Definitive Technology PowerMonitor 500, S425, C 2300, L 2300, R 2300 Brochure
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All you have to do is look at the ads for audio/video
receivers to know it’s true. The first thing listed is almost
always the power rating. Wacky power rating issues aside,
generally the more power you put into your room, the better the sound, but people can sometimes get too hung up
on numbers.
Power can make or break how your room sounds, but it
depends on how you use it. Definitive Technology, long
known for innovative speaker design, has come up with an
interesting way to give you all the power you can ever use.
Def Tech’s new PowerMonitor 500 speaker (the smallest of three monitor designs in the new lineup) bundles a
surprisingly small package crammed with power and performance. Sure, there’s the 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter and 4 1/2-inch mid-range driver, which may look kind
of similar to what you might find in dozens of mini monitor speakers. The average part of the speakers ends there.
Definitive adds a side-firing eight-inch woofer, powered
by its own 150-watt amplifier to create a package that
packs a wallop for just $425.
We were able to get four PowerMonitor 500s, a matching, larger center channel speaker (more on that later) the
C/L/R 2300 ($599), a ProSub 200TL 12-inch subwoofer
($549) with a 250-watt amp (probably more subwoofer
than this system requires) and a pair of ProMonitor 80s
($225/pair) to use as rear surrounds in my 7.1 setup.
Make no mistake, these are not large speakers. Next to
the MB Quart OLS 1030 tower speakers that have been
living in my theater lately, they look positively tiny, until
you fire them up.
This may be the
best value on
the speaker
market today,
a great blend
of affordable
pricing and
world class
performance.
Definitive Technology
PowerMonitor 500 speaker system
They’ve got power and know how to use it
E-GEAR
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001
Reviews
BY MIKE McGANN
“a surprisingly small package
crammed with power and
performance…you can get
tower-like sound if you don’t
have space for towers”
Cosmetically, they very much look like
a member of the Def Tech family, with a
wrap-around grill set between piano black
glass tops and bottoms. Without question,
it remains a simple and elegant look,
fitting nicely into most decors. More
importantly, at this size, it can fit easily
and subtly as well. The PowerMonitor
500s are rear ported, but can be used on a
bookshelf or in a cabinet, as they need
only about an inch of room to be effective.
Set up takes a bit more work, as there
are more variables to deal with. Each of
the speakers, much like a subwoofer, has
level controls, forcing you to manually
adjust each one to get the perfect sound. It
only took me a little time to get the hang of
it, setting our reference Onkyo TX-DS989
receiver in a neutral fashion and making
the major adjustments at the speakers.
The PowerMonitors found an acoustic flaw in my room, too.
Having never placed speakers capable of sound below 50 Hz on
my side surround shelves, I never knew there was a resonance
buzz at about 40 Hz. I ended up having to remount a lighting
bracket, which had previously been quiet, but was brought to
life by the nearby bass source.
While my lighting bracket was less than delighted, the room
otherwise seemed to come alive. All of the PowerMonitor 500s
extended deeply into the sub-30 Hz area, matching the bass performance of the better high-end towers.
Better yet, the center channel speaker matched that bass performance of the other four speakers, going more than 20 Hz
deeper than what I’ve found with most center channel speakers.
Aside from smoothing out the bass response, the built-in subs
also cut down on room mode, the phenomena that causes bass
sound to be lower in some parts of the room. Moving around
my theater, I heard a pretty consistent bass response.
The sound was nothing short of impressive. I began my testing with stereo music, as usual. Rapidly, I was blown away by
the detail and imaging. Mark Knopfler’s vocals on
Sailing to
Philadelphia
were deep and rich, with instrument placement
clearly distinct. At the same time, bass response was outstanding. If there’s a bass hole in this system, I couldn’t find it.
Five-channel audio was just as good,
again richly detailed. The upper end
had more than enough clarity to reveal
the difference between Dolby Digital
and DVD-Audio. I played Natalie
Merchant’s
Tigerlily both ways and
found the crispness and spaciousness
drastically improved by playing it in
DVD-Audio mode.
Movie soundtracks were just as
much a revelation. Dialogue was very
sharp and clear. As an example, the
sometimes murky banter in
Austin
Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me
during the party scene came across
sharp and clear.
Interestingly, another side effect of
the built-in powered woofers was the
seeming movement of bass sound,
adding realism. I noted this particularly
while watching the plane explosion
scene in
Cast Away. I really
couldn’t hear a flaw in these speakers. The tweeters
are clear, sharp and well defined like the best of
British speakers, but the powered woofer gives them
a deep, strong lower mid-range I’ve rarely heard
before from such extremely accurate speakers, and
certainly not in this price range.
Considering that Def Tech sent me more subwoofer than this system needs, one could put together an exceptionally good performing system for less
than $3,000. Not to mention that you can get towerlike sound if you don’t have space for towers (or live
with someone who will begin tossing your possessions out the window if you try to put them in their
living room), the PowerMonitor 500 is hard to beat
from a number of standpoints. This may be the best
value on the speaker market today, a great blend of
affordable pricing and world class performance.
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148
www.definitivetech.com
REVIEWS
“the PowerMonitor
500s extended deeply
into the sub-30 Hz
area…the powered
woofer gives them a
deep, strong lower mid-range I’ve
rarely heard before from such
extremely accurate speakers”
“richly detailed…the tweeters
are clear, sharp and well
defined like the best of the
British speakers”
“I was blown away
by the detail and
imaging…the sound
was nothing short
of impressive.”
“Mark Knopfler’s vocals on
Sailing to Philadelphia were
deep and rich…movie
soundtracks were just
as much of a revelation”
Definitive Technology
PowerMonitor 500
Loudspeaker $425
C/L/R 2300 $599
ProSub 200TL Subwoofer $549
ProMonitor 80 $225/pair
• 1-inch pure aluminum
dome tweeter
• 4 1/2-inch cast-basket
upper bass/midrange
• 150-watt powered 8-inch
side firing woofer
PROS
Frequency response of large
towers in a very small package.
Outstanding dialogue
reproduction. Excellent
balanced response for
multichannel audio. Fabulous
stereo imaging.
CONS
More complicated to set up
and calibrate than
unpowered speakers.
www.definitivetech.com
Reprinted from E-Gear Magazine,
© North American Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
“the PowerMonitor 500
is hard to beat…I really
couldn’t hear a flaw”
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