Leon Horizon HzOTO Custom Soundbar Preview

Have you ever wondered how the other half lives? Well, let's be honest, you don't really care about the other "half", you're curious about the other one or two percent, right? Do they just point at stuff and say, "I'll take that and that and three of those..." and walk out? Do they value shop? Do they read Audioholics and other forums to make sure they are getting the best deal or do they just buy the most expensive and not look back?

Well, from the 98%, I can say I have no idea what they do. They don't slum around with me.

But I do know the kinds of speakers they buy. There are quite a few manufacturers that end up in the homes of the rich and famous and one of them is Leon. I've spent some time with the Leon staff at trade shows (they give out the best swag) and they are the real deal. Their products are all very high end but, at the same time, they know their stuff when it comes to speaker manufacturing. They also know their customers. And one thing their customers like to see in their purchases is the word "custom".

Leon has been doing custom speakers for a long time. Basically, if you wanted something all you really had to do was call them, tell them what you want, and not ask about the price. They'd make sure you were happy. Leon has taken this one step further with their new HzOTO Soundbar. They've created a custom (truly custom) soundbar that you can order directly from them. All you do is provide them your display model and in a mere five days you'll have a custom speaker that perfectly matches the size and shape and finish of your display.

Before you ask, pricing starts $2,895. What? You didn't think "custom" and "perfectly matches" wasn't going to be pricy?

From a feature standpoint, the Horizon HzOTO (one-to-one, reflecting the both the single cable connection to the bar and the "one-to-one" relationship Leon has with their customers) is the most advanced in the line. It is the first active soundbar in the line and it can accept both digital (optical) or analogue RCA stereo inputs. Over optical it can accept Dolby Digital or PCM input. It has a front IR receiver and a rear IR port. The control codes can be integrated into a universal remote setup or you can use the included remote or capacitive touch control panel on the front.

The Horizon HzOTO has dual 50 watt speakers and has bass down to 70Hz. It is rear ported which is odd for a speaker that is designed to be wall mounted but, if the boundary reinforcement is taken into consideration in the design, can be beneficial. The enclosure is constructed out of MDF and is built in Leon's Ann Arbor shop. Leon makes custom brackets for mounting to your display as well.

While the exact measurements will vary based on your display, the HzOTO is less than 2" thick and 4.5" tall. It utilizes two soft-dome tweeters and four aluminum cone woofers. Leon makes a wireless sub and the HzOTO has a built in transmitter for seamlessly adding more bass to your room. We recently got a chance to take a look at the HzOTO at CEDIA 2013 and it is pretty impressive. When mated with a display, it perfectly matches.

Conclusion

Some people will look at the $3000 starting price tag for a two-channel surround bar and balk. Yes, it's pricy. But it is also custom. Completely. You tell Leon your display model and they'll build your Horizon HzOTO Soundbar to perfectly match the size and finish in five days. That's pretty impressive. Leon has always impressed us with their sound quality so we're sure this is going to be no different. With such a fast turnaround time, we're betting custom installers are lining up to order these when they start shipping in October.

For more information, please visit www.leonspeakers.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.