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
surround, and a faceplate that’s acoustically
contoured for better dispersion. The two
5.25-inch midbass drivers use what Definitive calls Balanced Double Surround
System technology. These circular drivers
have the expected flexible surround for
suspension around the cone’s outside edge,
as well as a second surround near the
cone’s apex.
The system that Def Tech sent me consisted of a pair of the Mythos STs, a Mythos
Eight for the center channel, and a pair of
Mythos Gem XL speakers for the
surrounds. The Mythos Eight is an on-wall
“The entire system
functions spectacularly
well as one cohesive
whole when it comes
to home theater.”
speaker that you can use horizontally or vertically. It has two 5.25-inch midbass drivers
that are acoustically coupled to a pair of
5.25-inch pressure-driven radiators and a
single 1-inch aluminum dome. The Gem
“the ultimate
achievement of
the Mythos milieu—
a true tour de
Mythos.”
XL comes with a bracket for on-wall mounting, or you can use it with optional stands.
It includes two 4.5-inch midbass drivers that
fire askew from the speaker’s forwardfacing 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter. Def
Tech didn’t send a separate subwoofer (nor
did they need to), due to the might of the
Mythos STs built-in woofers.
The Sound of Sublime
While the rest of the speakers in the Mythos
line are striking (in both sound quality
and looks), the Mythos STs are simply
sublime. It doesn’t take long to realize
it, either. Dave Kakenmaster, Definitive’s
regional sales manager and a veritable fount
of great music recommendations, introduced
me to Kathy Kosins’Vintage CD. As far
a
I’m concerned, as a songstress, Kosins
s
is everything Diana Krall should be.
The new tweeters in the Mythos STs were
fabulous at bringing out the subtleties
in Kosin’s silky, sultry voice, and the brief
bass-clarinet solo at the beginning of “Go
Slow” showed the graceful blend between
the tweeters and the midbass drivers. (By
the way, if you order a copy of Vintage
fromwww.kathykosins.com and mention
“Mythos ST review,” Kosins will sign the
disc and ship it at no additional char
“
The result is a speaker
ge.)
that exudes power
and class.
”
HIGHLIGHTS
The first Mythos speakers with
powered woofers built-in
Incredibly smooth performance
from newly designed tweeters
Racetrack-style oval woofers
help maintain slender shape
“
The new tweeters in
the Mythos STs were
fabulous
While it’
Kosins’CD, blues-guitarist Coco Montoya’s
Dirty Deal disc is full of gritty life and
ener
, and the Mythos STs were just as
gy
adept at letting loose as they were at getting
up close and personal. The built-in woofers
showed their mettle on Godsmack’s amazing dueling-drum video, “Batalla de los
Tambores.” The racetrack drivers sound
tight and are just as capable of blowing you
out of the room as any good standalone
powered subwoofer. In the case of the Godsmack video, one benefit of having powered
woofers in each tower was that I felt the
impact of individual pressure waves from
the left and right drum sets. You wouldn’t
experience that with a single subwoofer in
the room.
”
s not as great a recording as
“capable of blowing
you out of the room...
You don’t even have
to consider using a
separate subwoofer”
The entire system functions spectacularly
well as one cohesive whole when it comes
to home theater. When Saladin attacks
Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven with giant
trebuchets flinging what sound like nuclear
fireballs, I wondered how it was that the city
walls held up to even one direct hit—and
then I began to wonder if my own walls
would survive. (And then I wondered if my
from the test bench
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS ST
SUPERTOWER SPEAKER SYSTEM
brain would survive the inanity of the movie
itself.) The Gem XLs proved to be a great
match for the Mythos STs as the fireworks
flew back and forth. Likewise, the Mythos
Eight performed well as the center channel
during dialogue-heavy scenes, especially
when King Baldwin speaks from behind the
silver mask.
