Definitive Technology SuperTower BP7001SC User manual

with the company’s C/L/R
3000 center speaker —
another full-range design
with a built-in powered sub
and a couple of beefy BPVX
surrounds. Definitive Tech
claims the system can han-
dle the dynamic needs of
both the movie soundtracks
and multichannel music on
DVD Audio and Super
Audio CD. And with each
speaker in the system using
the same 6 1/2-inch woofer
and 1-inch tweeter, you can
count on seamless sound
all around.
There are plenty of top
shelf speaker systems avail-
able, so you’re probably
wondering what makes this
one different. First off, both
the BP7001
SC tower and
BPVX surround are bipolar
designs (the C/L/R 3000
center speaker is a conven-
tional direct-radiating, or
monopolar design). A bipo-
lar speaker uses matched
sets of drivers to radiate
equal sound from the front and rear, and because all of the
drivers operate in phase with one another, it can produce a
nearly 360° sound field.
The second thing, of course, is the built-in powered
sub in each tower speaker (each BP7001
SC must
be plugged into anAC outlet for the sub to operate and the
same goes for the C/L/R 3000). The BP7001
SC sub’s
10-inch driver is powered by a 1,500-watt Class D ampli-
fier and it has two 10-inch passive radiators, so using
a pair of BP7001
SC towers effectively gives you stereo
subwoofers. In some rooms this will boost deep-bass
output. The BP7001
SC has a line-level input that lets you
separately feed the subwoofer/LFE (low-frequency
effects, the “.1” in “5.1”) output from your surround
processor or receiver to the tower’s built-in subwoofer.
There’s also a volume control to adjust the sub’s output.
The C/L/R 3000 has a line-level input as well, but it’s
designed to connect to the full-range center-channel pre-
amp output found on some receivers and is not intended
for subwoofer/LFE signals.
The system Definitive Technology sent me came with
wood end caps finished in its new golden cherry piano
gloss finish. They all have the same black knit wrap-
around sleeves as most of the company’s previous speakers,
but to me the lighter finish on the end caps is an aesthetic
leap forward from the previous monolithic black look.
Another pleasing touch is the beveled edge that runs the
length of the tower speaker’s front baffle and is echoed
in its end caps.
Weighing in at 61 pounds, the C/L/R 3000 is one hefty
center speaker — as you’d expect from a model packing a
powered subwoofer. It’s also pretty large, so don’t expect
to set it on top of one of those slim new TVs, most of
which provide only a few inches of surface depth on top.
For horizontal placement, a set of adjustable feet lets you
angle the speaker up or down.
With a specified low-end limit of 31 Hz, Definitive
Tech’s BPVX is equipped to deliver more bass than your
average surround speaker. Standing a tall 22 inches, it has
a semi-triangular design with matched sets of drivers on
both of its angled sides. The supplied mounting hardware
lets you attach the speaker’s back panel to a wall.
There’s been a lot of debate about which type of speak-
er works best for surround sound. But because they radi-
ate sound from both front and rear, bipolar surrounds like
the BPVX split the difference between a dipole’s diffuse
presentation — a desirable trait for movie soundtracks —
and a monopole’s directionality, which tends to work
better for music.
I used the Def Tech system to christen Sound &
Vision’s new A/V testing facility — a set of soundproofed,
acoustically treated rooms tucked away in the heart of
midtown Manhattan. Owing to the large size of the
BP7001
SC towers, I set up the system in the more volumi-
nous Room 1, a 20 x 14-foot space with an 8 1/2-foot ceil-
ing. The C/L/R 3000 center went on a shelf of a large TV
stand, under the screen, and was angled up toward the
seating position. I put the BPVX surrounds on a set of
38-inch-high stands 2 feet behind the couch. I set these up
HIGH POINTS
Great Sound.
Impressive low-end extension.
Seamless blend between front
and surround speakers.
Full-range center speaker.
