At CEDIA Expo 2006, Binghamton, NY-based McIntosh laboratories debuted a quite nicely finished engineering prototype of a massive new center channel speaker called the XCS2K. The new center speaker is designed to complement the firm’s gargantuan, flagship XRT2K tower-type loudspeakers. The XRT2K is a line-source array known for both for its unusually high output capabilities and exceptionally low distortion, so designers faced a major challenge in creating a center speaker capable of keeping up with the giant floorstanders.

To answer the challenge, McIntosh designers have given the new XCS2K three of the same woofers used in the XRT2K, plus an array of more than 50 small tweeters and midrange drivers spread across the face of the speaker. McIntosh wanted the XCS2K to behave as a true point source, and to that end spread the midrange and tweeter drivers across a deeply curved front baffle. Then, in a very clever bit of engineering, designers incorporated a simple, passive delay circuit—a system similar to that used in the classic Quad ELS-63 electrostatic loudspeakers—where progressive more delay is applied as signals spread from the center to the outer edges of the tweeter/midrange array. According to McIntosh, the result is a center channel speaker with staggering output capabilities, yet whose sound appears to originate from a small point source.

Pricing for the XCS2K is not yet announced, but assuming that it tracks with that of the XRT2K towers we can expect a price tag in the low-to-mid $20k range.

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