29 November 2004
by Noah Kravitz
Reviews Editor

Earlier this month I reviewed the Niro 600, a high quality home theater in a box system that packs 5.1 digital surround sound into three easy-to-connect boxes that take the complexity and clutter out of assembling a decent sounding system. Today we go a step further: one box + one cable = six channels of sound.

soundmatters sent me their MAINstage set-top sound system, which packs two speakers, a subwoofer, and four Class-D digital amps (at 80W total power) into a semi-circle shaped box that's less than three inches tall and will fit neatly atop most TVs and monitors (or next to your PowerBook or flat screen). soundmatters claims their advanced digital processing and speaker design lets the MAINstage "play back DVDs at movie theater sound levels a bedroom or moderate sized den (max of about 1800 cubic feet = i.e. 15ft x 15ft, 8' ceilings)" with full-on surround sound. Even better, you can hook an external subwoofer up to MAINstage to fill larger rooms with all the dialogue, music, and special effects from your favorite flicks.

MAINstage looks cool, with its low-profile charcoal grey and silver (or all-silver) housing, single button, and minimalist IR remote control. MAINstage is easy to hook up, with its four audio inputs (RCA stereo and 1/8" minijack analog, coaxial and optical digital), single subwoofer out, and bass level adjustment knob keeping things simple on the back panel. Mainstage is even easy to position, thanks to the included adjustable leveling feet that let you rest the speakerbox atop your television or computer monitor, on a shelf, or most anywhere else where there's 17" x 9.5" of free space.

So it's easy on the eyes and easy to set up. Great. But how does it sound?

Movies

Connected to my DVD player via either a coaxial or optical digital cable, MAINstage did an excellent job of bringing Dolby Digital soundtracks to life. As I said when reviewing the Niro system, you can't expect the same performance out of a single box that you'd get from a full-on home theater system with six separate speakers positioned around the room. MAINstage worked best in surround mode when I was sitting about three to eight feet directly in front of it, which is a somewhat limited range as compared to a system that actually places speakers behind the listener. That being said, watching discs with MAINstage is still fun.

First of all, this baby can get loud -- much louder than I cared for, actually (and I'm a drummer). Reined in at the lower end of its volume settings and with the bass control set somewhere in the middle, MAINstage filled my living room with dialogue, music, effects, and ambient noises as promised. Dialogue was clear and positioned out front, cars and other moving objects tracked accurately to and from both sides of the screen, and things that go bump in the night had me doing that "what's outside the window?" thing I do when surround sound works as it's supposed to. Though I've read at least one other review that knocked MAINstage for a perceived lack of bass, I didn't at all find this to be the case -- kept in the middle of its settings, the interal subwoofer performed admirably, even more so considering how small the whole unit is. Again, a dedicated output allows for the addition of an external, powered sub for extended low-end oomph.

I also connected the unit to my cable box via RCA analog stereo cables, and performance was equally nice. Compared to my Sony TV's built-in stereo speakers, MAINstage created a much richer, clearer soundfield, especially during musicial passages and newer programming. The unit's surround effect still created enhanced ambient noise, especially from stereo programming, but the effect wasn't nearly as good as when MAINstage had a Dolby Digital signal to play with.

Paired with my iBook, MAINstage's enhancing effect was even more noticable. Nobody's ever said that a laptop's integrated speakers need to be anything worth writing home about, but hooking a box like this up to your Mac really makes one realize just how little justice those tinny little built-in drivers do to the audio that today's computers are capable of producing. If your Mac is the center of your audiovisual universe, a system like this might be just what you need -- it pumps out rich sound from a single enclosure that won't clutter your workspace one bit.

One note: MAINstage can not decode DTS movie soundtracks -- it's Dolby only for this puppy. Of course, this really shouldn't be a problem as (according to soundmatters' Web site) all DVDs encoded with DTS also offer a Dobly Digital soundtrack.

