MaximumPC 2006 12

T

hey must be putting something in the water over at SilverStone, because

those guys just won’t stop cranking out big, dreamy cases. In 2004, the

SilverStone Temjin TJ03 housed our Maximum PC Dream Machine in style,

our 2005 Dream Machine sported the TJ05 chassis, and the TJ07 graced

our dreamy 2006 model. While we weren’t exactly wowed by SilverStone’s

mini-tower TJ08 (reviewed in August 2006), the Temjin series is back in

black with the TJ09, and we’re more than a little enamored with this highly

evolved enclosure.

While not quite as tall as the TJ07, the TJ09 is nearly as spacious, giving

you plenty of room to thrash around in as you work, and providing ample area

for you to run (and hide) your cables. And if you don’t manage to cram every

inch with hardware, there’s even space for additional fans (complete with three

empty fan slots) or room enough to mount a complete internal water-cooling

system (complete with radiator and pump). If you do run out of interior space, a

pair of outlets precut into the aluminum casing let you run hoses out the back

without altering the case or taking up valuable PCI slots.

Like the TJ07, the TJ09 includes two hard drive cages with room for three

drives in each. But the TJ09 improves on its elder by offering quick-release rails

on the cages so they slide out in a second and give you easy to access your

drives. There’s even a clip for a 120mm fan between the two cages, so you can

keep your drives cool when the fragging gets fierce.

We’re less jazzed about the massive lip that covers the rear edge of the

chassis, which makes it tough to reach the screws on your peripheral slots with

an electric screwdriver. And while we generally love all the cooling options we

can get in a tower, the TJ09’s massive induction fan takes up a little more of the

case’s otherwise roomy interior than we’d like.

Fortunately, the fit and finish on this sleek, brushed-aluminum enclo-

sure—complete with a nifty little pop-up door that lets you quickly reach your

USB and headphone ports—easily make up for its few shortcomings.

We’d be happy to build a system

in this bad boy any day.

–RobeRt StRohmeyeR

SilverStone Temjin TJ09

Can SilverStone’s latest case live up to its Dream Machine legacy?

Z

vox president Tom Hannaher first amazed us with big sound in a small

package way back when this magazine was known as boot. Tom was with

Cambridge Soundworks at the time, and we published the very first review of

the Microworks 2.1-channel speaker system.

The Zvox 325 is just as remarkable—we’re amazed at the room-filling

sound it delivers. The self-powered system is perfect for environments where

it’s inconvenient or impossible to deploy a conventional surround-sound array.

The sturdy, magnetically shielded cabinet will easily support an LCD monitor for

near-field listening, too.

There are three 3.25-inch main speakers, a 4x6-inch long-throw sub-

woofer, and a three-channel amplifier inside the 17-inch-wide box, but the

Zvox 325 projects an amazingly wide sound stage thanks to technology dubbed

PhaseCue. The bi-amplified system takes a standard stereo input (left + right),

mixes it, and feeds it to the center, monaural speaker. This same signal is rout-

ed through a second amp channel (and a crossover) for the subwoofer.

The third amp channel is used for the left and right speakers, and this

is where it gets strange: Zvox wires these speakers out of phase. This would

normally result in a very hollow, localized sound; but it has the exact opposite

effect in the Zvox 325, thanks to the center speaker and a plastic tube connect-

ing the left and right speakers. Out-of-phase right-channel audio from the left

speaker is mixed with “normal” left-channel audio, and the same phenomenon

occurs in the right channel. Close your eyes and you’d swear you were hearing

a pair of speakers standing six feet apart.

The Zvox 325 doesn’t have a decoder for DTS or Dolby Digital, nor does

it have six discrete analog inputs for decoded 5.1-channel surround sound, so

it’s not very effective at fooling your ears into perceiving audio events as origi-

nating behind your head. Yamaha’s YSP-800 is far better on that score, but it

costs more than twice as much and needs to be supplemented by a subwoofer.

The Zvox 325 delivers great

performance with movies, and it

sounds even better with music.

—michael bRown

Zvox 325

This little box delivers plenty of boom

2 MAXIMUMPC december 2006

reviewsTes Ted. Reviewed. veRdic Tized

the SilverStone

tJ09’s all-alu-

minum design,

complete with a

pop-up compart-

ment housing

USb, Firewire,

and audio jacks,

really pushes

our buttons.

the Zvox 325’s cabinet is made from medium-density fiber-

board, not plastic. a second input, mounted up front, is handy

for plugging in an mP3 player.

silverstone temjin tj09

$250, http://www.silverstonetek.com

9

MAXIMUMPC

KICKASS

zvox 325

$350, http://www.zvoxaudio.com

9

MAXIMUMPC

KICKASS