Definitive Technology BP 2002TL, BP2X Brochure
STEREO REVIEW’S SOUND & VISION
test report
BY RICH WARREN
Definitive Technology
BP 2002TL Home Theater Speaker System
ot even Mr. Freeze, from the DVD
Batman & Robin, could chill the Definitive
Technology BP2002TL home theater speaker
system. It effortlessly reproduced the sonic
sensations that director Joel Schumacher
N
Batmobile impaled in the wall of my home theater.
“The grandeur filled the room”
“My considerably more expensive
reference system sounded shallow
in comparison.”
Almost as unnerving, the starring monolith in Stanley
Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey looked like an early prototype of the left and right front towers of the BP 2002TL
system. Fortunately, Definitive Technology speakers come
from Maryland, not Jupiter, and its towers will look far more
attractive in your living room than the movie monolith.
Definitive dresses all the speakers in the system in acoustically transparent stretchy black or white knit sleeves, with
black lacquer or glossy cherry-veneer end caps on the three
front speakers. It’s a simple but very classy design. Should
your cats decide to use the towers as scratching posts, the
covers can be replaced easily and inexpensively. Definitive
also provides user-installed carpet spikes.
Each left and right tower has a side-firing subwoofer
powered by a built-in 250-watt amplifier. On the front and
rear panels are four woofers for the upper bass and
midrange and a pair of aluminum-dome tweeters. The
C/L/R 2500 center-channel speaker contains a 150-watt
amplifier for its upward-firing subwoofer, complemented by
a pair of woofers and a tweeter in a D’Appolito array. (That
arrangement, which centers the tweeter between the
woofers, is often used in horizontally oriented center-channel speakers to limit their horizontal dispersion, which
would otherwise be too wide.) The trapezoidal BP2X surrounds each have a pair of woofers and a pair of aluminumdome tweeters, and they can be positioned horizontally or
vertically, firing up and down or front and back.
hurled at it in the Dolby Digital presentation.
When the lights came up, I expected to see a
PHOTO BY TONY CORDOZA
Reprinted from the December 1999 issue of STEREO REVIEW’S SOUND & VISION magazine.
Copyright © 1999 by Hachette Filipacchi Magazine Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“The speakers integrated superbly
into a seamless system with perfect
timbre-matching”
Every speaker in this system except the center is bipolar,
with the paired front/back drivers firing in phase in opposite
directions (as opposed to a dipolar system, in which they fire
out of phase).
The company offers a variety of possible wiring schemes
for the front speakers, but for my listening tests I chose the
easiest method, and likely the one most people will use: driving them from the speaker outputs of my amplifier. The
towers also provide a separate low-frequency effects (LFE)
input for greater control of the deep bass if desired. The user
can independently adjust the subwoofer level with a control
on the back of the tower.
I used a Sony DVP-S7000 DVD player and Lexicon DC1 processor fed through a McIntosh Model 7106 100-watt
amplifier for my electronics. My room, modeled on THXsuggested ratios and construction, measures roughly 12 x 22
feet, with an 8-foot ceiling. It is thickly carpeted, with a pair
of sound-absorption panels on the side walls near the speakers and a ceiling absorption panel between and just in front
of the front L/R speakers. I placed the speakers about 2 feet
from the front wall, slightly in front of my reference system,
and nearly that distance from my 56-inch, widescreen
Toshiba TW56D90 rear-projection TV. The listening position was directly between the surrounds, which were mounted on the side walls just above ear level. My normal surrounds are dipoles, so the Definitive bipoles provided quite
a contrast.
“The system’s bipolar design
infused an ambience and depth
2002TLs as my main music speakers.
than when the Definitive system reproduced his voice from
the James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD
(Columbia). The system recreated the depth and breadth of
the stage in this wonderfully engineered 5.1-channel recording. The dizzying video cutting and cross-fading every few
seconds greatly distracted from audio imaging, but closing
my eyes restored solidity to the soundstage.
“Whether in two-channel stereo or
5.1 Dolby Digital, the Definitive system reproduced voices unerringly”
we are probably better able to discern reproduction accuracy
with voices than with violin overtones and low organ pipes.
Whether in two-channel stereo or 5.1-channel Dolby Digital,
the Definitive system reproduced voices unerringly. If the
system added any coloration, it was only a slight warmth.
to the sound that I miss with many
conventional speakers”
The BP 2002TL, C/L/R 2500, and BP2X speakers integrated superbly into a seamless system with perfect timbre
matching. The sound flowed indiscernibly between speakers, and effects made no awkward jumps from one box to
another. The motorcycle race in Batman & Robin spun
around the room with a wide range of sounds, from throaty
vrooms to high-speed engine revs, and there was no noticeable change as the race accelerated.
The system’s bipolar design infused an ambience
and depth to the sound that I miss with many conventional
speakers. The entire room became part of the soundtrack, not
only in Batman & Robin but also in the eerie soundscapes of
2001. Fortunately, this added dimension did not muddy the
sound or reduce localization. My considerably more expensive reference system sounded shallow in comparison.
“James Taylor never sounded
smoother and more vibrant
than when the Definitive
system reproduced his voice”
As a two-channel stereo system, the towers convincingly
reproduced ambience. I had recently recorded some live performances for radio station WFMT, so I had CD-Rs of both
male and female soloists, accompanying themselves on guitar, mandolin, or piano in a medium-sized barn. Having
heard the live performances, I found the reproduction
extremely faithful to the original voices and room acoustics.
The speakers created a believably solid stereo image, and the
vocals seemed to be coming from slightly above the center
speaker. In fact, I had to double-check to make sure the center speaker was off. I could happily live with the BP
HIGH POINTS
Smooth, accurate, natural tonal balance.
Ample volume without distortion in
a normal room.
Powerful, honest bass.
Handsome, unimposing physical
presence.
Excellent value.
LOW POINTS
Subtle midbass warmth.
Slight rolloff in lowest one-third
octave of bass.
Robin with its constant barrage of effects from explosions,
car and motorcycle chases and crashes, collapsing girders,
and the creaking and shattering of ice, not to mention the delicacy of a kiss from Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). The effects
range from deep bass to high treble, making them a good
workout for speakers. When I raised the volume, my audience cried uncle long before the speakers gave a hint of distress. Explosions weren’t just loud bangs—they blossomed
and enveloped me. And George Clooney (Batman) sounded
like he was still treating patients on ER, but with a much
fuller voice.
“the bipolar surrounds permit
greater localization than the dipolars
of my reference system, I liked the
bipolar sound field better.”
channels, with continuous effects and ambience in the surrounds. While the bipolar surrounds permit greater localization than the dipoles of my reference system, I liked the
bipolar sound field better. With the dipole surrounds, effects
always seem diffuse and distant. W ith the Definitive bipoles,
the effects sounded more viscerally immediate. They also
reproduced more of a continuum between the front soundstage and the surrounds.
well. In the Warner Home Video DVD of 2001, the famous
Richard and Johann Strauss music sounded pale and thin. I
eagerly placed the disc in the player and waited for the low
organ pipes of the opening theme from Also Sprach
Zarathustra to levitate me from my seat. I barely felt a rumble, through no fault of the speakers. (Although the packaging claims Warner remastered the movie in Dolby Digital
5.1, most of it played in two-channel stereo, with only occasional sounds from the surrounds.) However, later in the
movie, during the airlock scene, the high-pitched noise that
builds incredible tension hovered over the center speaker
like a globe of St. Elmo’s Fire. Few sound effects have
caused my blood to run as cold as this.
“will… definitely thrill you”
vided basic two-channel chills and thrills. The
nightclub/disco scene proved most notable—the Definitive
speakers reproduced every drop of atmosphere, sans smoke.
The throb of the low bass set the mood, without masking any
dialogue. Frantic tested dialogue intelligibility to the max,
James Taylor never sounded smoother and more vibrant
The human ear naturally attunes to the human voice, and
Few movies can match the audio montage of Batman &
and the Definitives met the challenge, though not even they
could compensate for Harrison Ford’s occasional mumbles.
When he clinked the Statue of Liberty model while inspecting the suitcase in his hotel room however, it rang very true.
“the Definitive speakers reproduced
every drop of atmosphere”
Aluminum tweeters often have a brittle, sometimes piercing
sound quality. Definitive Technology says that its tweeters
combine specially annealed pure aluminum domes with silk
surrounds. This design is claimed to fuse the best features of
a stiff metal dome—clarity and extended range—with the
The movie makes full use of Dolby Digital’s six discrete
The Definitive system can reveal flaws in soundtracks as
well-damped smoothness of a soft dome. All of my listening
bore this out. The speakers produced ample clean, crisp treble without ever calling attention to themselves or changing
the screeching of brakes into fingers on a chalkboard.
and solid performance at both ends of the frequency spectrum make this Definitive T echnology system very ingratiating. It offers considerable value as well, since you receive
650 watts of amplifier power as a bonus for what would be
the price of a good unpowered home theater speaker system.
“I could happily live with the
BP2002TLs as my main music
speakers.”
The built-in amps, which handle the heavy lifting, allow you
to use a modestly powered receiver or system amplifier and
still hear clean sound with wide dynamic range.
Telarc recording of the Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony,
with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia
Orchestra and organist Michael Murray (CD-80051). The
grandeur filled the room, with all but the very longest organ
pipe sounding full and natural. Unless you listen in a very
large, or very dead, room and desire the most bone-shaking
Roman Polanski’s Frantic, another Warner release, pro-
low bass possible, the BP 2002TL system will not merely
satisfy you but definitely thrill you.
The Definitive Technology speakers effortlessly
reproduced the constant barrage of audio
effects in the
That’s “rang,” as in real life, not as in a form of distortion.
The overall smoothness, effortlessly wide dynamic range,
Since the organ in 2001 paled, I reached for the trusty
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148
Batman & Robin
Visit us at www.definitivetech.com
soundtrack.
S&V
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