Let's Get Vertical

In a world increasingly populaied by horizontal sound bars, Artisan has taken a different approach with the high-performance Masterpiece LCR DualMono MK2 speaker system,which produces three front channels from two cabinets flanking the TV The brainchild of renowned speaker designer, Cary Christie—who also developed the first servo-controlled subwoofer and the first on-wall speaker designed to integrate with a flat-panel TV—each speaker comprises a "curved line array' of 16 drivers with a pair of carbon-fiber woofers above and below. In case you lost count, that's a system total of 40 drivers—thirty-two 1-inchers plus eight 35-inch woofers; each woofer duo is housed in its own ported enclosure.

The unusual driver layout is designed to produce a wide horizontal image with controlled vertical dispersion for mid and high frequencies, while Christie patented DualMono technology focuses movie dialogue and other center-channel information in the middle of the TV screen, right where it belongs. The center channel is produced by the inside column of tweeters and the woofers on top, while left- and right-channel sound is projected from the outer tweeter columns and the lower woofers.

All this from a couple of svelte, extruded-aluminum cabinets that are 29,6 inches tall, 6.3 inches wide, and only 2.4 inches deep (2.6 inches with grille), making them ideal for attachment to flat panels with screens 55 inches or larger. The system is rated to play down to 80 hertz for hand-off to a subwoofer, and recommended power is 100 to 250 watts.

A pair of LCRDM-MK2s sells forS3,000, which includes wall mounting brackets. An optional in-wall kit with magnetic grilles is available, and you can even order custom grilles to match the exact height of your TV.