LOW POINT
Sub level can be tricky to optimize.
test report BY AL GRIFFIN
Definitive Technology
BP7001 SC Home Theater Speaker System
ith the popularity of flat-panel TVs
exploding and companies straining to cre-
ate speakers that will mate with the unob-
trusive sets, it seems like the era of hulking
home theater gear — towering speakers,
massive subwoofers, video projectors hov-
ering above your head like an F-15 — is over. I’ll admit
that part of me likes the interior design-friendly stuff, but
another part frets about trying to coax too much from too
little. I’m reminded of that every Saturday night when I
hear the screech of my neighbor’s “home theater in a
box.” Man, I wish that guy would go out to the movies!
Inexpensive subwoofer/satellite systems can give you a
taste of surround sound, but compromise-free perfor-
mance requires serious speakers. And in my experience,
that usually means floor-standing towers at least for the
front left/right channels. Definitive Technology’s
BP7001
SC SuperTower speaker, a slightly smaller version
of its flagship BP7000
SC , is equipped to deliver full-range
performance thanks to its built-in powered subwoofer. In
the system I tested, a pair of BP7001
SC towers is mated
“Awesome ... frighteningly real ... Definitive’s
BP7001
SC based system demands your attention.”
W
SOUND & VISION

tant-sounding “King of Bohemia” from Richard
Thompson’s Mirror Blue, the Definitive Tech
towers accurately conveyed the space in which he
performed, positioning his voice a few steps back
and slightly to the right.
Bluegrass and old Hot Tuna fans interested in
surround sound music would do well to pick up
Jorma Kaukonen’s Blue Country Heart SACD.
As heard on the Definitive Tech system, the gui-
tarist’s slightly raspy voice sounded warm, seam-
less, and natural coming from the system’s front
speakers. Acoustic instruments in this multichan-
nel recording came through with striking clarity
and presence. I could almost feel the gritty texture
of a fiddle’s bowed strings as its sound glided
around me, and the plucked guitars and mandolin were
clear and distinct. The well-defined notes of the stand-up
bass, meanwhile, let me know that the BP7001
SC towers
could also deliver a tuneful, tight low end.
The pure sound quality of Jorma’s surround sound out-
ing was also evident on classical SACDs. The Definitive
Tech system did a great job conveying the full, sweet
tones of massed strings and woodwinds in John Adams
The Chairman Dances from the opera Nixon in China, as
performed by the Symphony Orchestra of Norrlands
Opera. At the same time, it delivered the extended highs
and dynamic snap of the percussion instruments — sonic
elements that splash around the room like light colors in
an Impressionist painting and drive the dense composition
forward. Although the surround channels in the recording
provided little more than ambience, the BPVX surrounds
helped the presentation by meshing with the BP7001
SC
towers to create a seamless sound field from front to rear.
Moving on to discs with pictures, the punchy rap
soundtrack of the 8 Mile DVD sounded awesome on the
Def Tech speakers. The system proved up to the task of
reproducing the ambience of the metal-stamping shop
where aspiring rapper B-rabbit (Eminem) works, creating
a brutal industrial swirl along with thunderous bass when
a machine stamped out a set of steel bumpers.And watch-
ing the final rap battle keyed me in to the advantage of
having a center speaker with a built-in sub. When the
deep-voiced MC shouted out to the crowd, the C/L/R
3000 gave a convincing sense of vocals coming from a PA
in a packed club, loud microphone pops and all.
It was a stretch to go from the urban grit of 8 Mile
in the arrangement Definitive Tech recommends, with one
set of drivers angled toward the listening position and the
other facing the rest of the room.
Since only a precious few DVD-Audio and SACD
players provide any kind of bass management, what
to do with the bass can be a problem in a typical surround
sound setup with small, bass-limited satellite speakers.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about that with
this system.
