strain in the sound, and the voice in the
center channel came through very clearly.
Here, as well as during Spider-Man 3, the
ProSub 800 quite nicely pressurized the
room. As the sports announcers say, it
always stayed within itself. It blended so
well with the Mythos SSA-50 that I only
knew there was a subwoofer in the room
because I couldn’t believe that much bass
could be coming from a speaker that slim.
Whereas some of the lower-priced subs
tend to boom at certain frequencies, the
ProSub 800 sounded consistent from 100
hertz down until it rolled off.
But I Thought It Was a Five-
Channel System
At first it might seem sacrilegious or, at the
very least, silly to listen to two-channel
music through a single-cabinet speaker
system designed to trick you into believing
there are speakers all over the room. But it
turns out that the Mythos SSA-50 is excep-
tional at reproducing music as well as
movie soundtracks. I listened to several cuts
by Anonymous 4, a female a cappella group
that performs primarily medieval music.
The distinct placement and layering of
voice was quite amazing for a set of speak-
ers packed together in such a small cabinet.
Another impressive trick is how well the
Mythos SSA-50 created a soundstage that
was wider than I expected, considering how
relatively close the left- and right-channel
drivers are to each other.
Is the Mythos SSA-50 (and its partner in
crime, the ProSub 800) the death knell for
high-performance multi-speaker discrete
home theater systems? Hardly. The tech-
nology still hasn’t been developed that can
totally fool you into believing there are
honest-to-goodness speakers producing
sound behind you in your room. On the
other hand, this is by far the best-sounding
single-cabinet system I’ve heard to date, not
only when it comes to watching action-
packed Hollywood multichannel block-
busters, but also with more intimate two-
channel music. If I can’t have the real deal,
I’ll take this deal anytime.
Reprinted from Home Theater / August 2008.
For information and dealers
www.definitivetech.com
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117
(410)363-7148
AT A GLANCE
à
à
à
HT Labs Measures: Definitive Technology
Mythos SSA-50 Speaker System
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS SSA-50 SPEAKER SYSTEM
MYTHOS SSA-50
Two-way, 12-speaker
4.5, cone (3)
1, aluminum dome (3)
4.5, cone (2); 3.25, cone (4)
High-level (5)
Black, Silver
46.25 x 5.4 x 4.25
31
$1,099
SPEAKER:
Type:
Woofer (size in inches, type):
Tweeter (size in inches, type):
Full-range (size in inches, type):
Connections:
Available Finishes:
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches):
Weight (pounds):
Price:
à
SUBWOOFER: PROSUB 800
Connections:
Speaker-level, line-level
Enclosure Type:
Passive radiator
Woofer (size in inches, type):
8, poly cone (1); 8, medite flat
radiator (1)
Power Rating (watts):
300
Crossover Bypass:
No
Available Finishes:
Black,White
Dimensions (W x H x D, inches): 10.3 x 12.9 x 15.8
Weight (pounds):
28
Price:
$399
These listings are based on the manufacturer’s
stated specs; the HT Labs box below indicates
gear’s performance on our test bench.
Mythos SSA-50 Sound Array Speaker, $1,099;
ProSub 800 Subwoofer, $399
Definitive Technology, (410) 363-7148
www.definitivetech.com
Dealer Locator Code DEF
from the
test bench
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS
SSA-50 SPEAKER SYSTEM
“the Mythos SSA-50 is
exceptional at repro-
ducing music as well as
movie soundtracks”
L/R Sensitivity:
88 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
Center Sensitivity:
89 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
Surround Sensitivity:
86 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz
This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-
miking of all subwoofers) frequency response of the
Mythos SSA-50 L/R (purple trace), ProSub 800 subwoofer
(bluetrace), center channel (green trace) and surround (red
trace).All passive channels were measured with grille at a
distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input and scaled for
display purposes.
The L/R’s listening-window response (a five-point aver-
age of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical
responses) me1.80/–3.07 decibels from 200 hertz
to 10 kilohertz.The –3-dB point is at 128 Hz, and the –6-
dB point is at 112 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of
4.81 ohms at 3.3 kHz and a phase angle of –49.20 degrees
at 170 Hz.
The center’s listening-window response measures
+1.25/–4.82 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. An average of
axial and +/–15-degree horizontal responses measures
+1.37/–4.73 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz.The –3-dB point is
at 134 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 116 Hz. Impedance
reaches a minimum of 4.74 ohms at 302 Hz and a phase
angle of –53.11 degrees at 139 Hz.
The surround’s listening-window response measures
+1.96/–15.34 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz.The –3-dB point
is at 227 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 198 Hz. Impedance
reaches a minimum of 5.14 ohms at 429 Hz and a phase
angle of –37.85 degrees at 5.9 kHz.
The ProSub 800’s close-miked response, normalized to
the level at 80 Hz, indicates that the lower –3-dB point is
at 34 Hz and the –6-dB point is at 32 Hz.The upper –3-dB
point is at 159 Hz with the Low Pass Crossover control
set to maximum. —
MJP
