Definitive Technology ProCinema 800 SV1106 Brochure

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vocals and a pleasant, easy-to-listen-to treble that wasopen and fairly airy without excess bit or sizzle.Clean, well-recorded CDs like Ani DiFranco’sReprieve were very pleasing and surprisingly high-end-sounding, with modest depth, some genuinetransparency, and considerable more weight andimpact from the below-50-Hz region than I’d expect-ed. The solo acoustic bass was tight and realisticallywoody, but still had plenty of heft for its occasionalventures below 60 Hz or so. The Definitive systemalso displayed arresting clarity on stuff like the explo-sively compressed, crystalline Dobro (or whateverthat is) that enters, startlingly, a bit later.The ProMonitors (and ProCenter, for that matter)could play cleanly far louder than expected — aboutas loud as plenty of much larger small-bookshelfspeakers I’ve heard. In fact, their tweeters ran out ofheadroom (resulting in hardness and “shriekiness”) atabout the same time as their woofers (flatulating, and“tup-tuping” on transients), which is quite rareamong mini-sats of this size. And since Definitive’stweeter is no slouch, this was rather loud indeed.MOVIE PERFORMANCEThe little Definitives’ performance on even demand-ing soundtracks was, if anything, even more pleasing.Collateral may be no Citizen Kane, but it’s anexpertly made movie in technical terms, and theProMonitors handled it with relative ease. Frommoderate to fairly loud volume — say, about 6 dBbelow commercial-cinema reference level — Inever once came out of the story because of asonic shortcoming.The ProCenter did a great job on dialogue, and asthe system’s music-and-effects keystone player (thecenter is always the most important speaker in anymovie-surround system). It made an excellent tonalmatch to the ProMonitors, producing a tight, well-integrated “screenstage.” On the other hand, itdemonstrated moderately audible tonal changeswhen heard from more than about 30° off-axis,becoming slightly muffled and hollow-sounding onmany male voices (a common effect of “lobing”response from closely spaced dual woofer/midranges). And like the ProMonitors, the centerproved quite sensitive to vertical aiming: As I’vementioned, to keep sounds evenly bright, I had to tiltit up a good bit on my low stand.I was also very happy with the ProMonitors at therear corners. When angled well back to reflect soundfrom the rear wall as I’ve described, the little 800sworked particularly well for plain, non-dipole 2-waysurrounds. (Truly small 2-ways like these alwaysseem to work well in this configuration, probablybecause their small-diameter mid/woofers are suffi-ciently wide-dispersion to avoid the “beaming” thatmight otherwise help the ear localize them.)Despite its diminutive, roughly 6-gallon form(smaller than a Texan’s lid!), the ProSub 800 proveda worthy support. This little sub produced ample, rea-sonably even output considerably lower than manyinexpensive 8-inchers (about 35 Hz or so), rolling offfairly quickly below that point. And it played unex-pectedly loudly and cleanly: The Definitive wouldbecome a bit “grumbly” at very high levels, butthanks no doubt to intelligently engineered limitingcircuits, I had to push it to ludicrous settings wellbeyond THX-reference from the overall system toelicit gross rattles or thumps. It had plenty of bottomfor thumping of Collateral’s climactic club scene,which indeed the full system delivered in fine, loud-ly enveloping, smoothly claustrophobic fashion. Thatsaid, the ProSub 800 doesn’t have the bottom-octavegrunt for fully cinematic deep-bass — the near-infra-sonic content of a T.rex footfall or the underpinningsof the ram’s-horn calls of those War of the World’sthingies — but it does impressively just the same.(Reality check: This is a $399 subwoofer. And there’sa 10-inch ProSub 1000 [$499] that might well do bet-ter still.)Bottom LineThis is a marvelously high-value system for smallerrooms — and even some not-all-that-small ones. Ifyou’ve simply go to have really small and (by serioushome theater standards) really cheap speakers, Idon’t think you can do much better.testreportsDefinitive Technology speaker systemKey Features11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117(410) 363-7148Visit us at www.definitivetech.comTest Bench Full lab results at soundandvisionmag.com/deftech800.This system has smoothresponse blemished primarlyby a depression centered justbelow 1 kHz. The subwoofer’shigh-frequency response to150 Hz mates well with thelimited bass of the upper-channel speakers. It has goodlow-end extension for a smallsub, delivering true 25-Hzoutput, but only at 76 dB,revealing its dynamiclimitations. It averaged 95dB from 25 to 62 Hz, and putout 103.7 dB max SPL at 62Hz, all at less than 10%distortion. — Tom Nousaine“pleasant, easy-to-listen-to ... open and airy ...plenty of heft”“a tight, well-integrated‘screenstage’”“played unexpectedlyloudly and cleanly”“I don’t think you cando very much better.”S&VSSOO UU NN DD && VV IISS II OO NN NOVEMBER 2006soundandvisionmag.comProMonitors 800:: ($250/pair) 1-in. dome tweeter; 41/2-in.mid/woofer; 41/2-in. passive radiator;83/8-in. high; 4 lb.ProCenter 1000:: ($200/pair) 1-in. dome tweeter; (2) 41/2-in.mid/woofers; (2) 41/2-in. passiveradiators; 5-in. high; 8 lb.ProSub 800:: ($399) 8-in. driver; 8-in. passive radiator;300-watt RMS amplifier; 121/2 x 141/4 x131/2-in.; 41 lb.:: Finish: Gloss-black, matte-white, silver.Subwoofer: black ash or white vinyl.DEFINITIVETECH.COM :: 410-363-7148

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