Def Tech BPVX/P Surrounds

pearsall001
pearsall001 Posts: 5,091
in Speakers
Any feedback on these? They are a beast with a 125 amp for a pair of 6.5" drivers. The other pair of 6.5" drivers are powered by AVR. Twin 1" tweeters round out the sound. Excellent reviews 👍

Hopefully Dan can add his experience. He's a big Def Tech fan
"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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Comments

  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    How have you been?
    Yeah the BPVX/P are pretty killer speakers sound wise. Mounting them sucks as you have to plug them in. What we ue to do is install a Clock outlet so at least it was recessed or we would use a bad box. Now in situations where we had drop tiles we would put an outlet behind the tiles and do a drywall run of the power cord a few inches it would go in the wall and right back out behind the drop tiles. These where the best way to hang those damn things.

    As you already know I'm a huge Def Tech fan and these where designed back in the day where we as a industry just didn't fully understand how bass reacted in a room.
    The logic behind all def tech speakers then and they still use some of that logic today is to try and make all channels full range as that is how the recording was intended. BUT what Def Tech and the rest of in the industry didn't rely on dedicated subwoofers at east 2 or more in each room for optimal placement and correct pressure.

    I was trained by John Dahl from THX during my tour of CEIDA way back in the day and his course hurt my brain. I got a pretty good understanding of room acoustics but you really need to go to school for acoustics to fully understand them.
    Def Tech really tries to fill the room with bass from many different angles like a sub in each main channel, one in the center channel and with the older surrounds like the powered BPVX's of then on your wall or on stands or tables etc. So again not to beat a dead horse here but I must admit these speaker locations in most theater and living space rooms the bass was never even across the seating locations. You could tune it to get good response at one or 2 seats but then it has issues in the room with peaks and dips.
    Companies like B&K back then was using advance software in their Preamps and AVR's with a web browser and used NOTCH FILTERS. What they did was after you fully calibrate a system in a given room, you can use a SPL meter and generate tones in the lower octaves and try to cut problem areas. Yeah it works better then anything going on back then as Audyssey and all the fancy calibration tools we have today where just not as good or even available. Bose , Denon and Pioneer Elite got into the game( Integra as well) and it worked but it was hit or miss. B&K did the best job at trying to fix these non understood issues with bass.

    Sorry to rant my friend you just brought up some old memories of spending countless hours moving subs around the room and trying to get some of those older Def Tech systems to have good bass response in given rooms I designed calibrated and wanted to jump out a window in some cases due to poor coverage and overbearing bass in others.

    But yeah they are badass in so many ways but today I feel they are not even necessary to achieve the goals one tried with those designs.

    My Room works pretty good with my Myths ST powered towers but they are not even across all my seats. It's why I have a stack of damn subwoofers in my basement and I'm currently running 2 Velodyne DD-10 Plus subwoofer to try and smooth out some ruff spots in my room. I have limited placement abilities so I go round and round with bass.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 5,091
    Hey Dan, your comments & expertise are always welcome.
    I can pick these up for a song & getting juice to them isn't a problem.
    My only other subs are twin Velo SPL1200's that are incredible for both HT & music.
    My only concern would be if the amp quit on me. The other 6.5" woofers would still be fine. Have you heard anything about that happening?
    I haven't decided yet..still kicking things around. Anything else I need to consider before I make a decision.
    And since I added the KEF R3 monitors things really got cooking!! They are dynamite across the spectrum.
    Thanks 😊
    "2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    You might be able to get them fixed through Def Tech repair or a local location. United Radio up in NY would be one place I believe.
    The SPL series are very nice man. I really dig that series.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 5,091
    mantis wrote: »
    You might be able to get them fixed through Def Tech repair or a local location. United Radio up in NY would be one place I believe.
    The SPL series are very nice man. I really dig that series.

    Hey Dan,

    The amps are working fine...I was just thinking for down the road if they cut out. Do the amps have a good track record for lasting a pretty long time?
    "2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    Not more or less then any other Subwoofer amp. They all eventually go bad.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 5,091
    That's what I figured. Thanks. Still haven't decided if I'm going to snag them or not.
    Any downside at all?
    "2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,200
    Nah if your getting them cheap just get them. They are incredibly dynamic and super clear.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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