16. Philips A3600 (Available April 2002)

The Philips A3600 sound system is the only one in the test with flat speakers. It uses a technology developed by Philips but based on NXT. This is a good point to start with as the flat systems already tested, whether they use conventional TXT or SLAB, did not impress us unduly. The A3600 has four speakers, a center channel of 10 watts and a subwoofer of 2x25 watts, with two different loudspeakers: a conventional 5.25" and a 6" one using wOOx technology, which also belongs to Philips. This is supposed to produce very deep low frequencies using much smaller components than usual. Despite all this, the tests showed that the two combined did not reach the 40 Hz threshold claimed, but one of around 50 Hz. The A3600 settings are accessible with the infrared remote control which has all the controls required for this kind of system: mute; stand-by; front and rear volume; high and low frequencies; plus several predefined equalizing functions for Rock, Classic and Pop. It also has three playback modes: Movie, Stereo and Concert. Connections are not left out either, with two mini-jack inputs for 4.1 sound and a DIN input with a mini-jack adapter for 5.1.

Obviously you can't compare a flat speaker system to one with conventional speakers. Whatever the manufacturers may say, flat-speaker sound is always more metallic, and both medium and high frequencies soon start to crackle when the volume is raised a bit too high. So, if highs with fidelity and clearness and nicely-marked mediums are essential for you, it's best not to go for this kind of system. In practice, we noticed that the A3600 behaves better than the other flat systems we have tested. High frequencies are less metallic and nasal, proof of a fairly good bandwidth in high sounds. Medium frequencies are not so marked as in conventional systems but still not bad. As we already said, low frequencies are not as deep as they should be with a threshold noted at 50 Hz. Still, they are good enough for games, given the small size of the subwoofer. But if they are good enough for games, they aren't for DVD because they lack the depth and presence needed for rendering certain background sounds. So, if it is used for what it is good at, the A3600 is a good flat-speaker system. But, compared to conventional systems in the same price range, it is not up to scratch. If design and a small size are important factors for you, you'd best go for an Altec Lansing 4100.