Although Definitive touts the Mythos
Eight as a matching center channel, I hope a
“Mythos STs were
fabulous at bringing
out the subtleties
in Kosin’s silky,
sultry voice”
AT A GLANCE
SPEAKER:
Type:
Tweeter (size in inches, type):
Midrange (size in inches, type):
Woofer (size in inches, type):
Nominal Impedance (ohms):
Recommended Amp Power (watts):
Available Finishes:
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches):
Weight (pounds):
Price:
These listings are based on the manufacturer’s stated specs; the HT Labs box below indicates the
gear’s performance on our test bench.
HT Labs Measures: Definitive Technology Mythos ST
L/R Sensitivity:
à
91 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
Center Sensitivity:
à
91 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
Surround Sensitivity:
à
89.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing closemiking of all subwoof
Mythos ST L/R (purple trace), Mythos Eight
ers) frequency response of the
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS ST
SUPER TOWER SPEAKER SYSTEM
MYTHOS ST
SUPERTOWER
Three-way, tower
1, aluminum dome
5.25, mid range (2)
5.25, upper mid (2)
6 x 10, active
6 x 10, passive (2)
4-8
20-350
Silver, Gloss Black
51.5 x 6.75 x 9.5
75
$1,799/each
SuperTower Speaker System
“
The Mythos STs are an
audiophile’s speaker
wrapped in an interior
designer’s cabinet that
sells for much less
than you’d expect to
pay for either.
Mythos ST center channel is in the works.
The Mythos Eight is great, but having the
fluidity of the Mythos ST’s tweeters and the
strength of those midbass drivers in a center
channel would make an already phenomenal system absolutely unbelievable.
One of the sweeter aspects of Def Tech’s
Mythos line has been its surprising afford-
MYTHOS
EIGHT
Three-way, center
1, aluminum dome
5.25, midbass (2)
5.25, passive (2)
4-8
10-250
Silver, Gloss Black
6.1 x 28.5 x 4.375
14.5
$699
center channel (green trace), and Mythos Gem XL
surround (red trace).All passive loudspeakers were
measured with grilles at a distance of 1 meter with a
2.83-volt input and scaled for display purposes.
The Mythos ST’s listening-window response (a five
point average of axial and +/–15 degree horizontal and
vertical responses) measures +1.28/–1.68 decibels from
200 hertz to 10 kilohertz.The –3-dB point is at 30 Hz,
and the –6-dB point is at 26 Hz. Impedance reaches a
minimum of 5.21 ohms at 356 Hz and a phase angle of
–36.19 degrees at 179 Hz.
The Mythos Eight’s listening-window response
measures +2.18/–4.55dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. An
average of axial and +/–15 degree horizontal responses
measures +2.21/–4.88 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz.The
–3-dB point is at 88 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 66
Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.63 ohms at 247
Hz and a phase angle of –51.51 degrees at 139 Hz.
The Mythos Gem XL’s listening-window response
measures +6.06/–1.73 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz.The
–3-dB point is at 120 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 106
Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 3.98 ohms at
288 Hz and a phase angle of –49.63 degrees at
158 Hz. — MJP
”
MYTHOS
GEM XL
Two-way,monitor
1, aluminum dome
4.5, midbass (2)
N/A
4-8
10-200
Silver, Gloss Black
12.625 x 4.5 x 5.5
6
$349/each
ability. The Mythos STs, at $1,799 each, will
certainly be a budget stretcher for many
people. But, if there’s any way short of risking time in a federal penitentiary to get the
cash, this is the floorstanding speaker I’d
recommend that you buy. You’d have to
spend gobs more money to get anything else
that offers this combination of performance
and beauty. The Mythos STs are an audiophile’s speaker wrapped in an interior
designer’s cabinet that sells for much less
than you’d expect to pay for either.
“Mythos STs
are simply
sublime... You’d have to
spend gobs more money
to get anything else that
offers this combination
of performance and
beauty
This isn’t just an upper-deck shot.
Definitive Technology hit this one out of the
park.
Reprinted from HOME THEATER, June 2007.
Definitive’s new racetrack-shaped
carbon fiber coned driver coupled
to two planar infrasonic radiators.
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117
www.definitivetech.com
”
The ST’s built-in 300-watt
powered-subs incorporate
(410)363-7148
For information and dealers
Loading...