To begin, could you introduce yourself and your role at Monitor Audio?

I'm Chris, and I'm a senior acoustic engineer at Monitor Audio Group, where I have worked for more than 10 years now. Some of my daily duties involve multi-physics simulation of drive units, acoustic measurement & testing, and critical listening. A few recent products I've worked on are Vestra subwoofers, Studio 89 and Hyphn.

What was the brief behind Creator Series In-Wall Subwoofers, and what gap were you looking to fill in the range?

The brief was to create a range of in-wall subwoofers that give a tiered performance approach that better aligns with the broader Creator Series, and a spread of price points to offer the customer more options when specifying a discrete audio system. Previously, we only offered the IWS-10. With the WS1-W10, we have retained its flexibility through retrofit compatibility while expanding the range with the higher-performance WS2-W12 and WS3-W12 options.

We've paired the range with two amplifiers — the all-new IA500-S and the proven IA750-2. What was the thinking behind developing a new amplifier rather than using the IA750-2 across the board?

The IA500-S offers a more cost-effective option when pairing with a WS1-W10 or WS2-W12. It's a smaller, 1U-sized product that retains the necessary controls to fine-tune the subwoofer to make it blend seamlessly with the wider audio system. The IA500-S can deliver 250W into the WS1-W10, 500W into the WS2-W12, and even 500W into 2x WS1-W10 via the two pairs of output terminals.

Of course, the IA750-2 can still be used with all of the In-Wall Subwoofer options, with the added benefit that the two amplifier channels can be used to power two subwoofers independently. Bespoke DSP profiles for the IA-750-2 will be provided for all of the IWS product lineup.

The IA500-S includes three EQ presets — Impact, Movie and Music. How were these tuned, and how should an installer decide which one to use?

The three EQ presets were carefully considered through a mixture of critical listening and acoustic measurements. Impact should be selected when maximum loudness is the goal, as it allows the subwoofer transducer's high sensitivity in the mid to upper bass to shine through. Movie can be seen as a general-purpose preset, as it gives the subwoofer a neutral response while also allowing it to have more bass extension. This makes it particularly well suited to the LFE audio content of film soundtracks. The music preset emphasises the lower bass notes for a more dynamic music listening experience.