Value with a capital ‘V’ | Definitive Technology TPV906 instruction

Definitive Technology ProCinema 1000

Chris 5.1-Channel Speaker System

Martens

REVIEW

Innovative Technology Pays Big Dividends

AUDIO

efinitive Technology

Dis known for build- ing innovative loudspeakers that

deliver high-end performance at modest prices, and historically some of the firm’s most special products have come in small packages. One great example would be the firm’s new $1649 ProCinema 1000 5.1-channel speaker system.

“This compact system plays big—very big.“

The deluxe version of the ProCinema 1000 system consists of four ProMonitor 1000 mini- monitors, a ProCenter

2000 center- channel speaker, and a ProSub

1000 sub-

woofer. At first, the ProCinema speakers look like truncated, jet-black versions of Definitive’s Mythos speakers, though the designs are different from a technical standpoint. Sadly, Definitive’s product styling has been widely imitated, so that the lovely ProCinema components look well finished but not particu- larly distinctive. From the outside, the ProCinema system looks much like any number of other good, “generic” sat/sub systems on the market. But once you hear the ProCinema system, you’ll know in an instant there is nothing generic about its sound.

Big Dynamics

This compact system plays big—very big. We trotted out our favorite cinematic blockbusters—the “Echo Game” scene from House of Flying

Daggers, “The Flying Boat” scene from The Aviator, and the “Under Attack” scene from Master and Commander—and came away impressed with the way the

“The ProCinema 1000 system is a bargain, pure and simple.”

system handled this dynamically demanding material. Many small systems can play fairly loudly, but few do so gracefully. The ProCinema system, however, almost always kept its composure, taking large-scale dynamic swells in stride, even in TPV’s relatively large audio lab. Only at loony volume levels did the ProCinema rig start to show traces of hard- ness and compression.

“Value with a capital ‘V’”

Innovations that Work

I attribute the system’s fine dynamics to two design innova- tions. First, its speakers introduce spectacular new mid/bass drivers whose diaphragms are supported both by outer and inner suspen- sion rings (traditional diaphragms are supported at their outer rims only), with cylindrical wave- guides in the center. These might be the finest mid/bass drivers Definitive has ever produced; they deliver terrific dynamic punch with very low distortion. Second, the ProCinema speakers