbre-matching the rear channels to the fronts. I'm beginning to think it's essential -- or will prove to be as we have more and more realistically recorded multichannel music discs to listen to.

His duty is to enjoy himself . . .

I realize I'm dragging out a cliché here, but I recently had a writing assignment that required that I watch The Matrix (what a job!). That film's carefully plotted sonic world was essential to establishing an audience's belief in its fantastic premise -- it's not saying too much to say that, had the audio cues failed, the picture would have failed.

The Soliloquys showed how convincing the audio effects were -- whether charting the subtle room-to-room shifts in ambient sound or delineating the rather-more-obvious sonics of the lobby shootout, where the brilliant ringing of spent casings rattling on the marble floor contrasted with the sharp reports of the handguns, the louder attacks of the assault rifles and the hollow booming of the shotguns -- all underscored by the side-to-side and front-to-back sounds of ricochets and traveling projectiles and the rear-channel clatter of disintegrating marble crumbling to the floor. The action, needless to say, is completely unbelievable, but every piece of the sonic mosaic lent it veracity -- and the Soliloquys reported it all without breaking a sweat.

Speaking of sweat, did I mention that these speakers are all reasonably efficient? That means you can offset the system's relatively expensive price tag with a modestly powered surround receiver, rather than a more powerful one. My Denon AVR-3300 worked just fine with its 105Wpc, although I'm sure even 60W would have been enough.

Where sweat does enter the equation is in placement of the speakers, which requires a certain amount of effort. As I indicated earlier, my setup did not allow me to use the Model 5.0s on their stands, and I paid a price for it in airiness. Do not place these speakers in a cabinet and expect them to sound their best. However, if you use their stands, you'll almost have to place the C3 under your monitor or you won't even remotely get the front three channels in the same plane, which is very important. It doesn't matter how close your front three speakers match one another if one is located a few feet above the other two -- the sound just won't blend seamlessly.

As to the rear channels, I've spent years playing around with rear placement, and I'm right back where I began -- I got the best sound when they were more or less at my listening position, two feet above my head. I found Sound Organization wall-mount brackets both easy to mount and secure.

And the subwoofer? I put it in the only place I could fit it (there's way too much stuff in that room) and blessed Soliloquy for every adjustment they'd included. It took hours to get it right, but I did get it right at last.

Love is then our duty . . .

At around $4200 for the complete system, including speaker stands and wall-mount surround-speaker brackets, the Soliloquy home-theater speaker system costs considerably more than those "HT in a box" systems stacked to the rafters in your local mega-stores. What do you get that they don't offer? Bandwidth, for one thing. Most HTIBs barely have a real woofer, much less a subwoofer, so the Soliloquy system gives you full-bodied actors and actresses (yowsah!), as well as truly deep, differentiated bass. You also get refinement -- if I had to categorize the sound of the Soliloquy system in just a few words, I'd call it slightly laid-back, but tonally spot-on over most of its frequency range. Since I find most non-THX soundtracks on the unbearably bright side of accurate, I think of the Soliloquys' mild top-end softening as a huge advantage. When you combine the coarse top-end of most HTIBs with the shrillness of most DVD transfers, it gets real ugly real fast.

You also get a sense of the worth of your investment. I agree that it is amazing how much HTIB you can buy for $1000 -- it really is -- but if you think a $1000 worth of plastic boxes and plastic drivers is astounding, look at what you get for $4000! Just the beauty of the cabinets is worth something -- add the solidity of 1" MDF-construction and custom-built drivers and high-quality crossover networks and you've really got something to brag about.

For never anything can be amiss, when simpleness and duty tender it

That's what the high end is all about, and you get it in spades with the Soliloquys. Last month Jeff Fritz reviewed the Wilson home-theater speaker system, which costs around $110,000, and he concluded that it offered the ultimate home-theater experience. The Soliloquys aren't Wilson killers -- they just don't offer the same sense of limitless possibilities that the cost-no-object system does -- but they offer many of the same rewards. The pride in craftsmanship, the sense of accomplishment and refinement and, of course, the joy of natural, wideband, holographic reproduction.

If you think that home-theater and music reproduction are worth caring about, you'll probably care a lot for the Soliloquys. You don't need to settle for less, and you don't have to spend more. There's a lot to be said for that.

Manufacturer contact information:

Soliloquy High Fidelity Loudspeaker Company
2613 Discovery Drive -- Building A
Raleigh, NC 27616
Phone: (919) 876-7554
Fax: (919) 876-2590

E-mail: info@solspeak.com
Website: www.solspeak.com

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