Definitive Technology TAS108 manual Mainstream, Multichannel, Pure Magic

Mainstream

MULTICHANNEL

Chris Martens

“Pure Magic”

Definitive Mythos ST

5.1-Channel Speaker System

bout a year ago Definitive Technology APresident Sandy Gross called me, sounding excited. “I wanted to tell you we’re working on a new kind of Super

Tower speaker that will use a variation on those mid/bass drivers you liked so much in our ProCinema 1000 system. We’re going to call it the Mythos ST.”

The $1649 ProCinema 1000 rig, which I reviewed in Issue 168, featured mid/bass drivers so sophisticated they would not have seemed out of place in costly high-end stereo speakers. I had often wondered what would happen if Definitive used those drivers in a more ambitious speaker.

“So the new speaker is going to be a Super Tower and a Mythos model at the same time?”

“Yes,” Sandy replied. “It will be a slender floorstander with an aluminum enclosure, taller and deeper than past Mythos models, but styled to have the traditional Mythos look. Each ST will have a forward-firing D'Appolito array on top, and a powered subwoofer on the bottom. And each one will have the same bass output as one of our SuperCube subwoofers.”

“How will SuperCube drivers fit inside a Mythos enclosure?”

“Oh, they won’t,” said Sandy. “The ST cabinet is too narrow for traditional round woofers.

Instead, we’ve designed ‘racetrack-shaped’ woofers and passive radiators just for this speaker, and we’ll drive them with built-in 300-watt amps.”

“Are you doing a new tweeter, too?” I asked the question because Definitive’s past aluminum dome tweeters, though good, were not in the same league as its superb mid/bass drivers.

“the Mythos ST struck me as being hands-down the best-sounding speaker Definitive had yet made — and one that arguably established performance benchmarks in its price class.”

“Sort of,” Sandy said. “We’ve revamped our tweeter, tweaking lots of design elements to cut non-linear distortions in half. I think the new one sounds much better, but you can judge for yourself when you hear them.” I first heard the Mythos ST ($3798/pair) at CES 2007 and three things impressed me from the outset. First, the speaker offered terrific amounts of low-level detail and high-frequency “air” coupled with an underlying treble smoothness. Second, it reproduced depth and imaging cues in an effortless way, so that images broke free from the speaker cabinets. Third, it delivered bass that was powerful, tightly controlled, and fast. In short, the Mythos ST struck me as being hands-down the best-

sounding speaker Definitive had yet made — and one that arguably established performance bench- marks in its price class. I considered doing an imme- diate review, but decided to wait until the compan- ion Mythos Ten center channel came out, so that I could test a complete Mythos ST surround-sound system. And now that I’ve heard that system, I can confidently say its performance puts many higher- priced rigs to shame.

The Mythos Ten essentially takes the D’Appolito array section of the ST, flips it on its side, then stretches the chassis just enough to fit in a pair of oblong passive radiators similar to, but smaller than those used in the ST. The Ten’s bass doesn’t reach as low as the ST’s, but its voicing is otherwise identical to its bigger brother. Completing the

“I can confidently say its

performance puts many higher-

priced rigs to shame.”

system is a pair of compact Mythos Gem XL surround speakers, also based on two-way D’Appolito arrays. Because the XLs are an earlier-gen- eration design, their drivers aren’t quite as sophisticat- ed as those in the ST and the Ten. Nevertheless, the Gem XLs would easily qualify as main speakers in most systems, meaning they’re more than adequate

for audiophile surround applications.

The Mythos ST system draws together three essential sonic qualities

—resolution, dynamics, and 3-D imaging — that add up to a fourth: a touch of pure magic. Let me explain that comment in practical terms.

On film soundtracks, the ST system produces an articulate, neutrally voiced and decidedly muscular sound that simply takes command of most listening rooms. In the initial chase scene from Terminator III: Rise of the Machines, a deadly robotic Terminatrix (Kristanna Loken) drives a motorized crane, pursuing John Connor (Nick Stahl) and his spouse- to-be (Claire Danes) through crowded city streets. The ST system repro- duced the ensuing mayhem of the crane ripping through phone poles, cars, and even buildings with terrific dynamic impact. Yet even through the thickest action-film soundtracks, the ST system never lost sight of two essential qualities: overarching clarity and low-level detail. In the final shootout scene from Open Range, for example, the ST system displayed both raw power (delivering the ear-splitting “craakkKK” of individual gun shots) as well as impressive textural subtlety. You can hear the ratcheting “clicks” of Colt revolvers being cocked, the sharp “whir” of shards of wood sizzling through the air as shots go astray, or the gently modulated moan of the prairie wind in the background. The point is that the Definitive system weaves together small, seemingly inconsequential details to create a fabric of sheer realism.