Subwoofer IP 500 SW

"The Teufel Impaq 500 won first place in Video's 2010 Reader's Choice for the category 'Blu-ray/DVD All-in-One System'"

"We're excited about this! Thanks for your vote!"

Teufel offers a complete 2.1 home theatre set with the Impaq 500 that is fantastic with the performance – and the price too! For this reason the Impaq 500 receives our rare i-fidelity.net award, the "Price Tipp." These loudspeakers are far above average in terms of quality, and there's nothing to sneeze at in the media centre, either.

The equipment is fantastic with enormous scope: UBS, HDMI, Upscaler, DSP-sound programmes and Dolby Virtual all there. And the bottom line is the performance; playing DVDs with powerful sound and excellent picture quality and really bringing it to life. This 2.1 system is almost less in neutrality and precision as fun. Almost.

For under € 1.000,- the Teufel Impaq 500 is a total sensation.

• Sound quality: excellent
• Picture quality: good
• Equipment: fantastic
• Worksmanship: good

Total results: excellent
A Price Tip!

Detailed sound, stable image
Watching the hilarious Tropic Thunder, the system delivers a balanced sound, with much detail, good dynamics and decent steering across the front channels. The audio is chunky and solid, thanks in part to a weighty subwoofer [...]"

"The picture is bright and stable when watching 720p or 1080i DVD content [...]"

"[...] we're largely satisfied - making Teufel a welcome addition to our shores."

Pros:
• Looks and feels decent
• Sonically chunky, solid and detailed
• Picture is both colourful and stable

Score: 4 / 5

Homogenous design
"With the Impaq 500 the company Teufel from Berlin is not only offering a sleek DVD system but also a high-quality solution for providing flat-screen TVs with impressive sound.
Teufel has long since recognised the sign of the times and has in recent years developed from a pure loudspeaker manufacturer into a provider of smart system solutions. The newest offshoot from this is the Impaq 500, a compact DVD music system consisting of a receiver, two narrow loudspeaker columns and a subwoofer. Ideal for joining together with a flat-screen television."

HDMI INCLUDED
"The pair of satellite speakers come in a high-quality metal housing and finish, which means that they nestle nicely alongside almost all modern flat-screen TV sets. Two eight-centimetre woofers per column reproduce the bass and mid-range tones, a titanium dome tweeter is responsible for the higher frequencies. The interaction between the subwoofer and the satellite speakers is achieved seamlessly and harmoniously; ideally the subwoofer should be positioned on the same level as the two satellites. In pure stereo operation the system sounds gentle, providing artists such as Marx, Rothschild and Tillermann ("Nightingales & Butterflies"/ZYX) with a very broad spectrum of timbres and an attractive elasticity in the vocal range.
In the virtual surround sound setting the sound gains freshness and vitality. The Teufel system adroitly reproduces Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations (Piotr Anderszwski/Virgin) and even enables the acoustic benefits of dts (with this recording) via the ability to practically switch between Dolby Digital and dts at the push of a button. The speaker trio is equally nimble when dealing with action-packed film sequences, building on a solid bass foundation and preserving a sense of detail even in complex passages."

Conclusion
"With the Impaq 500 Teufel presents a clever DVD system with a powerful sound at a fair price. Ideal as a compact music system and absolutely perfect to enable modern flat-screen TVs to reach new acoustic heights either in stereo or virtual surround sound."

Special features:
Passive subwoofer, iPod can be connected via optional docking station, exemplary length of guarantee

Appearance:
Sharp, plastic – reaches the level of high-quality brand players

• Sound: Powerful, full-bodied bass, very clear and full of charm (70%)
• Experience: 80%
• Equipment: 80%
• Workmanship: 80%
• Test result: VERY GOOD (80%)
• Value for money: GOOD

"On to performance and the first thing we noticed after loading up Gladiator is how effortlessly powerful the system is. At just over half its maximum setting, it delivers a seriously meaty movie experience that easily fills a reasonably-sized room, giving you a bit of leeway should you wish to crank it up further and really wake the neighbours.

The sound quality is breathtaking throughout, best summed up by the movie's opening battle between the Romans and the Germanic hordes. Excellent treble reproduction makes arrows fizz loudly as they fly through the air, clanking weapons sound realistic and resonant but not tinny or bright, and Russell Crowe's barked orders to cut though the melee with ease. The system also blasts out punchy, muscular bass that lends a solid foundation to the frenetic action, plus the perfectly judged crossovers make the bottom end fuse seamlessly with the midrange.

Naturally our next port of call was the coliseum, and the Impaq 500 handles the fierce combat scenes with the sort of authority and drive that makes for a thrilling listen. But also remarkable is its ability to tease out subtleties in the soundtrack and reproduce them with almost surgical precision."

"The system is terrific with music, offering a crisp, punchy presentation of Dave Grusin's Mountain Dance CD. It keeps pace with the varying jazz-funk rhythms and makes the dancing piano notes sound warm and colourful – you can hear the Teufel audio expertise oozing from the speakers."

Verdict
"[...] the system's saving grace is its phenomenal sound quality, which is effortlessly powerful and wonderfully detailed."

"[...] the build quality and styling is also a cut above many 2.1 systems, making this a very promising start from a company that we hope to hear a lot more from in the future."

• Design: 9/10
• Features: 7/10
• Performance: 9/10
• Value: 7/10

Overall: 8/10

New standards from Berlin: It would be difficult to find another all-in-one 2.1 DVD receiver system in the under € 1.000,- price category offering audio-visual performance as outstanding as the Teufel Impaq 500.

Area DVD Benchmark in "DVD All-in-One Systems" category

Image and sound
The Impaq 500 delivered well-defined and high-contrast images with natural colours. Using the various menu options, the display parameters can be adjusted to meet individual preferences and environmental conditions. The fantastic image quality is matched by the outstanding sound attributes. Extremely clean and dynamic, paired with deep sub-bass, the sound of this system was very convincing during the listening test.

Summary
Once again, we extend our congratulations to the Berlin based loudspeaker makers for coming up with a completely successful product at a price that is nothing but fair!

• Image (20%): A
• Surround sound (10%): A-
• Stereo sound (10%): A-
• Lab test (10%): A-
• Viewing/listening test (50%): A-
• Price/performance: Very good

Pros:
• Very good sound
• HDMI and scaler
• Attractive design

Overall rating: Top of class, A-
Top of class