Teufel System 8 THX Ultra 2 review

For over 25 years, George Lucas’ THX standard has been the benchmark of audio-visual quality in the home cinema. Its recent diversification into THX Ultra and Select has made THX a reality for a large number of enthusiasts, but THX Ultra 2 remains the ultimate spec for any aficionado with a large-sized home cinema setup.

German speaker manufacturer Teufel is, in its own way, playing its part in making THX Ultra more affordable. By selling direct (and probably cutting out around a 30 per cent retail margin) it sells sets of THX speakers at prices that until recently you would only find on avforums or ebay.

We may be committing home cinema heresy here but we think this direct approach is way overdue. Sure, there will be purists who say you must audition before you buy but the great part about THX is that it guarantees a certain set of standards out the box. We would far prefer to pocket the saving and have a better set of speakers in a cinema room. On top of this, Teufel offers a full returns service within 8 weeks of invoicing (note, not delivery). If you don’t like them, pack them back up and return them to sender; the only cost to you is the postage.

So on to the speakers. Teufel’s System 8 is not the cheapest set of THX Ultra speakers available (as Teufel is selling its back catalogue of System 9 sets for £2,599), but they are certainly the most compact. THX Ultra 2 demands far larger enclosure sizes than is normal, especially in the rears where dipole speakers are mandatory for the required sound diffusion. At £3,099 the System 8s are neither small nor cheap but they put THX Ultra 2 within touching distance of the well-heeled enthusiast with a 50m³ or larger listening space.

The entire set arrived well-packed but occupying a sizeable pallet. Most of this is the 42kg sub, but this is quite a delivery emphasising the fact that System 8 is designed for around 100m³ sized listening rooms. The two front stereo and centre speakers are all the same S800 models. Finished in the piano black, they are designed to be wall mounted.

The S800s are fussy about the screw spacing so make sure you are DIY confident before installing speakers that cost this much. The sub is huge and nearly as deep as a sofa and about as easy to shift. Unbelievably this sub is relatively compact alongside some of Teufel’s other fridge-sized subwoofer behemoths.

The wall-mounted rears protrude a long way from the wall too and need to be fixed so that the rear-firing mid-range unit sits a couple of cm proud of the wall. In case you hadn’t picked up on this so far, THX is a size commitment. If you are using a projector you need to be prepared to lose 65cm (speakers are 45cm wide) either side of your screen unless you mount below or use acoustically transparent material. In smaller rooms, this may be too restrictive. You are also going to have live with very obvious rear speakers which need to be mounted to the side of the main listening point.

So, how do 80kilos of speaker sound? Connected to an Onkyo 875 amp (THX Ultra 2 rated) using QED Silver cable, we initially set up the System 8 using the 875’s automated Audyssey set-up. First impressions are of an absolutely enveloping sound field. The identical front three speakers and dipole rears create an almost seamless presence with the right material.

Moving up from a set of Kef 3001s, the most noticeable difference is the depth of the rear channels. A total of 10 side and rear-firing units produce a dynamic range that is a significant step up from anything else we’ve reviewed. The other change is that the bass becomes completely integrated in THX mode. No boom, rumble or obvious subwoofer action. THX presents a completely integrated sound field, much like a cinema. If you like your surround and bass more obvious then it may not be for you, certainly out of the box.

With any new speaker system, any self-respecting home cinema enthusiast will reach for the action movie. Hellboy 2 (on Blu-ray) in our case. Our immediate reaction is that the System 8 failed to wow us. It just wasn’t quite separated enough and lacked a little impact. The soundstage was also a little bright and lacking in real direction. First impressions can mislead, though, and this is exactly our summary after listening to over 40 hours of material through the System 8s.

Where the Teufel System 8 speakers excel is with musicality and integration, not high action. After 60 minutes of careful calibration and the addition of two my old Kef 3001 satellites in the Surround Rear Left/Right roles (for native 7.1 playback) the system hit new levels. We upped the sub and rear levels slightly and the soundstage became more extended as a result. Beauty and the Beast (Blu-ray DTS HD Master Audio 5.1) and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (DVD DTS 5.1 EX) sounded incredible. The sheer fact that we’re working through our back catalogue again with a smile on our face shows what these speakers can do for your films.

Movies really do become more enjoyable and involving. The THX Ultra spec also ensures that this set works at very high levels without distortion but in a home this is only of use for the occasional show-off demo. That said, once we got the set-up right we started to enjoy action sequences presented in the THX way rather than the over-obvious “boom, boom, let’s shake the room” approach of old. If you want bass slam, it’s available by the bucketful from the 500W powered 30cm bass drive of the S8000 Teufel sub, but in THX mode the LFE channel is seamlessly interwoven into the overall soundstage. Turn up the sub level and you can feel the bass in your chest if you want to. Ultimately, don’t be a complete slave to the THX standard, feel free to personalise it to your own tastes.

Sub-extension is clean, beautifully presented and works down to the required THX 20Hz (-6dB) levels. Running a low frequency sweep test, there were no obvious peaks or holes and the sound stage stayed utterly joined-up at the front. Impressive.

Our only niggle is that we couldn’t persuade the sub to auto-powerup with our amp but it took only minutes to programme it into an all-in-one remote. As the speakers ran-in, they lost some of that initially off-putting tightness in the mid-range. The centre speaker especially delivered dialogue with cracking clarity. Our first impressions of the rears only improved: they continued to deliver rich, dynamic effects with a huge range of material. Their dipole nature also meant they functioned well when sitting alongside the viewing area. Handy if you have sofas in an L or U shaped seating configuration around the screen.

In its current guise, the System 8 speakers may be a tad too big with the lights on but this is one hell of a cinema system. With the lights off and the projector on, the performance is incredible with DTS HD Master Audio material, but they also perform exceptionally well in THX mode with older Dolby Digital 5.1 material from Sky HD and DVDs. You could argue that THX is made for the original 5.1 spec and this shows.

We have become spoilt by the rich, detailed and entirely convincing sound the Teufel System 8 speakers produce. We’re not convinced that THX is for everyone but we’re utterly sold. They bring out the cinematic soundtrack of any film from Fanboys through to Fellowship. And they do it with style, presence and utter clarity.