Both the BP7001
SC and the C/L/R 3000 provide
a variety of hookup choices. Besides the subwoofer input
options (line- or speaker-level), the tweeter and woofer
of both models can be biwired by removing jumpers
connecting the two sets of binding posts. Of course, you
could simplify setup by selecting “no” for the subwoofer
option in your receiver or preamp’s setup menu and run-
ning only one set of wires to each speaker. That way your
receiver sums the subwoofer/LFE channel with any full-
range signals that it sends out.
Balancing built-in subwoofers on the three front speak-
ers seemed like an intimidating prospect at first, but in
practice it turned out to be fairly easy. In my processor’s
setup menu, I selected five “large” speakers plus
subwoofer and used a Y-connector to route the sub-
woofer/LFE output to the front left/right towers. I then
tweaked bass levels using the processor’s subwoofer-out-
put control setting for the towers and the back-panel sub-
woofer volume control for the C/L/R 3000, which was
hooked up using only the speaker-level connection.
Aside from the obvious space-saving advantages,
a benefit of having subwoofers built into the main speak-
ers is that you won’t have to deal with subwoofer place-
ment — or worse, misplacement, which can cause the
bass to sound overly boomy or lean. I found the Def Tech
system’s bass performance to be extremely smooth on
most material, but settling on an ultimate bass level
proved more tricky than with systems I’ve used that had
one separate sub.
Although I was eager to listen to multichannel SACDs,
I limited my first tests to stereo tracks with little more than
male vocals and simple instrumentation. The intimate
manner in which “Taphead” from Talk Talk’s Laughing
Stock was recorded makes it sound like there’s an enor-
mous head singing in the room. The BP7001
SC speakers
cast a tall wide image that was nonetheless locked dead
center between the speakers. Moving on to the more dis-
to the digital-enhanced fantasy world of George Lucas,
but I wanted to see how the system would hold up on Star
Wars II — Attack of the Clones. The Speeder Chase scene
in Chapter 7 is a literal showcase of sound effects. I found
that the Definitive Tech speakers injected life into the arti-
ficial environment Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
careened through, conveying an exciting sense of contin-
uous motion as their vessel blazed through sky-bound traf-
fic. And in a subsequent scene where the assassin they’d
been chasing is killed, the sound of a poison dart as it
zipped from high above my shoulder to the center of the
screen was frighteningly real.
If you’re looking to take your audio rig to the next level
and want some serious home theater speakers, Definitive
Technology’s BP7001
SC -based system demands your
attention. It might cost twice as much as many of the
speaker systems we review, but when you factor in its
great performance with both movie soundtracks and
music, solid construction, and the substantial powered
subwoofers built into the front towers — which would
normally cost a couple grand all by themselves —
the price seems more than fair.
The Definitive Tech speakers injected life into the action
of Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • [phone]
Visit us at www.definitivetech.com
BP7001 SC C/L/R 3000 BPVX
(L/R front) (center) (surround)
TWEETER two 1-inch domes 1-inch dome two 1-inch domes
WOOFER four 61/2-inch cones two 61/2-inch cones four 61/2-inch cones
SUBWOOFER 10-inch cone; two 10-inch cone —
10-inch passive radiators
ENCLOSURE sealed transmission-line sealed
SUBPOWER 1,500 watts 150 watts —
INPUTS AND
bi-wirable gold-plated tri-wirable gold-plated gold-plated multiway
OUTPUTS multiway binding posts; multiway binding posts; binding posts
line-level input for subwoofer line-level input for subwoofer
DIMENSIONS 81/2x 48 x 15 25 x 81/4x 16 143/8x 221/8x 73/4
(WxHxD) inches inches inches
WEIGHT 131 pounds 61 pounds 30 pounds
FINISH piano-gloss black or piano-gloss black or piano-gloss black;
golden cherry end caps; golden cherry end caps; golden cherry, or white
black knit sleeve black knit sleeve end caps, black or
white knit sleeve
fast facts
Excerpted from Sound & Vision Magazine, July/Aug. 2003.