A Constructive One Year Anniversery Review

VR3

Never before have I waited an entire year to write a review. Infact, I have never owned a pair of mains more than a year and actually like their performance, and continue to like them with each upgrade. So I would like to take the next few moments of your time to share with you a review I spent a fairly long time on and put some thought into!

So here we go!

Definitive Technology BP10B Review by Trey Roseman

Glossary –
1) Introduction
2) Aesthetics, Build Quality & Design
3) Sound
4) Demo Material Used

Equipment Used –
1) Mains: Definitive Technology BP10B
2) Preamp: B&K PT5
3) Amp: B&K ST 125.2
4) CD Player: Onix XCD-88
Cables Used –
1) Signal Cable Classic Single Run (Amp To Speakers)
2) Signal Cable Analog II (CD Player To Preamp)
3) Signal Cable Premium XLR Version Two (Preamp To Amp)
4) Stock Power Cables

*A subwoofer was not used for this review.
*Images are from www.DefinitiveTech.com
*The Def Tech BP10B in this review features a modified crossover with upgraded caps, resistors and a re-worked tweeter network. Results between the modified version and stock may differ.


Introduction
In the summer of 2004, I was searching for a new speaker company to venture into. I had always had a liking for Definitive Tech from past encounters, so it was one of my first choices. A local high end dealer, Sound Systems, carried Definitive and it was there first, years ago I had heard the very best Home Theater setup ever. Even the Wilson Audio HT I heard in New York couldn’t compare to the shear force this setup produced in that store. I was thrilled, even though I wasn’t that deep into HT as I was into two channel music. A few years passed as I continued to sport Polk Audio products that I decided I needed a change. So I went to a friend’s house and auditioned a pair on his modest setup. I left there knowing what my new pair of speakers would be, the Definitive Technology BP6B. So I went to Sound Systems and auditioned them against B&W and Boston Acoustics and other various brands they carried. My thoughts were confirmed.

So I purchased the BP6B and returned them to my home. They were great speakers. However, I wanted more. So this brought me to the Definitive Technology BP10B. It was bigger and better and could be found for similar costs online. This was my ticket. I purchased the BP10B on April 15, 2004 (officially arrived into my clutches) and I have not regretted owning these speakers yet. So I would like to take you through my time with them and hopefully thoroughly explain my fascination with them and the technology behind them. The BP10B is an unusual loudspeaker, not only as a speaker but in how long it has been around. It first came to the scene in mid 1996, and continues to be fruitful on the shelf and will remain there for many years to come.

Aesthetics, Build Quality & Design
The BP10B sports the usual Definitive Tech styling of a grill sock (choice of black and white) and caps, which can be styled in golden cherry or high gloss black. It stands in at roughly 42” tall, 8” wide and 12.25” deep. It takes up very little floor space, but weighs in at a nice sixty pounds. Definitive includes carpet spikes with a variable height adjustment to get the tweeter to the desired height and plastic feet for hardwood floors.

It is built rather well, although there are some things I wouldn’t mind to see different. The cabinet is constructed of Particle Board and Medite (Medex). The side panels are ¾” PB. The top, bottom and internal panels are .5” PB. While the front and rear baffles are constructed of one inch thick Medex. It is no slouch by any means in the build quality department.

The driver composition is rather simplistic being it is a 2-way bipolar design. It features two 6.5” homo-polymer cone mid-basses and two 1” aluminum dome tweeters (Both designed by Definitive) front and back. The speaker itself utilizes a ‘Quasi’ Transmission Line design which acts like a TL, yet doesn’t require the extra components to get the desired effects, thus lower cost and less materials. The design works pretty well as the speaker has an astonishing -3db point of 29Hz at 1 meter.

Overall the BP10B is a well built machine for its age and price range. I do have my gripes however; I wish it didn’t use as much particle board. I like MDF a lot more. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the lower portion of the cabinet braced a bit more, as almost 24 inches of the cabinet is left un-braced. This definitely could cause un-wanted resonances in the lower part of the cabinet that a small horizontal brace could have fixed.

