Boston Acoustics P460 On-Wall Speaker Reviewed

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Performance: 4 Stars
Value: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

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On-wall speakers are great and a booming sector of the home theater speaker market, however most are designed to flank 50 inch or smaller HDTVs, which works well for most consumers but what about those rocking sets in excess of 50 inches? The idea behind a pair or three on-wall speakers flanking or resting below an HDTV is that they look uniform making for a professional and symmetrical installation, which is hard to achieve when most on-walls are half the height of say a 55 inch HDTV. Enter the P460 on-wall speaker from Boston Acoustics; at 34 inches tall by six inches wide and four and three quarter inches deep the P460 looks right at home next to any HDTV 50 inches or larger.

Additional Resources
• Read more on-wall speaker reviews by HomeTheaterReview.com's staff.
• Explore similar solutions by reading sound bar reviews on HomeTheaterReview.com.

The P460 retails for $699 apiece and come finished in silver with black or silver metal grills. The P460 has a driver compliment consisting of a single, one-inch aluminum dome tweeter, a four-inch midrange driver and four four-inch bass drivers. The P460 has a reported frequency response of 80Hz to 20kHz with a sensitivity of 92dB into a standard eight-Ohm load. The P460 will work with most any receiver thanks to its recommended power rating of 15 to 200 watts of total power handling. The P460 can be used as left or right mains as well as a center channel thanks to its ingenious mounting bracket, which is included. If you want to mount your P460s on a table or shelving unit you'll need to spring for the optional table stand and if you want to mount them via some floor stands, well those are optional as well.

In terms of sound the P460s are fun, dynamic and wholly enjoyable compact loudspeakers. They can play pretty loud without strain, which is a good thing if you like rocking the latest Hollywood blockbuster. The aluminum dome tweeter is pretty refined given the P460's price, though at the extremes it can get a little nasty if you push it to hard. The midrange is surprisingly full though I wouldn't call it overly lush or warm but can flesh out a film's dialog track or a singer's vocals quite nicely. The P460's bass is taut, detailed and surprisingly dynamic though you're going to want to mate the P460 to a subwoofer for true low impact grunt and slam.

High Points
• The P460s visually compliment larger flat panel HDTVs thanks to their longer size and ingenious mounting bracket. I also like that the Boston Acoustics logo can be rotated depending on how the speaker is mounted, a nice touch and great attention to detail.
• The P460s sound much larger than they really are making them ideal for home theater enthusiasts looking for big sound without having to sacrifice valuable floor space.
• The P460s can play loud, louder than many on-walls in their price range, without distortion, however, I wouldn't recommend those with large rooms or large open spaces try and fill said areas with sound from the P460s for you may be asking to much. If you have a small to medium sized room (maybe a touch larger) and are looking to transform it (at least sonically) into a multiplex then definitely check out the P460s.
• Get five or seven P460s for a total surround sound experience that begs belief.

Read The Low Points and the Conclusion on Page 2

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