fast facts
PROTOWER 400
PROCENTER C2
PROMONITOR
(left/right front)
(center)
200
(surround)
TWEETER
1-inch dome
1-inch dome
1-inch dome
WOOFER
6
1
/
2
-inch cone
two 5
1
/
4
-inch cones
6
1
/
2
-inch dome
SUBWOOFER
two 6
1
/
2
-inch cones
—
—
ENCLOSURE
vented
vented
vented
DIMENSIONS
7
3
/
4
x 38
1
/
2
x 11
20 x 6
5
/
8
x 9
1
/
4
7
3
/
4
x 14 x 11
(WxHxD)
inches
inches
inches
WEIGHT
40 pounds
17 pounds
14 pounds
FINISH
textured dark gray
textured dark gray
textured dark gray
or white
or white
or white
MANUFACTURER
Definitive Technology, Dept. S&V, 11433 Cronridge Dr., Owings Mills, MD
21117; phone, 410-363-7148; Web, www.definitivetech.com
test report
BY DANIEL KUMIN
Definitive Technology
ProCinema 400 Speaker System
“The
ProTowers
sounded
outstanding… ”
STEREO REVIEW’S
SOUND & VISION
t one point, it almost seemed as if big tower
speakers were in danger of being killed off
by small subwoofer/satellite combinations.
But then along came the “power tower”—a
category that Definitive Technology
helped create in 1995 when it introduced
the big bad BP2000.
What, exactly, is a power tower? Pretty much any
floor-standing speaker whose woofers are driven by
dedicated amplifiers built right into each cabinet. Most
do away with the need for a separate powered sub-
woofer, which explains the genre’s growing popularity
with both music lovers and home theater enthusiasts—
and their significant others—throughout the land.
Equally valuable, the power-tower configuration per-
mits speaker makers to wring deep bass from relatively
compact cabinets by taking a “systems” approach in
combining a powered-subwoofer section with an upper-
frequency section driven by the external amplifiers.
Power towers are now available from numerous
brands in a wide range of prices and sizes. But Def
A
Tech’s new ProTower 400—its first power tower that’s not
bipolar—is the most compact model I’ve encountered yet.
Just over 3 feet tall, it’s easily moved by a single, ordinary
human, and it’s affordable by many ordinary folks, too.
Definitive is offering it both in stereo pairs and as part of a
ProCinema 400 home theater suite that includes the
ProCenter C2 center speaker and a pair of conventional
two-way bookshelf models, either the ProMonitor 100 or
200, for the surround channels. This array, with the larger
ProMonitor 200 surrounds, is what Definitive sent us, and
I installed the speakers in my studio, driving them with my
100-watt B&K AVR202 receiver and a Sony DVP-C6000
DVD changer.
The ProTower 400 has a stylish shape, with a smoothly
curved back and sides that flow seamlessly into the front
baffle. The grille frame is also rounded, leaving the bias-
cut top panel and the bottom as the only flat surfaces. (The
slanted top looks cool, but it means you can’t pile things
like CD jewel boxes on the speakers. Is that a good thing
or a bad thing?) The towers, center, and surrounds are
made of a composite Def Tech calls PolyStone, a man-
made mineral-filled polymer—plastic, in other words.
Unlike wood, PolyStone can be easily molded into com-
plex shapes and engineered toward a desired density to
reduce resonance. In the ProCinema 400 suite, the enclo-
sures include extensive internal bracing, multiple suben-
closures (including a “floating” mid-range/tweeter struc-
ture), and internal and external ribbing for strength, rigidi-
ty, and freedom from image-smearing diffraction effects.
The ProTower 400 has binding posts for a speaker-level
input from a receiver or amp. Like all power towers, it also
has internal filters to send deep-bass signals to the sub-
woofer section (its amp is rated at 125 watts) while the
“the bass performance was remarkable… ”
