Niro 600 Review
By Yongki Go
March 24th, 2005
Summary
The name NIRO is almost synonymous with innovation. The company, founded by industry legend Niro Nakamichi, has been pioneering innovative one-enclosure surround-sound speaker systems for some time now. The idea might seem rather far-fetched, but my previous encounters with NIRO products have changed me into a believer of the idea. That is mainly because past NIRO products worked as advertised. NIRO, however, is not the type of company who likes to stand still in its success. Recently, the company released its new product lines, which are supposed to feature improvements over their predecessors. One of them is the NIRO 600 system reviewed here.
The NIRO 600 ($749/system) is in the middle of the line of the recently introduced product series. Immediately you will notice the size difference. Overall, the NIRO 600 is smaller than past NIRO products. Not only is the main controller smaller, but so is the one-enclosure speaker, and it sports a new configuration. The NIRO 600, however, still carries the classic NIRO appearance, which is the silver and gray combined finish. To me, this finish looks elegant and can easily fit into most room décor.
Full Review
Features
The NIRO 600 system consists of a controller/amplifier, a speaker, a subwoofer, and a remote control. The obvious feature that differentiates the NIRO 600 with a conventional surround-sound system is the speaker. Instead of five or seven separate speakers for delivering the surround effects, the NIRO 600 utilizes a single-enclosure speaker that houses an array of five 2.5"-drivers in a unique configuration. Basically, this speaker represents the front left and right, the center channel, and the surround speakers in one enclosure. The enclosure and the speaker grills are all made from metal (aluminum). The speaker also is magnetically shielded. It's relatively small, and if you have one of the popular silver finish televisions, this speaker can sit relatively inconspicuously on the television top. Brackets for hanging the speaker on the wall also are provided.
NIRO 600 Main Speaker
Obviously, the regular surround-sound algorithms, such as Dolby Digital, DTS, or Dolby Prologic II, are not sufficient to create effective surround effects from these five drivers, as they are not positioned the way such algorithms require. To overcome this, the NIRO 600 controller/amplifier employs a special algorithm in addition to the standard surround processing to recreate the intended surround effects. Theoretically, with this special processing, the listener will experience surround sound from this single speaker enclosure, as if the speakers were distributed surrounding the listener: the very idea behind this NIRO system!
The controller/amplifier of the 600 system is about half of the common width of a full size component, but it is rather deep. Its front panel has a relatively clean appearance. Besides the display and six round buttons (for power, volume, mode, source and speaker selectors), the front panel also sports an optical digital input, a stereo analog input, and a headphone jack. Other inputs can be found on the rear panel, consisting of a pair of optical digital inputs, a coaxial digital input, and a stereo analog input. Special connectors for the NIRO 600's system speaker and subwoofer are also located on this rear panel. A separate connector for the MovieMouse is also provided. (For those of you who don't know, the MovieMouse is a close-proximity surround-sound speaker, one of NIRO's innovations.) The provision of the separate MovieMouse connector on the NIRO 600 system is a welcome addition, allowing both the speaker and the MovieMouse to be connected all of the time to the controller/amplifier; a user can select a speaker by pressing the selector on the controller/amplifier's front panel or from the remote control. In the earlier NIRO's products, simultaneous connection for both the speaker and MovieMouse is not possible.
NIRO 600 Controller and Amplifier
Features Cont'd
The NIRO 600 controller/amplifier is fully controllable from the supplied remote control. This remote control is actually quite versatile. It can be programmed to control other components by inputting the appropriate component codes, as listed in the system manual. The remote control buttons have various shapes and sizes, and they are nicely spaced and laid out. Some buttons on the remote, which likely are the ones you use most often, can glow in the dark (a phosphorus type of glow). The source/input buttons on the remote have a red backlight and light up for a second when pressed. The silver finish of the remote matches the finish of the controller/amplifier well.
NIRO 600 Remote Control
The subwoofer of the NIRO 600 system uses a 6.5" driver in a bass-reflex design. Its box-shape enclosure has a shallow depth, only a little over 4". Therefore, its footprint is relatively small, and since the port is located in front, it can easily be put against the wall.
NIRO 600 Subwoofer
All the necessary amplification for the system is housed in the controller/amplifier unit. It contains five of 27 W/channel amplification to power the five drivers in the speaker, and a 45 W amplifier for the subwoofer. These numbers may seem small compared to the amplification values boasted by many mini or home-theater-in-a-box systems out there, but NIRO gives you the RMS values, not just the peak values like many of those systems do. I can tell you from my evaluation that the amplification in the NIRO 600 system can produce sufficient SPL for most applications in small to medium rooms.