VR3

Sound
For me to effectively explain to you how the BP10B sound, I think it is only proper than I explain their placement. I currently have them placed around two feet from the rear wall, and 13-14” from the side walls. I also have the front and rear spikes jacked up two threads to raise the height of the tweeter, the tweeter on the BP10B is indeed low and is recommended to raise it, even by Definitive. The speakers themselves are pointed at me, but indirectly. The tweeter is firing to the wall, about two to three inches from my ears. To me, this cuts down the brightness of the tweeter while not losing any detail in the process. This is the best mix of detail and soundstage that I require. I find that toeing them to much in or out makes the soundstage jam together and get cluttered. However, when you toe them in farther, they become much more dynamic and in your face, this is a quality some of you may like.
Now that you understand how they are placed, I will proceed with the review.

The BP10B have a unique sound, one that most people do not find quite right for music. In some instances I would have to agree, that the BP10B can sound “wrong”. But this is where you come to realize that there is more to music than being “right” (accurate.) Now don’t let the above statement turn you off from Definitive, or bipolar loudspeakers, because with time and effort, you can get them to sound amazing. Bipolar technology, when harnessed can throw off a huge, three-dimensional sound field. The soundstage easily extends beyond the sides of the speaker; sometimes, it can extend as far out as three or four feet. This may not sound like a lot, but when your speakers are one foot from the side wall, that is quite an accomplishment.

The sound field itself is rather separated and precise. The instruments easily extend to the sides and rear field, easily obtaining a body and weight of their own. This seems to depend on the recording. The depth of the stage is by far my only complaint, but it is hard to decide if it is the speaker or the room doing it. It is definitely easy to give the drums a body and separate them from the singer, but it is harder to separate instruments on the side stage that is in front of or behind the other. Also seems to depend on the recording.

The top end is my favorite part of this speaker. However, I am not shy to say that some will find it to be on the bright side. However, I find it very detailed and natural. It isn’t subdued and boring to listen to like most textile/soft domes I have heard. It makes everything vibrant and lively. The involving nature of the tweeter is what made me buy the speakers. The important thing to note here is that the tweeter is not sibilant or shrill. It is very neutral in that department.

Anyways, the top end of the BP10B is very detailed. The cymbals particularly are where I turn to listen to when I listen for detail in a tweeter, as they are very hard to reproduce. I think the 10B captures the cymbal fairly well, as it can build a body, and carry the texture. And have the precision and tone of the ride, and have the chimes kick in all at the same time with absolute control and detail. It is very enjoyable. This leads to an overall detailed and vibrant performance with every instrument, ranging from the piano, guitar, horns, sax, everything. The body, weight, detail and texture each instrument is given is exactly what I am looking for.

The midrange is another selling point, as my past speakers were fairly muddy, and had a problem with the transition between the mid-bass and tweeter. It was always obvious, which is why the BP10B has stuck around as long as it has. It is very clean in its transition and the midrange is solid and clear. Never does it give off that veiled sound, where something is being repressed in the music. Musicians and instruments lower end isn’t amplified where things sound chesty or bass-heavy, but very neutral and refined. The midrange is just very smooth to compliment the bright tweeter. It leads to a very enjoyable performance that is extremely detailed.

The bass of this speaker is extremely fun. By the fact that this speaker is so uniquely designed with the Quasi-Transmission line tuning, that the bass is effortless and undistorted, while seemingly not effecting the midrange in anyway at all. The bass is very powerful, however a room node causes the bass drum kick to lack in my system, but in certain portions of the music, the entire room will fall in. It can reach low and do it cleanly while not sacrificing the quality of the midrange at all. This seems to vary with the equipment though, as with past equipment, it was noted that the bass did get heavy and clouded the midrange a bit, and had a hint of bloom to it. (It is important to note that I run my speakers on full range, and that turning the speakers down -4 in the bass, on my preamp got rid of the problem without taking about from the bass performance.) With the Onix XCD-88 added to the chain, it seems to present detail and texture that was before missing. So it may vary system to system with equipment and placement.

