Definitive Technology BPX Brochure

AUDIO REVIEW
Definitive Technology PowerMonitor 700
Loudspeaker System
"an exceptional performer . . . singularly excellent"
L
ow frequency reproduction always comes
at a price, and generally in big packages.
As my colleague Robert E. Greene pointed
out in "What You Should Know About
Bass" back in Issue 24, our ears are not "very
sensitive to bass in terms of our threshold of
hearing." Consequently, the reproduction of the
bottom octaves requires a balance of driver size
and excursion paired with an amplifier with dis-
proportionately large power reserves. It's only in
recent years that convincing bass extension from
small box speakers and small subwoofers has
become a reality. Definitive Technology has had
success on both fronts; but never more than with
the PowerMonitor 700 multichannel system—
loudspeakers that turn what once seemed like a
parlor trick into a near art form.
The PowerMonitor lineup consists of three
compact models—the 500, 700, and 900. All are
three-way, bass-reflex, stand (or shelf) mounted
units, incorporating an internally amplified,
side-firing 8-inch or 10-inch PowerField sub-
woofer—a strategy that Definitive had previous-
ly popularized in their larger, floor-standing
models. The side-mounted woofer makes for a
deep but narrow cabinet; the look is modestly
elegant, with piano-black lacquer upper and
lower panels and a frameless wraparound grille
cloth. The back panel offers a gain setting for
the woofer, a Low-Frequency Effects (LFE)
input, and a single set of gold-plated binding
Neil Gader
posts. The lengthy 10-foot power cord is con-
venient for distant AC receptacles.
For the all-important center channel,
Definitive uses its C/L/R 2500. The tri-wirable
2500 uses the same drivers as the 700, including
the powered woofer, but adds an additional 5.25-
inch midbass driver, bracketing the tweeter in a
D'Appolito arrangement. A trio of built-in
adjustable footers optimizes the listening angle
for speaker placement above or below the video
display. Definitive's BPX surrounds house two
matching speaker
systems in each
cabinet—two pair
of 5.25-inch mid-
bass drivers and a
pair of Ferrofluid-
damped, alu-
minum-dome
tweeters. They can
be wall-mounted,
but in my room rested on 26-inch stands.
The unassuming SuperCube I is a new cre-
ation. Though just a modest 14-inch cube, it
houses a 10-inch woofer, a pair of 10-inch sub-
bass radiators, and a 1500-watt Class D ampli-
fier. The back panel offers impressive connec-
tivity with line-level and speaker-level inputs
and outputs, LFE inputs, as well as gain, vari-
able high-pass, low-pass filtering, and variable
phase alignment.
"The Definitive Technology
PowerMonitor 700 is one of the most
dynamic, compelling, and visceral
compact 5.1-channel loudspeaker
systems I've ever experienced."
Two-Channel Performance
When I reviewed the PowerMonitor 700 as
part of the "Small Speaker Survey II" in The
Absolute Sound [Issue133], I characterized it as
"an exceptional performer that makes no serious
missteps." I considered it quite an accomplish-
ment and still do. It stands as a reminder that
without a lower-frequency foundation mere
detail is unnatural, even antithetical to music,
however absorbing it might seem at first listen.
The character of the PowerMonitor 700
remains solidly neutral throughout the
midrange, though the weighty presence of its
active woofers is immediately evident. The
speaker is an easy listen with very good driver
integration. It is slightly forward in the presence
range, accenting upper midrange information
somewhat, but not aggressively so. Violin sec-
tions and winds [Vaughan Williams, Sinfonia
Antarctica; Bakels/Bournemouth; Naxos
8.550737] have greater harmonic emphasis in
the upper mids, lending a cooler overall sheen to
the sound. Vocals are energetic but a bit less
rounded and chocolatey in the lower midrange
than they are through the acclaimed Snell
Acoustics K.5mk2 System (reviewed in TPV
Issue 41) or my reference ATC SCM 20SLs.
Mary Stalling's "Sunday Kind of Love" [Live at
the Village Vanguard; MaxJazz MXJ112]
demonstrated the PowerMonitor 700's smooth
treble and seemingly unhyped sibilance range,
but the pure bell-like openness of the uppermost
the spectrum, and that is true here, as well.
Such performance would be singularly excel-
lent if the PowerMonitor 700 were merely a
conventional two-way compact loudspeaker, but
the active woofer transforms the speaker and
allows it to play in the leagues usually reserved
for floorstanders. Mid-30Hz bass extension
opens up the soundstage and adds dimensionali-
ty on orchestral material, supplying the weight
and reverberant energy that further define a
octaves of the
piano was more
tightly earth-
bound. In my
experience,
alloy tweeters
have always
veered towards
the clinical,
whiter end of