Use and Performance
As with other NIRO systems, simplicity in setup is the virtue of this NIRO 600 system. An obvious advantage compared to a conventional surround-sound system is less wire to connect, because the system uses a single-enclosure surround speaker. You can be up and running in much less time than in a conventional setup.
For this evaluation, I put the NIRO speaker on top of my Sony 32" TV and the subwoofer on the front corner of the room. I tried the system with various digital and analog sources, such as a DVD player, CD player, VCR, and TV. Overall, the unit's operation was fairly simple and logical; this is a very family-friendly system. I'm glad also to report that the NIRO 600 system ran without a glitch during the testing period. Its digital-signal auto detection worked flawlessly. I liked also the supplied remote control. In my opinion, it had a good ergonomic design and was pleasant to use. Also, it could be easily used in the dark because some of its often-to-use buttons glowed.
Okay, in terms of the NIRO 600 operation, so far, so good; but what about its sound? Since this was not my first acquaintance with a NIRO system, I did not approach the 600 system without some performance expectations. And I was glad to find out that the system didn't disappoint me.
In general, the NIRO 600 produced clear and detailed sound. No matter what program material it played on, it never sounded muddy or congested. Its tonal balance was good and in stereo mode, it was capable of delivering good soundstage, albeit with a rather diffuse image. If you are a true-to-the-bone audiophile, you may not be satisfied with the system performance. But this system was never intended for the purist audiophile anyway, and the musical performance it delivered was more than enough for casual listening.
Where the NIRO 600 system really shone was in home theater application, including for-TV sound enhancement. Watching TV with it would increase your level of enjoyment than using just the built-in TV speakers. For DVD-movie watching, although it wouldn't give me the full-blown surround sound of the system with 5.1 or 7.1 separate speakers, the NIRO 600 system nevertheless delivered respectable surround envelopment from a single speaker enclosure. It might not be quite precise in delivering surround localization, but it was capable of producing believable surround envelopment and ambience effects. The system also conveyed dialogs with good intelligibility and naturality. The system's subwoofer was fine for augmenting most movie soundtracks, although it didn't have the low-frequency extension and the high decibel-output capability to keep up with some bass-demanding scenes. Not a big limitation, if you ask me, especially when you consider the size of the system.
Conclusions
The NIRO 600 system is a joy to use. It is a home-theater system that's simple to setup and easy to operate, and packaged in a space-saving design. The system is also nice looking, and most importantly, it delivers respectable surround performance from a single-enclosure speaker. Nowadays, for the price of the NIRO 600 system ($749), there are plenty of options for mini surround-sound systems. However, for people who want a surround-sound system that occupies minimal space and don't want to deal with the complexity associated with the conventional systems, NIRO 600 offers a unique and very attractive solution.
Associated Equipment for This Review:
DVD playback: Toshiba SD-3800
Satellite receiver: Dish 301
Other pre-pro: Meridian 565
Other speaker system: Onix Rocket ELT-1 speaker system
Specs
Specifications:
Main unit:
- Power source: 120V, 60Hz
- External dimensions: 7.9″(W) × 2.2″(H) × 11.7″(D)
- Weight: 4.8 lbs
- Input terminals: 4 digital (3 toslink, 1 coaxial), 2 analog
- Output terminals: speaker: 8Ω, MovieMouse speaker: 24Ω, subwoofer: 6Ω, headphone: 16-50Ω (Recommendation 32Ω)
- Amplifier: full digital, 27W RMS×5, subwoofer: 45W RMS×1
- Supported audio formats: Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II
Speaker unit:
- Type: full range speaker system
- Drivers: 5x2.5 inch (6cm), cone type
- Impedance: 8Ω
- External dimensions: 9.3″(W) × 3.1″(H) × 6.4″(D)
- Weight: 5.1 lbs (excluding cables)
- Cable length: about 16.4 ft
Subwoofer:
- Type: bass reflect
- Driver: 6.5 inch (16cm), cone type
- Impedance: 6Ω
- External dimensions: 16.9″(W) × 12.6″(H) × 4.3″(D)
- Weight: 11 lbs (excluding cables)
- Cable length: about 14 ft.
Remote controller:
- Type: universal - preset capable
- External dimensions: 2.3″(W) × 8.1″(H) × 0.9″(D)