Home Theater / December 19 9 8
tweeters. To round out the low
end, Definitive has supplied
the biggest powered subwoofer
in a tower speaker yet
(
an amp
providing a whopping 1,000 watts
of power, connected
to an 18-inch cast-
basket woofer.
The BP-2004 is also a
bipolar design, with two
5.25-inch c a s t - m a g n e-
s i u m basket p o l y - c o n e
upper bass/midrange
drivers, coupled with two 1-inch
aluminum-dome tweeters. For the
bottom end of the frequency spec-
trum, there’s a 10-inch bass driver
powered by 125 watts of juice.
The C/L/R-3000 center c h a n n e l
features two 6.5-inch cast-
magnesium b a s k e t bass/midrange
drivers, flanking a 1-inch aluminum
dome tweeter in a D’Appolito array.
To make this arguably the first
full-range center speaker,
Definitive threw in
a cast-basket long-
throw 10-inch
woofer, powered by
a 150-watt amplifier.
On the BP-3000s,
there are three pairs
of five-way binding
posts, allowing the
user to triwire the
speakers. There is a bass level
control, and also a line-level input
for the low-frequency-effects
channel from Dolby Digital or DTS,
in case you want to feed the
subwoofer output from your
receiver or preamp/processor
directly to the speakers via
Y - c o n n e c t o r s . However, I found
this connection method overly
complicated and lacking in a real
sonic payoff; I’d recommend
sticking with just speaker cable.
The rear panels of the C/L/R-3000
center speaker and the BP-2004
surround speakers are
very similar to the BP-
3000’s panel, except
that the BP-2004 has
only one pair of binding
posts for single wiring.
Setting up this system
was a piece of cake.
Sandy Gross of Definitive
Technology urged me to aim the
BP-3000s at the listener, and after
trying a few different speaker
positions, I definitely agree w i t h
him. As with all the bipolar loud-
speakers I’ve ever auditioned,
the BP-3000s present a huge
soundstage, but it becomes more
focused when directed at the lis-
tener. I also placed the BP-2004s
behind the listening posi-
tion, a couple of feet out
from the corners of the
room, and directed them
at the listening position.
By the way, if you want
something a little less
bombastic (and more
affordable) in the rear,
you can opt for Defini-
tive’s excellent BPX bipo-
lar surround speakers.
Now, for the most
important part of any
product review—how did
this system perform?
Well, after I got it dialed in, I have
to say that my universe was
shaken. I’ve never heard bass so
clearly delineated and so deeply
reproduced from anything but an
army of standalone subwoofers.
From the highest highs to the
lowest lows, even at very aggres-
sive volumes, I never heard any
distortion or roughness. Normally,
I get a little anxious when things
get so loud, but with this system I
found myself completely at ease,
simply delighting in its perfor-
mance. The front soundstage was
just huge, all the while providing
better localization of instruments
than you typically hear from bipolar
speakers. That’s not to say the BP-
3000 is so brutish it can’t do t h e
delicate thing; on Natalie Mer-
chant’s O p h e l i a CD, a recording
that features a mix of
acoustic instrumentation
and raw-sounding vocals,
the BP-3000 excelled. To
get things going a bit, I
dumped the City of
Angels
soundtrack into
the CD player, featuring
Peter Gabriel’s new
track, “I Grieve.” This
track starts off very
moody and quiet, and
builds up into that usual
Gabriel drums-and-bass
groove that I like so
much. The BP-3000 loved this
song, yearning to reproduce it
T H E A T E R O N E
Definitive Technology BP-3000 TL Speaker System
BP-3000 Main Speaker
$4,500/pair
BP-2004 Main Speaker
$1,498/pair
C/L/R-3000 Center Speaker
$999 each
Definitive Technology
(410) 363-7148
www.definitivetech.com
D
D .
On back, the
C/L/R-3000 sports
three sets of five-
way binding posts
for triwiring.
TESTING SYSTEM
Proceed AVP preamp/
processor, Krell KAV 500
amplifier, Sony DVP-S7000
DVD player, Pioneer Elite
Pro 200 RPTV, Monster Cable
interconnects, and Kimber
Kable speaker cable