Music

The big problem with listening to music through a single-box speaker system is that you lose stereo separation. For some people this isn't a big deal, but it bothers me. MAINstage is a single-box system, so there's no separation here -- the surround sound processing can't really do for music what it does for ambient noises in movie soundtracks. That being said, the system really reproduces music quite well. I tried it out hooked up to my iPod (via 1/8" cable), my iBook (via digital optical from an external USB soundcard), and a DVD/CD player (via coaxial digital and RCA stereo cables) and was quite pleased with the results in all cases. Surround mode cluttered the sound in a way I didn't really care for, but set to stereo mode, MAINstage produced a nice, clear signal with good highs and lows.

As with movies, the unit had no problem generating more than ample volume to fill a small to mid-sized room with music. One nice feature about the unit is that given the managable size of the sole box, it's pretty easy to move it from location to location provided there's an AC outlet wherever you're going. Paired with my iPod and an AC extension cord, MAINstage made a very nice, sleek outdoor sound system for the back patio.

Minor Quibbles

By now you can probably tell I really like MAINstage, especially as a surround sound solution for movies. I do have a few minor complaints, however. First, when the unit is on one of its front-panel green lights is always lit up - steadily when the speakers are active or blinking when in standby mode. I'm funny like this, but I really wanted the lights to go off when I was done listening (the blinking made it all the worse). Switching the back-panel power switch to off would fix this, but soundmatters recommends leaving the unit "on" in standby mode unless you're going on vacation or otherwise planning not to use it for a few weeks or more. soundmatters did tell me that future products will feature lights that turn all the way off, however.

Second, there's no volume control on the main unit nor is there any sort of volume level indicator on it, either. So if you lose the remote, you won't be able to control the volume, and even with the remote there's no way to tell how loud the sound is going to be until it comes out. The former could be a problem, rendering your MAINstage somewhat useless should you lose the clicker (though many universal remotes will control the device); the latter is more of a once-in-awhile inconvienience than anything else. On a similar note, there's also no way to tell if the unit is in "surround" or "stereo" mode -- you basically have to flip between them with the remote and pick the one you like best. That actually kind of makes sense ...

Also, four inputs can be fewer than you think. Four will serve most people fine, especially if you're considering MAINstage as a secondary system, but consider this: My iPod and cable box ate up the two analog inputs, leaving my VCR all wired up with nowhere to go. Some of you might have fancier cable/sattelite TV boxes with digital audio outputs, but not me -- so either my cable signal or VCR had to be left in the cold ... and I haven't even mentioned the xBox yet. So if you've got designs on connecting all of your a/v equipment to one unit, count up those cables before you spend your money on a MAINstage. Or, at the least, consider how often you actually use that VCR these days.

Conclusion and Advice

Here's the surprise ending that makes all the difference to this story -- soundmatters usually sells MAINstage for $299, but through the end of the year (that's 12/31/04 to you numerical types) it's on sale for $229, and a $30 mail-in rebate cuts the price down to $199. If you've already got a DVD player, that's not bad at all for a quality-sounding home theater solution. If you've already got a fancy home theater, that's not bad at all for a second system for the bedroom. If you've already got a system in the bedroom, that's not bad at all for... You get the point.

At $300, I might have some reservations about recommending MAINstage unless you really hate wires and speakerboxes -- as I've said before, $300 can get you a pretty decent six-speaker Logitech system (or an even nicer Onkyo if you keep an eye out for sales). $200, on the other hand, won't get you too much unless you already have a bunch of good speakers lying around the house -- a $200 home theater in a box won't bring you much besides buyer's remorse, trust me. But for $199, MAINstage is virtually a steal if you watch a lot of movies.

For music alone I personally would prefer a nice 2.1 sub/sattelite system to a single enclosure system. But if you're in the market for a compact, easy to use surround sound setup that will also do justice to your music (if you don't mind the sound all coming from one place), you'll be hard pressed to get more for your money than what MAINstage has to offer. MAINstage produces clear, accurate audio from any source and really brings Dolby Digital DVDs to life, especially in small or mid-sized rooms. I recommend it highly, even if that little green light won't stop flashing.

MAINstage and soundmatters' other surround sound systems are available direct from the soundmatters Website. Compare prices at PCPrices.

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Noah Kravitz runs the Technology and Culture blog Threebase.com. He is an educator, musician, and writer who now lives in Oakland, CA and is the author of Teaching and Learning with Technology.