Aperion Intimus 4T Hybrid SD

[ Music ] ^M00:00:02 >> I'm John Falcone, senior editor at cnet.com, and this is the Imperion Intimus 4T hybrid SD surround sound speaker system. It's available in black or real cherry wood, as shown here. The system includes compact center and surround speakers, but the real highlight are these mini towers. They're far smaller than most floor-standing speakers, and that gives you a lot more power than the chintzy plastic speakers you find in a lot of smaller lifestyle systems. These also won't require stands because they're sitting right on the floor. Both towers and the center speaker contain a pair of 4-inch woofers and one 1-inch silk dome tweeter. The whole system exhibits unusually good tonal matching, so the five speakers nest together extraordinarily well. Another highlight is the Brava [Assumed spelling] 8 D sub woofer. The 150 Watt amp pumps out ample base for the system through dual 8-inch woofers, one on each side. There's also a directional pad and a remote control for setting up the sub, which you do by scrolling through the menu options on the built-in LCD screen. Both the screen and the control pad have been improved from the earlier version of the 8 D that we saw earlier this year. You can instantly toggle between game, movie, and music presets at the touch of a button on the remote control. Our only complaint is that it takes something of an expert touch to get the best sound from the parametric EQ. But when we say that was our only complaint, we really mean it. The Imperion system exhibited phenomenal sound quality for music and movies. While the entire system is about as expensive as a good flat panel TV, it delivers the sort of superb sound and high quality workmanship you expect to see in speakers costing far more. Factor in that they're small enough and good-looking enough to fit almost any decor, and you've got a surround speaker system that's highly recommended. I'm John Falcone for CNET, and this is the a Imperion Intimus 4T hybrid SD 5.1 surround sound speaker system. ^M00:02:07 [ Music ]