It is an excellent all-in-one for films, provided that you
have already a Smart TV.
Teufel
Cubycon 2
Teufel’s latest 5.1 speaker system is designed as an
all-in-one upgrade to turn any TV and Blu-ray player into a complete home cinema
setup, without any need for a separate home cinema amplifier. The Cubycon 2 has
a decoder box with all the inputs for all your speakers, games consoles and
set-top boxes, but doesn’t degrade a little bit of sound quality.
As the system doesn’t depend on a third-party amplifier,
Teufel has tried to move all to move all the speaker inputs to the subwoofer, which
allows you to hide most of your cables with only a few inputs going into the
decoder box. This occupies less room, and will keep the mess at the least. All
the inputs are on the rear.
The Cubycon 2 has three HDMI inputs, all of which support
version 1.4a for playing 3D video, and there are two stereo RCA inputs, two
digital coaxial inputs and one optical input, a 3.5mm auxiliary input and radio
antennae for FM and AM stations. Moreover, there's also a USB port here, but
it's only for updating services – you can’t play media through the decoder.
The subwoofer connects to the decoder using three stereo RCA
cables, which are provided in the box. They are quite thick and you may need
some plans to hide them effectively, but they're long enough to place the
subwoofer out of sight. The subwoofer is as big as a suitcase, but it is well made
and looks splendid in gunmetal black. Managing the cable a bit, we are happy to
show it out rather than hide it behind the furniture. It is provided with power,
and has a separate power cable for the decoder box, plus binding post connectors
for connecting each satellite speaker. It also has power and volume controls,
if you ever want to reduce its noise-making possibility.
The satellite speakers are compact and they look like
smaller versions of the subwoofer. The fabric driver covers can’t be removed,
but they look just great. Each satellite uses binding posts, which allow you to
use your own speaker wire if the provided one isn’t long enough, and has
mounting points for attaching to a wall.
Once set up, we ran the Cubycon 2 with our comprehensive set
of test discs. It did well with the surround sound video, which made Harry
Potter's dragon battle in The Goblet of Fire become
chillingly genuine. Right from the beginning, the system is well balanced, with
each satellite being heard when the 5.1 soundtrack demands it. Surround-sound
effects are also clearly defined in Avatar, giving real depth to the opening scenes
as helicopters fly overhead and creatures are chasing through the jungle. There
is a lot of subtle detail, even in quieter scenes, and we can always hear
conversations clearly thanks to the accurate navigating audio.
The subwoofer is just sufficiently present at its default
setting, but we have lowered the crossover point slightly to give it more noise.
At high volumes and during intense action sequences, it proves extremely powerful
to provide wall-shaking bass that stays clear and without distortion. We can’t
hear any distortion throughout the whole frequency during the film test, which
is a good indication that you won’t need to do too much to achieve excellent
sound.
It proves
extremely powerful to provide wall-shaking bass that stays clear and without
distortion.
However, we weren't so impressed with music playback from an
iPad through the 3.5mm auxiliary input. Unlike films, the audio was heavy in
bass and had a weak mid-range that let the top- and low-ends dominate. We
switched to a digital optical input and changed from direct 5.1 to Dolby NE0:6
Music, which helped decrease the dominance of low-frequencies slightly, but we
couldn't control it completely, even when changing crossover levels and subwoofer
volume. lf you use your home theater setup only for films, this might not be a
problem, but we expect a $2,200 system to deal easily with any inputs.
Teufel packs a comprehensive remote control to allow you to adjust
the system, and it has all the features you have expected, including tone,
balance, level control, along with source selection and volume buttons. It’s a
really good thing you won't have to rely on the onscreen interface, as it's a basic
menu system that proves to be less excellent than many famous home cinema packages,
although it has lots of customizable options. We especially prefer the option
to set alternate audio outputs when playing HDMI video sources, which can be
useful if you're running a computer through your TV.
With its unbelievably easy setup, wonderful sound quality in
films and splendid small appearance, we were impressed with the Cubycon 2. It’s
not impeccable – mainly the basic onscreen interface and plenty of cables needed
to connect the decoder to the subwoofer – and it lacks the Smart TV systems you
may find on a famous brand all-in-one, but it's a great piece of kit.
We are not sure it is guaranteed for its price. You could
buy the normal Q Acoustics Q7000 speaker set and an average-priced amplifier, with
the change left to buy a Blu-ray player equipped for Smart TV. Still, if you
treasure space and the ease of use, we can see how appealing the Teufel kit
turned out to be.
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Info
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Price: $2,197 incl. VAT
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Website: www.teufel.com
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Ranking: 4/5
Specifications
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Inputs: 3 HDMI, 2 stereo phono, 2 coaxial S/PDIF, 1 optical S/PDIF
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Outputs: 1 HDMI
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Power consumption: 281W on, 1W standby
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Warranty: 12-year RTB speakers, 2-year RTB electronic devices
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