# XTZ Sound Cinema Series Discussion Thread



## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

XTZ Sound Cinema Series

By Jim Wilson (theJman)

​photo courtesy of XTZ Sound​
The XTZ Cinema Series is a sonic tour de force, a complete system that encourages you to dig deep into your movie and music collection to unearth hidden gems long since forgotten. Why? Because now you will want to experience everything in your library all over again. It is so good you might find yourself spewing adjectives on a regular basis; "enthralling", "riveting", "captivating", "outstanding", think along those lines. Regardless of how complex or busy the source material was minutiae sprang to life, detail was always evident, yet there was also a deep and layered soundstage. Output was never an issue. The SUB3X12 is a beast and can certainly hold its own, but for me the real star of the show were the speakers. Is it possible to be subtle and obvious at the same time? Rhapsodic yet subdued? Whereas some companies rely upon magniloquence to get their point across XTZ relishes understated poise. I honestly can't think of a single legitimate complaint about the M6 mains or S5 surrounds, and with how picky I am that's saying quite a lot. From their unique appearance to the unrivaled performance you're talking elite here; they look different and sound exquisite, which basically describes the ideal combination in my book. If you want a system that will simultaneously get your friends tongues wagging and their jaws dropping than XTZ Sound has something you need to hear, and it is called the Cinema Series. With 2 months to audition them in your own home, and free shipping both ways, you have absolutely nothing to lose.

*For the full review Click Here​*​


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Great review, Jim. I'd love to hear these. One thing's for sure: they have aesthetics nailed. These speakers have the look.


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks Todd!

I completely agree about the look; very different, yet very pleasing. Because they're more than just a pretty face you get the best of both worlds too.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

Worlds? Take me to your leader! Better yet, lead me to ownership. Your comprehensive and enjoyable review presses all my right buttons and urges me to audition the system... one way or another!


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

Fixed. Thanks for letting me know. :T


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## tesseract (Aug 9, 2010)

Good read, Jim, thanks for shining some light on these.

XTZ has really thrown down the gauntlet with their confidence inspiring free shipping both ways trial.


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## XTZ USA (Sep 26, 2013)

Great review Jim. Thanks! If you know anyone or if anyone that reads this want to buy the system that theJman reviewed, then please email [email protected]

//Anders H


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## skank (Mar 28, 2013)

My current setup is:

Receiver: Marantz SR6007, 
Fronts: Focal 826V, 
Center: Focal CC800V, 
Surrounds: Focal SR700 
SurroundBacks: Focal 807V 
Subwoofer: SVS PC12SND-DSP

In a rather small room (3m x 4,5m)

I might considering going this route , and replace the focals and svs by 5.1 XTZ cinema series

What do you guys think?
Would this be an upgrade?

Havent heard them yet (might plan visit to siamsquare)
The room is under the roof
Here are some pics of my dedicated room




















As you can see, its not a huge room. (but those focals fronts are)

I actually thought, maybe smaller speakers would sound better (bigger), if it is an upgrade, i might consider it.


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

It may be an optical illusion, but it sure looks like your fronts are positioned behind the listener. Be that as it may... you have nice speakers already, so whether switching to XTZ is an upgrade depends upon what your definition of that means.

The S5 should equal or best the SR700, so at worse consider that a tie. I suspect the the same could be said about the M6 vs the CC800V, with one except; for sure, the upper end in the M6 will eclipse what the CC800V is capable of. Quite obviously, the 826V will be able to produce more output and deeper bass than the M6. On the subwoofer side it's the same - the difference would be quite obvious - but that one goes to the SUB3X12. The SVS is a very nice unit, but it simply won't be able to keep pace with the XTZ.

So where does that leave you? I see two comparisons as a tie, one clearly in favor of Focal and one clearly in favor of XTZ. That's why I said earlier it depends upon what you're looking to get with this upgrade. I can think of one other factor to consider, and that's associated to the 826V.

