Definitive Technology IWSub IWSub 10-10 User manual

“beyond amazing”

HOT

new

system

review

UIW RLS II &

IWSub Reference

DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY’S

y ﬁrst draft of the intro for this

review was rather witty, if I do say

so myself. It lamented the fact that

because so many of today’s in-wall speakers

are so good, it’s difficult to write something

interesting about them. But I composed those

opening paragraphs before I had actually

listened to the speakers. Much as I hate to

throw away a perfectly good intro, it would

no longer do — because it was no longer true.

One could not consider Deﬁnitive

Technology’s UIW RLS II in-wall speaker

and IWSub Reference in-wall subwoofer to

be ordinary products, even at ﬁrst glance.

Take the UIW RLS II’s pair of passive radia-

tors, which Deﬁnitive added to ﬁx one of the

biggest problems with high-quality in-walls:

lack of bass. Like most high-end in-walls, the

UIW RLS II has an integral enclosure, or

back box. A back box improves ﬁdelity

because it keeps sound from the back of the

woofer from entering the wall cavity, and thus

keeps the wall from vibrating and producing

its own sound. However, pressure that builds

up inside the back box restricts the woofer

and diminishes deep bass response. But using

passive radiators relieves this pressure and

uses it to produce even more bass.

Also, the UIW RLS II’s slim front baffle

increases mounting ﬂexibility. Many in-walls

are wide, so your installer can move them

only an inch or two to either side before hit-

ting a stud. With the UIW RLS II, though,

your installer can move the speaker several

inches to the left or right. This characteristic

is particularly important if the speakers are

mounted behind a perforated screen. With

smaller screens, it can be tough to cram left,

center, and right speakers behind the screen

without having to move a stud or two.

The IWSub Reference in-wall sub is even

more unusual. Subwoofers are the ﬁnal fron-

tier of in-wall speaker engineering because

few good woofers are slim enough to ﬁt into

a standard 3.5-inch-deep wall. Plus, sub-

woofers demand a back box to perform well,

and the back box takes up even more space.

Deﬁnitive is among the ﬁrst manufacturers

who have risen to this engineering challenge.

NEW REVIEWS

“it’s really beyond amazing”

SECOND DRAFT

Deﬁnitive Technology’s UIW RLS II and IWSub Reference

surrender enough surprises to make a lazy editor rewrite his review.

BY BRENT BUTTERWORTH

“I can think of no other

in-wall speaker system

that matches this one’s

versatility, sound quality,

and value”

Cover photo: Clockwise from far left: the UIW RLS II

with its grille on, the IWSub Reference with its grille off,

and the SubAmp 600.

“the system wraps me in a

huge ambient soundstage”

The IWSub Reference

employs a 13-inch woofer

that has been radically

slimmed to ﬁt in a wall;

it’s such a tight ﬁt that

Deﬁnitive had

to cut a hole in the

back of the enclosure

to accommodate the

woofer’s magnet. A 13-

inch passive radiator

reinforces the woofer’s

deepest bass notes.

A separate ampliﬁer,

the SubAmp 600, ﬁts

into your equipment

rack. The SubAmp 600

is a stereo amp; it pro-

vides 275 watts to a sin-

gle IWSub Reference or

230 watts each to two

IWSub References.

Does the UIW RLS II

sound as good as many

excellent in-walls already

on the market? Actually,

it sounds better than

most. If this speaker has

a ﬂaw, I cannot ﬁnd it.

(OK, the product name

sucks. But besides that.)

It sounds at least as good

as any other in-wall I

have tested, and given

that I started evaluating

these speakers regularly

in 1995, I have tested

quite a few. From the

bass to the high treble,

it sounds as uncolored as

any speaker that comes

to mind. I hear pinpoint

imaging between the

speakers, and the system

wraps me in a huge

ambient soundstage.

The UIW RLS II does

not match the soundstag-

ing of the best freestand-

ing speakers, but it comes

close — and it is far bet-

ter in this regard than

practically any current

in-wall speaker except for

the MartinLogan Voyage

and Thiel PowerPlane.

NEW REVIEWS

“is far better in

this regard

than practically

any current in-

wall speaker”

The IWSub Reference (below)

uses an active 13-inch woofer

on top and a passive radiator

below. In order to maintain

rigidity in the woofer’s shallow

cone, Deﬁnitive made it from

stiff, thick treated paper; it feels

almost like a thin sheet of MDF.

“The IWSub

Reference is

certainly the

best in-wall sub

I have heard”

The two 6.5-inch passive

radiators used in the UIW

RLS II (right) are like

speaker without magnets or

voice coils. They reinforce

the speaker’s bass and

negate the downside of

using a back box.

The UIW RLS II also

plays incredibly loud; I

would recommend it for

all but the largest home

theaters. It produces

enough bass that you

can use it without a sub-

woofer in a smaller room.

The only problem with

the UIW RLS II is that I

never want to stop listen-

ing to it; what I plan as

hour-long evaluative ses-

sions end up stretching

well past my bedtime.

The IWSub Reference

is certainly the best

in-wall sub I have heard,

even if it doesn’t reach

the same level of perfec-

tion as the UIW RLS II.

It produces a surprisingly

full sound, even in my

large home theater. And

the sound is well-deﬁned,

too — the bass lines of

my favorite rock CDs

come through precisely,

never boomy or bloated.

The best freestanding

subs sound a little

punchier and can surpass

the IWSub’s bass output,

but the sacriﬁce you get

by going in-wall is in this

case minimal.

On top of all this,

both speakers areeasy

to install. Everything

considered, I can think of

no other in-wall speaker

system that matches this

one’sversatility, sound

quality, and value. I was

going to call it amazing,

but given that Deﬁnitive

accomplished this ﬁdelity

with such straightforward

engineering and at such

an affordable price, it’s

really beyond amazing.

■DESCRIPTION

In-wall speaker system for home theater

or stereo. Subwoofer employs separate

275-watt ampliﬁer.

■COMPONENTS

UIW RLS II: two 6.5-inch polypropy-

lene cone woofers, two 6.5-inch passive

radiators, one 1-inch aluminum dome

tweeter.

IWSub Reference: 13-inch treated

paper cone woofer and 13-inch passive

radiator

■CONNECTIONS

UIW RLS II: spring-loaded binding

posts, accepts bare wire, pins, or

banana plugs

IWSub Reference: same as above

SubAmp600: line-level inputs for left,

right and LFE channels; dual ﬁve-way

metal binding posts for subwoofer out,

main speaker in, and main speaker out

■DIMENSIONS

UIW RLS II: 29.8 x 8.2 inches (hw),

3.5-inch installed depth

IWSub Reference: 26.2 x 15.5 inch-

es (hw), 3.5-inch installed depth

SubAmp600: 3.7 x 17.1x 9.6 inches

(hwd)

■PRICE/CONTACT

PRICE: UIW RLS II $650 each, IWSub

Reference $999 each, SubAmp600

$599

CONTACT deﬁnitivetech.com,

410.363.7148

11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148

Visit us at www.deﬁnitivetech.com

From HOME ENTERTAINMENT magazine, MAY/JUNE 2006.

NEW REVIEWS

“it sounds as

uncolored as

any speaker”

“Ihear pinpoint

imaging

between the

speakers”

The UIW RLS II (shown above

with side view) has an installed

depth of only 3.5-inches.

“Inever want

to stop listening

to it”

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