b w / martin logan / definitive

Steve,

I own a pair of Def Tech BP 2000 towers since 1997 and share my experience to give you a starting point in evaluating the Def Techs in general.

First, these are outstanding home theater speakers. I have a Def Tech center and surrounds and for movies they are great. The 2002s flank my Sony 56" tv and stand about 12 inches from the backwall so the rear firing speakers can bounce sound. I have a Denon AVR 5600 and a Sony 7000 DVD player. The combination makes for a bright sound, which isn't a problem for HT but got annoying for music. I play my CDs from the Sony on analog cables (but kept the digital output for HT) and shifted the speakers to be parallel to the back wall and not "toed" in for a "sweet spot" on the coach. This helped bring down the bright sound considerably.

Musically, the bipoar design uses reflected sound and differs from traditional direct radiating speakers. It's an "airy" with slight "reverb" sound which is great for live recordings because you feel "there". However, it could be annoying if you don't like that type of sound. My living room has a lot of harsh surfaces so if I treated the room, it could "soften" the sound more. Nonetheless, with my 40% movie and 60% music applications, I can live with this system. The two controls on the back of the towers control the roll over point and bass which helps give defination to the lower mid and bottom base.

For your 50/50 application, the Def Techs are the way for home theater with its small footprint, built-in sub, variable controls and resonable price. Unless the martin logans come with a sub woofer, the Def Techs might be a better fit for your needs.

Good luck and let me know how things work out for you.

Jim Wong, San Francisco, CA

I was looking at the DefTech 2002tl, B&W Nautilus 804, and Paradigm Studio 80s & 100s. I almost instantly ruled out the Paradigms due to the fact that the DTs with their built-in sub sounded much richer. When it came down to B&W and DT, I chose the B&W for music and the DTs for HT. In the end I took home DefTech BP3000TL because I was offerred a deal I couldn't refuse, I couldn't be happier. You should consider the future though, which means you will eventually need three more amplified channels, at least, a center channel speaker,and surround speakers. At least with the center channel you will want the same drivers as in your mains. I'm sure DT and B&W make a matching CC, don't know about the Martins. Read reviews at audioreview.com, that might help. Good luck

I had the Definive Technology BP20's and the Powerfield 1800 sub in my home theater for a long time and I was very happy with the sound for home theater. Definitive has a variety of good matching center channel speakers and surrounds. I had the CLR 1000 for a center and was very pleased with its performance because it uses the same 5.25" drivers as the BP20's, (and 2000, 3000 etc) so the bass from the center made for natural sounding male voice. My friend has the B&W setup but I found many of the B&W center channel speakers are smaller and sound very thin in comparison. The HTM1 center is very nice, but expensive at $2000. Although I was happy with my Definitive setup for home theater, I had grown to hate listening to music on that system. I recently switched to B&W Nautilus line which was many steps up from my previous setup so now I am happy with music and home theater.

I guess it would depend on your priorities. The Definitive stuff with the built in sub saves space and does a good job for home theater stuff and there are a number of very good and more affordable center channel speakers to go with it. The B&W stuff is better for music. The CDM-NT series is really an excellent value and perhaps the center channel for that series would be good - I haven't had a chance to hear that. If mixing music and home theater is important then I'd lean toward the B&W stuff. If its going to be primarily home theater, you could probably get more bang for the buck from the Definitive Technology stuff.

If in doubt go for B&W.
Unless you can afford the Cello Palatte, we are at the mercy of the mixer of the music we listen to. Since 80% of all classical music is mastered on B&W speakers, you will automatically come closer to the original sound than you will on any other brand of speaker, all elso being equal.