In this review we will test Teufel Cinesystem Trios home cinema set, which comes in several variants. For the test we use the L-set in a 3.1 and a 5.1 setup, although the ‘L’ is only relevant for the 5.1 variant. It is in fact an interpretation of the format rear-speakers, which you do not set up at 3.1 (only the soundbar and the sub).
Teufel Cinesystem Trios: What’s in the package?
As mentioned, the Teufel Cinesystem Trios comes in an M or L variant. For the test we use the L-set, the difference is the size of the speakers. What do you get for the two thousand euros that costs this composition? Five boxes – three big ones and two little ones.
T-4000 Sub
The T 4000 SW is a solid subwoofer in the largest of the set. The monster that you can put behind a piece of furniture or under the couch – if the couch is high enough! – houses three bass drivers controlled by 150Watt Class D amplifiers. The T 4000 is pretty easy to put out of sight: you can connect it wirelessly to the soundbar, so that you only need a power cable and do not have to make a physical connection to the TV cabinet. That is separate from the considerable size of course: the 13.2 kilo heavy sub of 30 centimeters deep and 12.5 centimeters high is almost one meter wide.
CS 42 Soundbar
A surround sound bar with the name CS 42 is waiting in box number two. A 2-channel with a total of 9 drivers: 3 for the tweeters in the middle and 6 for the midrange units on both sides. The internal dac is a 24-bit / 96kHz Cirrus Logic model. Decoding is available for DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1, not for DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD. Together with the T-4000 you nevertheless have quite a bit of power, which means that the larger living rooms can also be fitted out pretty well.
L 430 FR
At the last elongated box the ‘L’ shows itself for the first time. The pair of column speakers for the rear channels are namely long (114 cm) standing units, where the M variant are rather bookshelf models, which you can also hang against the wall. The extra cost for the L-system is 100 euros: before 1899 you get the same package, but your rear speakers are not at the right height yet. The 3-channel speakers (tweeter, 2x midrange, 2x woofer) sit in a sturdy, somewhat industrial aluminum housing that also characterizes the wide soundbar, and looks like they can take a blast.
In boxes 4 and 5 there are two power strips, the RearStation Compact RX, with which you can connect the rear channels wirelessly. At least, wireless: the rear stations themselves are plugged into a power socket and let you wirelessly connect to the surround bar, the control station, but there is still a piece of speaker cable from the rear stations to your speakers. From Teufel you get 15 meters of loudspeaker cable (C1015S), which you have to cut in two in order to connect both speakers. It’s so nice that here too no cables are right through the living room, but that they only run along your back wall. Of course it is not really wireless. In the RearStations you will also find 60 Watt amplifiers, because the rear channels are passive speakers.
Teufel Cinesystem Trios: connect
It is a bit of a shock when you see the number of boxes and accessories. Especially if you have never seen a similar solution to drive the back channels. But it has to be said, those Germans have again made a practical total picture of it. A child can do the laundry. You place the soundbar in front of your television, connect to TV and / or Blu-ray, for example, and plug it into the socket. Elsewhere in the room you connect the T-4000 to the mains power. The included SubConnect MOD can be plugged into the subwoofer at the back so that you can select the wireless connection via the Teufel menu on your TV screen and talk to the sub and soundbar. If you expand to 5.1, you follow similar steps to connect with the RearStations. Then there is suddenly 2,000 euros of audio violence connected to your narrow television. That you can also send via Bluetooth (4.0 aptX) to stream music from the phone or tablet, quickly connected via the NFC chip on top of the soundbar. And that without AV receiver!
For that mentioned 2K you have a set that quite fully provides for the wishes of the average AV consumer. That flat TV with that beautiful picture but bad sound, you can use this Teufel setup to shake up a bit. A solid 3.1 set-up as a starting point (available as such for 1300 euros), if desired, can be expanded at the rear.
How does that sound?
In the beginning there was 3.1, because the column speakers are still on the spare bank. The video source of service is Netflix, so the total set-up is limited to the TV soundbar subwoofer. The Blu-ray player is also just offside. Anyway, how many home entertainment systems are there nowadays not just built around a Netflixdevice (what we used to call ‘television’) and a nice set of speakers?
The first thing you notice about the selected audio violence – Denzel Washington film Deja Vu – is the solid role of the subwoofer within the Teufel Cinesystem Trios. Physically to be found under the wide coffee table in the middle between the couch and the TV, but can not be localized as such: a beautiful floor of low stretches across the living room. There have been better subwoofers here in the house, but also lesser ones. Especially lesser.
A second thing you notice is the detail. The fine, clear tones in particular from the middle of the CS 42. This surround bar on top of the TV cabinet can not stand up to the loudspeakers next to it and below it, at the time of the test, out of service, but that was due to the difference in price level. also not to be expected. But what was not necessarily to be expected: the beautiful sound image from this rectangular tube. The Teufel remote control allows very small steps in the volume, so the level for the most inveterate OCD’er can be adjusted, but also at LUID the speakers along with what happens on your screen without being tinny. Both in the dialogues of the film and in the more complex audio violence, for example during the hectic chase towards the end.
Dynamore
This may be due to Teufel’s Dynamore technology. Developed in-house, intended to provide audio with a boost for a wider sound, and previously spotted in mobile solutions such as the Bamster. Dynamore, which you can choose in the menu itself, adjusts the signals in the left and right channels according to the Berlin manufacturer so that the perceived stereo image becomes wider. Not wrong with a sound bar that is narrower than your TV, if you’re used to two large floorstanders on both sides. Add to that that settings like Music and Movie give you flexibility in the type of audio and the Trios gives you quite some dynamics.
Full Metal Package
Then the 5.1 setup of the Teufel Cinesystem Trios. Spoiler alert: the Trios system is clearly intended as 5.1. The sub + soundbar combination is a very welcome compensation for flat TV sound, but the real pleasure of the Cinesystem is not in that ‘limited’ 3.1 variant, but in the complete set-up. The interaction between front and rear is very nice. It can be described as the complete absence of the feeling that you have added some extras, which happens to be sounded so that you can pop out when the film or television offer allows it, but where the coherence is actually missing. No, there is a set in this setup.
The very solid columns, which should not have been firmer or you dare to hit them with them, provide a housing that also has solid acoustic properties. The 3-way speakers of almost six kilos each believe in a ‘1 + 1 = 3’ philosophy, because the total picture offers more than the separate parts. Not just two extra channels, but twice a combination of 19mm tweeter, 80mm midrange speakers and 80mm woofers that stand their ground. The surround plate is finished, with solid, space-filling effects – even if the audio has to be ‘from behind’.
Conclusion
Nobody with a new generation of television can speak about the sound that you get with that flat screen, what the manufacturers also claim with their latest innovations. At the same time, there will not be someone who calls two thousand euros a bargain to do something about it. And you will end up with this Cinesystem Trios in 5.1. Or almost, when you start working with M-format back channels. Because the subwoofer / soundbar combination is a very welcome addition to the home entertainment experience, but the Cinesysytem is especially convincing in the complete setup. An excellent base with a solid soundbar and powerful subwoofer, rounded with rear channels that are not made of budget materials to ‘only come out on 5.1’. Class!
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