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bout a year ago Definitive Technology
President Sandy Gross called me,
sounding excited. “I wanted to tell you
we’re working on a new kind of Super
Tower speaker that will use a variation on those
mid/bass drivers you liked so much in our
ProCinema 1000 system. We’re going to call it the
Mythos ST.”
The $1649 ProCinema 1000 rig, which I
reviewed in Issue 168, featured mid/bass drivers
so sophisticated they would not have seemed out
of place in costly high-end stereo speakers. I had
often wondered what would happen if Definitive
used those drivers in a more ambitious speaker.
“So the new speaker is going to be a Super
Tower and a Mythos model at the same time?”
“Yes,” Sandy replied. “It will be a slender
floorstander with an aluminum enclosur
e, taller
and deeper than past Mythos models, but styled
to have the traditional Mythos look. Each ST will
have a forward-firing D'Appolito array on top,
and a powered subwoofer on the bottom. And
each one will have the same bass output as one
of our SuperCube subwoofers.”
“How will SuperCube drivers fit inside
a Mythos enclosure?”
“Oh, they won’t,” said Sandy. “The ST cabinet
is too narrow for traditional round woofers.
Instead, we’ve designed ‘racetrack-shaped’ woofers and passive
radiators just for this speaker, and we’ll drive them with built-in
300-watt amps.”
“Are you doing a new tweeter, too?” I asked the question because
Definitive’s past aluminum dome tweeters, though good, were not in
the same league as its superb mid/bass drivers.
“Sort of,” Sandy said. “We’ve revamped our tweeter, tweaking lots of
design elements to cut non-linear distortions in half. I think the new one
sounds much better, but you can judge for yourself when you hear them.”
I first heard the Mythos ST ($3798/pair) at CES 2007 and three things
impressed me from the outset. First, the speaker offered terrific amounts
of low-level detail and high-frequency “air” coupled with an underlying
treble smoothness. Second, it reproduced depth and imaging cues in an
effortless way, so that images broke free from the speaker cabinets.
Third, it delivered bass that was powerful, tightly controlled, and fast.
In short, the Mythos ST struck me as being hands-down the best-
sounding speaker Definitive had yet made — and
one that arguably established performance bench-
marks in its price class. I considered doing an imme-
diate review, but decided to wait until the compan-
ion Mythos Ten center channel came out, so that I
could test a complete Mythos ST surround-sound
system. And now that I’ve heard that system, I can
confidently say its performance puts many higher-
priced rigs to shame.
The Mythos Ten essentially takes the D’Appolito
array section of the ST, flips it on its side, then
stretches the chassis just enough to fit in a pair of
oblong passive radiators similar to, but smaller
than those used in the ST. The Ten’s bass doesn’t
reach as low as the ST’s, but its voicing is otherwise
identical to its bigger brother. Completing the
system is a pair of compact Mythos Gem XL
surround speakers, also based on two-way
D’Appolito arrays. Because the XLs are an earlier-gen-
eration design, their drivers aren’t quite as sophisticat-
ed as those in the ST and the Ten. Nevertheless, the
Gem XLs would easily qualify as main speakers in
most systems, meaning they’re more than adequate
for audiophile surround applications.
The Mythos ST system draws together three essential sonic qualities
— resolution, dynamics, and 3-D imaging — that add up to a fourth: a
t
o
uch of pure magic. Let me explain that comment in practical terms.
On film soundtracks, the ST system produces an articulate, neutrally
voiced and decidedly muscular sound that simply takes command of
most listening rooms. In the initial chase scene from Terminator III: Rise
of the Machines, a deadly robotic Terminatrix (Kristanna Loken) drives
a motorized crane, pursuing John Connor (Nick Stahl) and his spouse-
t
o
-be (Claire Danes) through crowded city streets. The ST system repro-
duced the ensuing mayhem of the crane ripping through phone poles,
cars, and even buildings with terrific dynamic impact. Yet even through
the thickest action-film soundtracks, the ST system never lost sight of
two essential qualities: overarching clarity and low-level detail. In the
final shootout scene from Open Range, for example, the ST system
displayed both raw power (delivering the ear
-
splitting “craakkKK” of
individual gun shots) as well as impressive textural subtlety. You can
hear the ratcheting “clicks” of Colt revolvers being cocked, the sharp
“whir” of shards of wood sizzling through the air as shots go astray, or
the gently modulated moan of the prairie wind in the background. The
point is that the Definitive system weaves together small, seemingly
inconsequential details to create a fabric of sheer realism.
A
Mainstream
MULTICHANNEL
Chris Martens
Definitive Mythos ST
5.1-Channel Speaker System
“the Mythos ST struck me as being hands-down
the best-sounding speaker Definitive had yet
made — and one that arguably established
performance benchmarks in its price class.”
“I can confidently say its
performance puts many higher-
priced rigs to shame.”
“Pure Magic”