Monitor Audio’s new ASB-10 compact Active Soundbar system is engineered to restore the power of an audio and video experience by re-energising HD and UHD pictures with the sound they deserve. Although TV panels deliver ever wider more enveloping pictures, their on-board sound quality is in relative decline. Size limitations imposed by shrinking bezels mean that the speakers within them reproduce only fraction of the bandwidth available from today’s DTV boxes, games consoles and media players.

Equipped with a performance 2.0 audio design comprising proprietary driver/amp pairings, integrated Dolby Digital processing and Bluetooth aptX™ wire-free streaming, the slender ASB-10 will, say Monitor “generate big, immersive audio dynamics from TV, games, discs and smartphones to become the audio hub for every home”.

With a 90 x 94mm cross section and at just under a metre in length, the discreetly proportioned ASB-10 complements the look of flat screens from wall or table-top positions. Its slim moulded polymer cabinet with black grille cloth and brushed aluminium end trims houses an array of four Monitor Audio 3” C-CAM® bass drivers (assisted by a brace of passive bass radiators), and twin 25mm Gold Dome C-CAM tweeters. The ASB-10’s proprietary drive-unit configuration is powered by as many as four integral DSP-trimmed amplifiers, individually calibrated by Monitor Audio engineers. A single, easy, optical or coaxial SP-DIF link to the TV allows the ASB-10 to decode digital audio from connected sources. Activated automatically when a signal is received, the ABS-10’s on-board Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro-Logic II decoding ensures wide compatibility with film and games content. Dolby’s Virtual Speaker processing, which is designed to replicate a three-dimensional surround sound experience, is enabled via a button located on the front panel, or remote handset. In addition the ASB-10 will energise streams of uncompressed CD-quality audio from smartphones and tablets through its effortless Bluetooth apt-X wireless technology, and accept legacy analogue sources via a 3.5mm stereo input.

In most circumstances the ASB-10 will deliver ample levels of bass, but for low frequency enthusiasts Monitor Audio has developed the optional WS-10 active sub-woofer. Complete with three-position EQ and a high quality digital wireless link to the ASB-10, the WS-10 is a compact and versatile design, comprising an 8” C-CAM driver powered by a 120 watt amplifier, generously provisioned with individual volume and phase controls, and a standard array of wired LFE and 12V inputs for integration with an AVR in alternative system applications. For ever greater system design versatility, the WS-10 can connect wire-free to other systems via Monitor Audio’s new WT-1 transmitter module. Equipped with twin HiVe reflex ports, the WS-10’s low-profile cabinet of 18mm MDF is designed with flexibility in mind, wirelessly extending the ASB-10’s full-range delivery and contributing deeper bass to any Soundbar or compact satellite system through wired or wireless connections from the widest range of discreet room locations: beneath furniture, along room boundaries or in corners.