NHT SB-2, SC-1, SW10
March 7th, 2003 | by Yongki Go
Full Review
Now Hear This Inc. (NHT), a company based in California, has been in the loudspeaker business since 1986. Much of the success of the company has been due to its ability to deliver high quality products without high prices, something that enthusiasts on a budget would definitely appreciate. Some of the NHT products have even been considered to be a benchmark of value in the hifi world.
Recently, NHT introduces its new product lines and I was very excited to get the opportunity to review the home theater loudspeaker system from the company's SuperAudio series, which in this case is the combination of the SB-2 bookshelf loudspeakers, the SC-1 center channel loudspeaker, and the SW10 powered subwoofer. The SB-2 is the successor of the highly touted SuperOne, which has drawn rave reviews from everywhere.
Design and Features
NHT's trademark look in the past has been glossy black and sharp edges. The new look is still predominantly glossy black, but the sharp edges have been replaced by the rounded and smooth ones. And instead of using laminate finish, the enclosures of the loudspeakers are painted. The SB-2 also comes in glossy white, but you can only get the SC-1 and SW10 in glossy black. I like the new look of the loudspeakers, which in my opinion, is classier than the old one. The built quality of these loudspeakers is excellent. Their enclosures are quite rigid and show no sign of resonance.
The design of the SB-2 is acoustic suspension (closed box, no port) with a 1-inch proprietary fluid-cooled metal dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch polypropylene woofer. It is magnetically shielded, so you can safely put it very close to your television without distorting its picture. A screw hole is provided on the back in case you want to wall-mount it. Should you decide to put the SB-2 on the stand, NHT also makes the matching stands for it, called the Last Stand, which has silver color aluminum support column with black wood base and metal platform ($200/pair). I don't know about you, but I personally wouldn't put the white SB-2 on this stand for aesthetic reason. The loudspeaker connections on the back are five-way binding posts, which accept raw wires, banana plugs, or spade plugs (see figure).
The SW10 subwoofer is a front-vented design with a 10 inch polypropylene driver and a built-in 150 watt amplifier. On the back panel, you'll find all the subwoofer controls (volume, crossover frequency, polarity, on/off switch, and audio/video switch) as well as the input and output terminals. The SW10 accepts low or high level inputs and also provides high-pass filtered or full range outputs. When the auto-on switch is engaged, the SW10 automatically turns on itself in the presence of the incoming signal. There is also an audio/video contour switch on the back. According to the manual, when this switch is flipped to audio, the subwoofer produces a flat bass response, which is ideal for music listening. When it is flipped to video, the lower mid bass is enhanced, which may be desirable for movie sounds. However, in such setting the lower bass rolls off faster than in the audio setting and the manual warns against the use of this setting when the main loudspeakers are large and the crossover is set very low (below 40 Hz or so).
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