sumers think about how products
should perform and fit into our
lives. I, for one, am certainly ready
for this shift. Even if other manu-
facturers don’t follow Def Tech’s
lead, this system is still a mighty
fine-sounding and damn good-
looking group of speakers.
appealing, though. The Mythos are
so intimate in their imaging and
precise in their reproduction that
they create a sonic portrait with
such subtlety and sincerity that, if
you could somehow freeze forever
such an audible moment, it would
be worthy of hanging in the Louvre.
The cabinets’ narrowness, the
lack of parallel sides, the excellent
internal damping, the PolyStone
mineral-filled polymer front baffles,
the specially annealed aluminum
dome tweeters with silk surrounds,
and the Medite planar bass radia-
tors that refuse to let midrange
frequencies bleed into the room
combine to provide the unfettered,
thoroughly unencumbered lightness
of being a Mythos speaker. But
what it really boils down to is this:
How do these slender silos sound
when you plunk them on the floor
or pop them on the wall next
to your plasma? In a word: three-
dimensional and thrilling. Well, that
was three words, but you get what
I mean.
Strong yet Subtle
The underlying nature of the
Mythos Fours, Threes, and Gems
(which, by the way, also fared quite
well as main speakers when I
paired them with the SuperCube II
sub-woofer) is a subtle sweetness
and unerring accuracy. The sonic
blend of the bass with the midrange
vocals, guitars, and harmonica on
Blues Traveler’s Truth Be Told
DVD-Audio disc is a great exam-
ple of this; at the same time, the
ensemble flawlessly reproduced the
maniacally defined antics found on
Chesky’s Musical 5.1 Surround
Show SACD. In fact, if you don’t
think these speakers have what it
takes to run with the ugliest but best
sounding speakers in the price
range, listen to “Music for Cello,
Helicopter and Cars” on the Chesky
disc. If the system is dialed-in
properly, it’ll change your opinion
of how good a lifestyle product
should be.
All of the aspects that make
music sound so good achieve sim-
ilar results with movies. Master &
Commander was much more than
I bargained for with this system —
especially early in the movie, when
you’re lulled into calm by the
creaking of the ship and the break-
ing of the waves just before a hell
storm of cannon shots is released.
These Mythos are no passive wall-
flowers, let me tell you. Seabiscuit,
a much less rambunctious movie
that relies on subtlety of sound and
narration as a large part of its story,
was just as engagingly portrayed
and just as enjoyable.
Hopefully, the Mythos are an
early indication of a paradigm shift
in the way manufacturers and con-
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148
Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of HOME THEATER.
For information and dealers
www.definitivetech.com
from the
test bench
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS FOUR SPEAKER SYSTEM
“drop-dead
gorgeous. I’m
talking stunning,
can’t get-them-
out-of-your-mind”
“Music and movies
are equally stunning”
