I've auditioned the 350 monitors. Although the 450 is larger and has a larger mid-woofer, the tweeter (and I suspect, the x-over) is the same. YMMV, but I can't stand the Def Tech house sound. Overly bright, distorted, metalic and harsh in the upper-mids and lower treble. Exactly the opposite of what I personally look for in a loudspeaker. Perhaps with really great electronics, they might sound better. This audition was at a Magnolia Home Theater inside Best Buy. The electronics were a high-end Pioneer Elite AVR and Elite Blue Ray disc player. I brought my own CDs and DVDs, so I'd be familiar with the material and how it sounds on my own system (posted in my profile if you want to see it).
We compared these to some Vienna Acoustics speakers, which were considerably higher priced. There really was no comparison - the VAs were smooth, detailed and pleasant to listen to. The Def Techs made me want to run out of the room about 5 seconds into the first track.
However, if you have really warm gear and cables, and your room is on the dead side acoustically, or if you're hard of hearing above 3kHz, they might be fine for you.
The 450 lists for ~$640/pr. In that range, here are some suggestions for auditioning:
Silverline Audio Minuet - $600/pr and very impressive for the price, IMO.
ERA Design 4
Usher 520
Paradigm Atom or Titan
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1
Aperion Audion Intimus 6B
BG Z-1
Gini Systems LS 3/5a
Linn Kan
I would even prefer some modest Polk monitors to the Def Techs.
No offence to Def Tech fans, these are my own thoughts. YMMV.
We compared these to some Vienna Acoustics speakers, which were considerably higher priced. There really was no comparison - the VAs were smooth, detailed and pleasant to listen to. The Def Techs made me want to run out of the room about 5 seconds into the first track.
However, if you have really warm gear and cables, and your room is on the dead side acoustically, or if you're hard of hearing above 3kHz, they might be fine for you.
The 450 lists for ~$640/pr. In that range, here are some suggestions for auditioning:
Silverline Audio Minuet - $600/pr and very impressive for the price, IMO.
ERA Design 4
Usher 520
Paradigm Atom or Titan
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1
Aperion Audion Intimus 6B
BG Z-1
Gini Systems LS 3/5a
Linn Kan
I would even prefer some modest Polk monitors to the Def Techs.
No offence to Def Tech fans, these are my own thoughts. YMMV.