Asus is a common name in computer components. We have taken a look at more than our share of their products from the mundane to the extreme. One area that Asus has been taking more of an interest is the higher-end side of the HTPC market. Here is where things get interesting. Unlike gamers, or overclockers a person that wants to build a high-end HTPC is looking for the best combination of performance, cooling and power draw. If you can build it fast, cool and power efficient then they will want that. But building an HTPC is not only about what you drop inside the system. You also need some good hardware on the final end of the output side. Not to worry, Asus has you covered there too. They have their own line of HD capable monitors and even speaker sets to keep you happy. We are taking a look at t new one to hit the market. It is a speaker bar that is capable of providing 5.1 surround sound to your viewing area. Called the Cine5, this small and stylish speaker system runs for about $130 on the internet. We are going to take a look and see if it is worth it.
The Office -Here we have the smallest of our listening areas. At 7’ 7” x 8’ 10” x 8’ with a dead/live configuration (again acoustic paint) this room could have the best possible options for the Cine5. The distance to the audio source is only 2-3 feet. Once again the Cine5 is right under and centered on the monitor.The smaller dimensions and nearer listening position make a world of difference. Here everyone agreed that the Cine5 was able to fill up the smaller room with sound. The positional effects were very noticeable as well. We found something else very interesting. When in the two larger rooms there was very little presence (bass) in the audio, in the Office there was much more of a presence and life to the audio. In almost every way the Cine5 performed better in the smaller room and with closer proximity. The words used here changed with the smaller area and were ones such as; Full, Vibrante, Clean, and even cool.
All about the angles –While we were talking about the specifications and design of the Cine5 we briefly mentioned that we felt it would be very positional. It turns out that we were correct on that score. The Cine5 has a roughly 100 degree listening angle. If you are outside this the positional effects are not present, the audio can still be very good, but the 5.1 effect is lost. The sounds all seem to blend at that point. It is pretty dramatic to be honest. A 6-12 inch shift can make the difference between 5.1 and stereo.
General Performance -As we have mentioned the placement of the Cine5 matters; you will want to center it on your monitor or TV and make sure that your listening position is between 3-6 feet from the Cine5 and within a 100 degree arc. Inside this envelope the Cine5 does an excellent job of producing full, live and vibrant audio.
