Atlantic Technology System 4200 manual Lu S, N U S, Fast facts

TEST REPORT

P LU S

Outstanding multichannel performance.

Impressive bass, full-range dynamics.

Bipole/dipole-selectable surrounds.

Changeable side panels.

M I N U S

Big subwoofer.

Center-speaker base a little too high.

the left and slightly behind the front left speaker.

The 4200 LR front speakers are true sat- ellites, not intended for use without a sub- woofer, so I began with plain stereo, but with the subwoofer hooked up, too. What I initially heard was a “close,” dry sound with a hint of male-voice chestiness — that gave me a chance to start trying out those C.O.R.E. controls.

A bit of experimentation told me that the 4200 LRs are sensitive to vertical place- ment. I adjusted the stands so that their tweeters were about even with my seated ear height and switched on the Boundary Compensation switches, since they stood only 18 inches to either side of my TV. The midrange became more open and relaxed,

while the treble added significant air and life to the mix. And that touch of “hoo” caused by reflections from the screen dis- appeared almost entirely.

The Atlantic Tech system punched out multichannel music with finesse and im- pressive impact. The DVD-Audio mix of Donald Fagen’s Kamakiriad solo album is an amazingly pristine production in both its recording and performance (almost an- tiseptic), and the System 4200 showed its virtues to a tee: preternatural clarity — es- pecially noticeable on drums and guitars

— and huge dynamic range.

The System 4200 also proved to be one of those speaker systems that sounds better the louder you play it. I found myself lis- tening to Fagen’s “Snowbound” repeatedly at ever-increasing volumes, reaching a lev- el that audibly sweated the front-speaker trio some 10 dB above THX reference lev- el — and that’s loud.

One advantage of a system that’s prop- erly designed as a sub/sat layout from the ground up is that you don’t have to fuss

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets could have been designed as a home theater demo disc, and the Atlantic Technology System 4200 met every wizardly challenge.

with crossover and level settings. I set the 642 SB subwoofer’s Lowpass switch to Bypass, skipping its onboard crossover in favor of my preamp/processor’s, which I set to 80 Hz. After I balanced levels, the system sounded perfectly integrated. The languid, but incredibly solid bass on “Snow- bound” was deliciously rich and punchy, yet with the superb definition and “quick- ness” that only an excellent sub and an ex- pertly matched sub/sat system can achieve.

fast facts

	4200 LR	4200 C	4200 SR	642 SB
	(front L/R)	(center)	(surround)	(subwoofer)
TWEETER	1-inch dome	1-inch dome	two 1-inch domes	—
MIDRANGE	two 51⁄4-inch cones	two 51⁄4-inch cones	two 41⁄2-inch cones	—
WOOFER	—	—	—	12-inch cone
ENCLOSURE	sealed	sealed	sealed	sealed
POWER	—	—	—	300 watts
INPUTS/	gold-plated	gold-plated	gold-plated	RCA line-level I/O;
OUTPUTS	multiway binding	multiway binding	multiway binding	level, low-pass
AND	posts; Boundary	posts; Boundary	posts; Bipole/	controls; normal/
CONTROLS	Compensation	Compensation	Dipole switch	bypass, phase-
	and treble	and treble		invert, and auto-
	switches	switches		power switches
DIMENSIONS	8 x 15 x 97⁄8	181⁄2 x 81⁄2 x 8	11 x 123⁄8 x 73⁄4	19 x 21 x 181⁄2
(WxHxD)	inches	inches	inches	inches
WEIGHT	14 pounds	16 pounds	11 pounds	65 pounds
FINISH	maple, gloss	maple, gloss	black or white;	maple, gloss
	black, or matte	black, or matte	metal-screen grille	black, or matte
	silver side panels;	silver side panels;		silver side panels;
	metal-screen grille	metal-screen grille		black cloth grille
PRICE	$930 a pair (plus	$550 (plus side	$900 a pair	$920 (plus side
Total: $3,500 in	side panels; $70	panels; $50 in		panels; $80 in
maple, $3,600 in	in maple, $105 in	maple, $75 in		maple, $120 in
black or silver	black or silver)	black or silver)		black or silver)

MANUFACTURER Atlantic Technology, www.atlantictechnology.com; 617-762-6300

The Fagen DVD also provided perfect test material for comparing the 4200 SR’s bipole and dipole modes. The verdict: bi- pole wins. I still prefer dipole surrounds for movie sound and naturalistically recorded music, but with mixes that put discrete ma- terial in the surround channels — like a hand-percussion shaker in the right rear — bipole clearly sounded better.

With this musical introduction, I expect- ed nothing short of great movie sound from the System 4200, and I wasn’t disap- pointed. Playback was about as seamlessly integrated, solidly spatial, and colorful and dynamic as I could want.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Se- crets is a first-rate5.1-channel production with just about every surround sound vir- tue. Through the sequence of the flying car catching up to the train, I was struck by how little the timbre of the engine’s pop- pop-popping changed as it swooped from channel to channel and position to posi- tion. The quidditch match a bit later might as well have been designed as a home the- ater demo: the whizzing balls and brooms, crashes and impacts were all spectacularly present and three-dimensional. And in the

54 MAY 2004 SOUND & VISION www.soundandvisionmag.com