The room I evaluated the Cinema Series system in is not much different than yours - 3.9m x 5.1m - so my experience should be comparable to the one you would have. Given my proximity to the speakers, about 3m-3.3m away from the fronts, I found the detail to be extraordinary. I get the feeling the 826V's are not going to provide the same level of accuracy because they were more than likely intended for a much larger space. When designing a crossover the engineer needs to account for potential usage, and in so doing will adjust things like phase and time alignment accordingly. I don't know for certain, but my guess would be Focal had envisioned the listener being further than 3m away. If so, you may not be getting the full effect from them because they're too close. An auto EQ system like Audyseey, YPAO or MCACC can only correct so much - they can't undo how the crossover was engineered - so it would be limited in how much correction for that can be applied.


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## skank (Mar 28, 2013)

Thanks for your reply.

If i'm going the xtz route.. i would keep my svs sub
I dont plan to go 3x12 xtz as a sub.
If i would go to xtz sub , i probably would get 1x12 from xtz


What i want to achieve, is a better surround bubble, with even more detail
What i'm missing now that is i think the room is indeed to small (3m) for my focal 826v
I got a kingpin screen vfs210 which is 2m17 wide. Theres a border of 8cm so in total screen is exact 2m
Only 3m wide room, leaves exact 1m to place both speakers (826)
Since they need some room between speaker and side, i cant really give them much space
i pulled them away from screen side too, to give them space, but then i come closer to listening point

You can clearly see those 826 are next to screen not behind my listening point lol

I get the feeling when listening to 826 in stereo, sound stays in front between speakers instead of at my head.
Missing that too
+ the fact i think xtz speakers are smaller, are perhaps better

Its very hard to decide.

But theres another thing
I'm able to get another set, switching my focals with

an m&k I one set
like http://goo.gl/a8L5EI

i can swap my 5.0 focals with
This is 8years old though
and i really want atmos in the future + 7.1, so actually 7.1.4 is the route im going
But those speakers arent made anymore , so upgrading to 7.1.4 might be trouble

So or i keep focals and get an atmos receiver denon x6200 and pay around 2000 euro for the amp
or i go the xtz way and start with 5.0 and my svs sub and my marantz sr6007 and pay 2000 euro for the xtz
or i take the mkI one set with my marantz 6007 

hard decision but i ddont want to regret getting rid of my focals


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

Since the front panel on the M6 speakers is angled they're "toed in" automatically, and from what you're saying about the space you have available that might help with the auditory issues. Essentially you won't have to change the orientation of the speakers in order for them to provide the benefits of being toed in.

In North America XTZ offers a 45 day in-home trial of their products. You're IP address suggests you live in Belgium, so I'm not sure what their policy is where you live, but if it's similar perhaps you should try auditioning them and see how they perform. In the end the only thing that matters is if you like how they sound, and there's only one way to do that; hear them for yourself. It might be something to consider at least.


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## superpoppa (May 2, 2018)

theJman said:


> In North America XTZ offers a 45 day in-home trial of their products.


I'm very interested in purchasing the M8 or M6 series but I am having trouble tracking down someone to speak to at XTZ in North America to discuss details like buy and try or warranty. Any advice on how to go forward?


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## theJman (Mar 3, 2012)

Their US website has always been a bit of a joke - something I spoke to them about on many an occasion, and one of those people was even the President of the company in Sweden - but to no avail it seems. I just poked around xtzsound.us, the website you would be using as it seems you're from Canada, and the Contact Us page, webforms and support email are all for the European region instead.

I sent you a PM with the name and email address for my US contacts. I haven't communicated with either of them in several years, but hopefully one or both are still with the organization.


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## superpoppa (May 2, 2018)

theJman said:


> I sent you a PM with the name and email address for my US contacts. I haven't communicated with either of them in several years, but hopefully one or both are still with the organization.


Thank you for the PM. Unfortunately I get a mail delivery failure for both of them which I'm assuming means they are gone. Also using the contact us page on the website leads to a 404 webpage error.

This is disappointing because everything I read from users is they are fantastic performers. But if there is no customer support it leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. I just had some basic questions about warranty and shipping. If I own these and have an issue and can't get a hold of a single human being that's a real problem.


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