Definitive Technology BPX User manual

NEW BP-2000TL
NOW even more incredible
with 500-watt amp
Sometimes the amateurs can
teach the pros a lesson.
After I fell in love with high-end
loudspeakers several years ago, I
often told friends who were shop-
ping for speakers to go check
them out. I was blown away by the
precise, almost holographic sonic
imaging some of these speakers
could produce, and thought my
friends would be, too.
But three of them came out of
the store with a speaker I’d never
heard of—the
Definitive
Technology
BP-10. They
chose the
BP-10 because
it had better
bass and
bigger sound
than the brands
I’d recommend-
ed. I called
Definitive
president Sandy
Gross to bum
a pair and find
out what the
ruckus was all
my head in just the right spot
lasts for about five minutes at
best. That’s why I love bipolars,
and why I think you will, too.
Definitive has always concentrat-
ed on making affordable products,
but decided it was time to create a
real high-end speaker. To do so,
they pulled the usual trick of
switching to better drivers (each
face of the speaker has two 6 1/2-
inch woofer/midranges and a
1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter),
but they also added a feature that
makes this system a hands-down
best buy—each speaker has a
15-inch powered subwoofer built
in! The BP-2000 actually incorpo-
rates three cabinets internally: one
for the side-fir-
ing sub, and
one each for
the front and
back driver
sets. And all
these compo-
nents
fit into a sur-
prisingly slim
cabinet that
will actually
look nice in
your living
room.
So how do
you connect a
speaker that
This bipolar
superspeaker
shoots both
ways, but
both lead to
astounding
sound and a
Hot Ticket.
A. The BPX bipolar
speaker adds a rare,
but pleasant dose of
bass to the surround
channel.
B. Each BP-2000 has
drivers on the front
and back, which
produce a larger
area of good sound.
C. The C/L/R 2000
takes care of the
center channel, mak-
ing movie dialog
extremely clear.
“a hands-down
best buy”
about, and after a couple of hours
of listening, I was converted. I’ve
been recommending Definitive
Technology’s bipolar speakers to
friends, relatives, and readers for
years now, and no one’s ever
been disappointed.
Bipolar speakers have drivers
on both the front and back.
Because you get the direct-radiated
sound from the front drivers and a
heapin’ helpin’ of reflected sound
from the rear drivers, you get good
sound over a larger area of the
room. Thus, you don’t have to sit
with your head in the sweet spot,
at exactly the same distance from
the front left and right speakers,
to get great sound.
For home theater—where you
often have loved (or at least liked)
ones sitting around watching a
movie with you—bipolars make a
lot of sense. They can’t create the
precise, pinpoint imaging you get
when you sit in the sweet spot of
the best direct-radiating speakers,
but my patience for sitting with
“astounding sound”
By Brent Butterworth
A
B
C
Definitive Technology
BP-2000 Speaker System
“Absolutely kills most
more-expensive speakers!”

has a built-in sub? Simple. Each
BP-2000 has separate binding
posts for the tweeter, the
midranges, and the subwoofer.
The BP-2000s come with jumpers
that connect all these posts, so
you can just hook up one set of
speaker cables and be done with
it. Your amp doesn’t actually drive
the sub—the BP-2000 converts
the high-level signal from your
amp back down to a low-level
signal, filters out the highs, then
sends the signal to the sub’s own
300-watt amp. If you want better
sound, though, you can discon-
nect the jumpers from the sub’s
binding posts and run a line-
level signal straight from your
processor or receiver to the sub’s
line-level input. If you really
want to get wild, you can even bi-
wire by running separate wires to
the midranges and the tweeter.
The C/L/R-2000 center speaker
uses the same drivers as one half
of a BP-2000: two 6 1/2-inch
woof/mids and a single tweeter.
It fits easily atop almost any rear-
projection or large direct-view
TV. The BPX surround speaker is
bipolar—it uses two 5-inch woofers
and a 1-inch tweeter on each face.
Bipolar surrounds give you some of
the “spreadin’ the sound around”
effect that you get from the dipole
speakers used in THX systems.
Bipolar speakers have both halves
wired in phase; dipolar speakers
have both halves wired out of phase.
Because bipoles don’t diffuse the
sound as much, they’re actually bet-
ter than dipoles for use with Dolby
AC-3 Digital Surround systems.
When we hooked up the
BP-2000 system to the beefy
Sunfire amps, we got a sound
so smooth, so
creamy, and so
crankin’ that we
were taken
aback.
Definitive’s past
speakers have
sounded great,
but the BP-2000s
mark a huge step
up. The sound’s
as bipolar as it
gets. You get the
big, slightly dif-
fuse sound that
Definitives are
famous for, but
you get more—
more of the detail
you expect from a
high-end speaker,
more of the bass
you expect from
dual 15-inch
subs, and more of
the smooth,
uncolored
response you
expect from a
company’s flagship speaker. No
matter what kind of music you
like, be it soft or slammin’, the
BP-2000s sound right with it.
They even sounded fairly smooth
with my favorite way-too-bright
recording, Essential Steve Earle.
The system’s even more
remarkable when it comes to
movie soundtracks. Dialog
sounds extraordinarily clear
through the C/L/R-2000 center
speaker, and its sound matches
that of the BP-2000s so well that
sounds moving across the front
three speakers barely seem to
change in timbre. The BPX
sounds meaty and full, adding
an unusual (but very welcome)
amount of bass and punch in the
surround channel. Best of all,
the BP-2000’s bass sounds very
solid—it’s tight enough for
outstanding music reproduction,
but it puts out enough boom to
satisfy the biggest bass freaks.
“…one of the easiest
recommendations
we’ve ever made.”
“bipolar
superspeaker”
D. Don’t clear out
any floor space for
a subwoofer with
this system—each
BP-2000 has a built-
in powered woofer.
E. A 300-watt amp
drives each 15-inch
woofer, which has
line-level inputs so
you can get the
best sound.
11105 Valley Heights Dr., Baltimore, MD 21117
[phone]
D
E
SUMMARY
Definitive Technology’s latest
speaker system is one of
the easiest recommendations
we’ve ever made. Unless you’re
married to the pinpoint imaging
concept (and the head-in-a-vise
listening position it
requires), you’re sure to
like this system. And
even though the total
price might seem high…,
this system’s a
great deal when you
consider that it includes
two powered subs, and
that it absolutely kills most
more-expensive speakers.
Sound Quality
Build Quality
Butt Kickage
Ease of Setup
Value
Reprinted with permission from the November 1995 issue of CurtCo’s HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY.
Copyright © 1995 by CurtCo Publishing. All Rights Reserved.