Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Definitive Technology

I have this old one from a few years ago:

Better Mark, much better. Tape would help, but I give it a B+.

It is an interesting design.

I used to like the tone of DefTech speakers (when there were actual Stereo stores you could go to listen to things) before I got my Axioms. What I ultimately did not like was the bipolar design. While it does have a room-filling effect, I think it does so to the detriment of imaging, phase coherence, etc. Kind of like a modern-day Bose design; let's bounce the sound all over the place.

I also don't like the form factor. Those full-length speaker-grill-cloth socks just don't do it for me. Besides being ugly, they would be an absolute loser in any environment where kids or pets produce hair or other gunk that might stick to cloth.

I'd be interested to know about the crossovers and response graphs. Frankly, I'm not sure I can believe 17Hz at the low end. Also, with only a single 8" "sub", how do you manage to effectively cover the midrange and midbass with one, 4.5" driver facing forwards and one facing the rear? Something just doesn't make sense to me. If you're really trying to get 17Hz from that 8" driver/radiator array, how can it also play high enough with low distortion to appropriately relieve a 4.5" driver at its bottom point?

It just seems kind of gimmicky to me.

Well, I just don't think, at that price, the subs are going to do what you want. IMO, and nothing more, he would be better off with a good full range speaker and skip the sub, rather than getting so many components shoved into a box for $600. He could buy a better amp with the savings, etc. I'm just not a believer in adding more cheap components to overshadow "improve" the existing cheap components' performance. (That sounds snooty, I know.)

Before my M80s I had a pair of Def Tech Pro tower 400s. They each had a 125 watt amp and was rated down to some where around 19HZ. There was no way in heck these speakers went that low. Mind ya I didn't do any frequency sweeps but you can tell when a speaker is truly full range. IMO they were nice but there is a lot of hype behind the brand.

I also had trouble with both amps on the subs TWICE. They did stand behind them but sending them back was on my dime. Even after that the amps would kick on every so often by themselves with nothing being fed to them. Hell I'd be just sitting here and then THUMP, the damn things would have turned on.

I sold them; bought my Axioms and never looked back. I'd bet ya the M80s reach lower then those so called subs in the Def Techs.

Oh and btw I had to send back the speakers and not just the amps.......$$$$$$.

You didn't buy them from Randy, did you?

I have seen posts on audioholics suggesting that 3rd party measurements showed that the powered towers do not reach their stated low end. A google search should turn up some reviews.

It takes a driver like the JL12W7 to reach that low and those drivers retail for about $600 a piece, not to mention they are 12".

17Hz from an 8" driver would imply it's able to go lower than the majority of dedicated subs out there(12"++). That is hard to believe.

It is well known Def Techs published specs are not accurate. There should be some 3rd party measurements on these speakers somewhere. Is the 7006 their top speaker?

Edit: Go fredk!

Gee,guys; why all the skepticism? Since DefTech doesn't state any level for their 17Hz-30KHz response spec, it's entirely possible that it's true, but just happens to be 30-40dB down at each end.