The speakers do have their flaws though, they sometimes can get to bright, which seems to be recording and not a usual thing. And sometimes they can get “busy”, where things start to ram together in a way that makes things not make sense what-so-ever. But this only seems to be an occurrence on select songs and passages, mostly during bad recordings. The depth, like I mentioned before is a constant thing that I seem to have with every speaker, regardless of the equipment and placement. There just doesn’t seem to be a way to get around it. I wouldn’t mind to have more depth to the music that is for sure.

Overall, I am impressed with the Definitive Tech BP10B, I have now owned it for over a year and I can’t really say that there are any signs of it leaving. As each new piece is added to the chain, their performance only increases and I can’t wait to fully complete my system.

They present a very solid soundstage, with an all around performance of detail and smoothness in the midrange and highs, and to top it off, they have amazing bass performance. They are definitely impressive for a speaker that has been on the shelf since 1996 and they remain to sell incredibly well for obvious reasons. I am proud owner and hope to have many more years of usage out of them. I recommend them on the used market for their going price of $400-500, at the $1000 new range; I would definitely consider other models from Definitive or a completely different brand. But I think they do compete in the new market at $1000, but used there are definite alternatives to be had.

Demo Material Used
1) Stevie Wonder – Greatest Hits
2) Korn – Take A Look In The Mirror
3) Angie Aparo – The American
4) Eric Clapton & BB King – Riding With The King
5) Classical Thunder III - The Time-Life Library Of Classical Favorites
6) Dream Theater – Scenes From A Memory
7) Dexter Freebish – A Life Of Saturdays

* Demoing was done over a 15 day time period with various material, listed and unlisted.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for sharing your time! Sorry for such a long read, I tried my best to keep it short and simple!

VR3

Review can be downloaded in THX form (the way its supposed to be seen)...

By clicking below!

Early B.

Excellent review, Sid.

VR3

Thank you

hoosier21

Demo Material Used
1) Stevie Wonder – Greatest Hits
2) Korn – Take A Look In The Mirror
3) Angie Aparo – The American
4) Eric Clapton & BB King – Riding With The King
5) Classical Thunder III - The Time-Life Library Of Classical Favorites
6) Dream Theater – Scenes From A Memory
7) Dexter Freebish – A Life Of Saturdays


Where did you get the Angie Aparo? One of my favorites.

VR3

Mom's disc. I have his other CD as well, but I didn't like the fact that he didn't write his own songs, and not to mention it just isn't as good.

I used alot more discs than that, just lost track of everything I used...

audiobliss

Well, I'll definitely hafta add an 'excellent'. And a 'bravo'. And an 'encore'.



Great review.

RuSsMaN

Nice review, interesting selection of tunes also.

madmax

I'm glad you included a glossary.
madmax

VR3

I need a bigger room - and a deeper room... lol

It has gotten to the point where my system has completely out grown my room, more so than before. With the new CD player, it's like the system is just eating it alive, where as it wasnt as noticeable before. I definetely need to upgrade the room...

Thanks for the comments, and yeah I thought I had a lil bit of everything in there. Korn's Take a Look In The Mirror isn't recorded half bad, very nice staging.

reeltrouble1

Well done Sid. One question, when you wrote the speaker was more "dynamic" toed in, did you mean it was more forward sounding or the tones in terms of softness to loundess changed?


RT1

scottnbnj

^5

)

VR3

reeltrouble1 wrote:

Well done Sid. One question, when you wrote the speaker was more "dynamic" toed in, did you mean it was more forward sounding or the tones in terms of softness to loundess changed?


RT1

It was much more forward. It would probally be better in a larger room, but in my room - toeing them all the way in (at yours ears) made you feel like the speakers were charging at you, literally. At higher volumes, it was incredibly uncomfortable in the room. Was very dynamic - and not very musical.

I guess it boils down to my room being way to small for speakers this size...lol - especially bipolar ones...lol

Sean,
Glad you enjoyed the read!

Thanks for all the comments folks :cool: