Definitive Technology Mythos Eight, Mythos Mythos STS, SuperCube I Brochure
from the
test bench
HIGH PERFORMANCE $$$ – $$$$
Definitive Technology Mythos ST
SuperTower Speaker System
Mythos the magnificent.
“Definitive Technology
hit this one out of the
park... sound, looks
and construction this
good are almost
impossible to find
at anywhere near
this price.”
BY DARRYL WILKINSON
It’s not often that I find something to
complain about when it comes to Definitive
Technology
year, during each of the two major consumer
electronics trade shows, CES and CEDIA,
I (and plenty of other journalists, dealers,
and a few hangers-on who shouldn’t have
been let in to begin with) have made the traditional pilgrimage to the Def Tech booth.
We go there, drawn like corn-bread muffins
to butter, to hear the latest Def Tech incarnation, thanks to the genius of head honcho
Sandy Gross and company. As you would
expect, some of these speaker introductions
, but, lately, I have cause. Every
have been more exciting than others—
the unveiling of the first Mythos
speakers being one of the extra-special
highlights in recent memory. Regardless,
the Definitive Technology booth never
disappoints.
“this is the floorstanding
speaker I’d recommend
that you buy.”
Ah, but there’s the rub. More than almost
any other company, Def Tech has come up
with speakers that sound good, look good,
and simply make audible sense (rather than
having a $299, $399, $499, fill-in-the-blank
approach). In fact, these guys have hit more
home runs than Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron,
Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds combined—all without accusations of illegal steriod use. But, to continue the baseball analogy, visiting the Def Tech booth is a bit like
going to the Home Run Derby before the
All-Star Game. It’s tremendously exciting
at first, but, after a while, the excess of success leads you to take it all for granted—and
soon you’re heading out to get a beer and a
hot dog. Of course, that doesn’t make the
achievement any less of an achievement. It
just means that, once you’ve seen a ball
reach the upper decks, the ones that land just
over the wall in the bleachers don’t get quite
as much applause as they should.
I’m sure the self-imposed stress that
comes from pushing yourself to continue to
amaze and delight fans (and frustrate competitors) must be enormous. So, when you
hear things like “the best thing we’ve ever
done” coming from the confident but unpretentious group at Definitive, you can’t help
but think that either the pressure has finally
gotten to them or they’ve come up with
something truly special.
“
these guys have hit more
home runs than Babe
Ruth, Hank Aaron,
Mark McGwire, and
Barry Bonds combined”
Mythos Optimus
This year’s unveiling was of a speaker that
Sandy Gross had been hinting at for
months—the mother of all Mythos speakers, the Mythos ST. The Mythos line, in case
you’re unfamiliar with it, was revolutionary
when it first appeared several years ago.
(Since then, many other speaker companies
have brought out similar designs.) Mythos
speakers are very slender, with curved aluminum cabinets, and are available as
floorstanding towers and on-wall/bookshelf
speakers. In other words, they aren’t rectangular boxes, and they exhibit a bit more style
than is typical.
“due to the might of the
Mythos STs built-in
woofers... I felt the
impact of individual
pressure waves from
the left and right
drum sets.”
At the time of their introduction, however, unlike the majority of the other stylishly svelte speakers available up to that
time, the Mythos speakers sounded good—
really good to me. And they didn’t carry the
standard exorbitant “style” surchar
then, Def
Mythos concept, adding floorstanding and
on-wall models of various sizes.
Tech has continued to refine the
ge. Since
“thanks to the genius of
head honcho Sandy Gross
and company... visiting
the Def Tech booth is a
bit like going to the
Home Run Derby before
the All-Star Game
I can’t quite call the new Mythos ST a
refinement; and, yet, it’s not a revolution,
either, since it’s so firmly grounded in its
Mythosological heritage. But the ST is dramatically different—the emphasis being on
“drama.” Whereas all of the previous
Mythos models possessed style and class,
the Mythos ST adds gravitas, a sense of
sophistication and strength. It’s something
that’s not easy to come by, even in much
more expensive speakers. The best way to
characterize this powerful new beauty is to
call it an achievement. In fact, the Mythos
ST may well be the ultimate achievement of
the Mythos milieu—a true tour de Mythos.
.
”
Mythmaker
In order to maintain their slender form
factor, Mythos speakers rely on relatively
small midbass drivers. They sound good on
their own, but Def Tech designed the series
to be used with a powered subwoofer. The
Mythos STs depart from that tradition by
including a powered woofer in each tower,
as do many of Definitive Technology’s other
speakers. Def Tech designed this particular
woofer specifically for the Mythos ST; it
uses a new 6-by-10-inch “racetrack” (oval)
active driver that’s acoustically coupled with
a pair of similarly sized planar passive radiators. A 300-watt internal digital amp
powers the driver. Definitive claims the
built-in woofer is the sonic equivalent of
their $1,199 SuperCube I standalone
powered subwoofer. But the Mythos ST’s
overall form factor and basic proportions are
“Mythos STs were just as
adept at letting loose as
they were at getting up
close and personal”
similar to those of the other Mythos models.
The result is a speaker that exudes power
and class.
The 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter in
the Mythos ST is new from the ground up,
including a new voice coil and high-energy
magnet, a new dome design, a new
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS ST SUPERTOWER SPEAKER SYSTEM
Build Quality
àAluminum mono-
coque cabinet is
extremely dense
and nonresonant
àGranite base is
attractive, but
attach carefully to
avoid noisy air leaks
Value
àSound, looks, and
construction this
good are almost
impossible to find
at anywhere near
this price
97 93
Mythos ST SuperTower Powered Tower Speaker, $1,799/each; Mythos Eight On-Wall Center Channel Speaker, $699/each;
Mythos Gem XL Surround Speaker, $349/each à Definitive Technology, (410) 363-7148, www.definitivetech.com à Dealer Locator Code DEF
Features
àLFE inputs on
Mythos STs for
optional use
àOn-wall brackets
included with center and surrounds
Performance
àHas dynamic bass
response with serious punch
àSmooth transition
between surrounds
and fronts
93 98 94
General information
Ergonomics
àCenter and sur-
rounds are designed
for on-wall or
off-wall use
àYou don’t even
have to consider
using a separate
subwoofer
OVERALL RATING
5
9
9
It’s extremely rare to find a
system that offers performance for
both music and movies in a package that looks this stunning. And
it’s even more rare to find it at
this price.
5
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