Definitive Technology ProMonitor 1000 Speaker Review

[KxDx]

DefiniTech never disappoints. White van speakers at boutique prices.

 

[tuga]

These speakers seem just odd.
The passive radiator is too small. Simple physics says that it needs to have an area significantly larger than the bass driver - its whole point is to take over shifting air at frequencies below where the bass driver has given up. I have a horrid feeling that the passive radiator doesn't even have a spider - the really cheap small ones don't. Which may be why the additional mass is apparent held on with a screw. A too small passive radiator is going to run into excursion problems very quickly, and is probably the source of a large fraction of the low frequency distortion. (I wonder, if the passive radiator is indeed spiderless, whether it is hitting a rocking mode near 500Hz, and that is where that distortion hump comes from. Just a thought.)

If this speaker is intended to be used with a sub-bass system, why does it have a passive radiator at all? (This is a question I have I of any small vented speaker intended for such use.) A fourth order alignment is intended to allow bass extension below where the excursion limit of the driver would prevent the speaker going. It has pros and cons. If a speaker is to be used with a sub, design it sealed. It will be cheaper, and you will be less likely run into unfortunate compromises. And this speaker sure has them. Despite the passive bass radiator it doesn't even seem to have enough bass extension to get into a region where it would match with a conventional sub.

One can only conclude that this is another example of a speaker designed by the marketing department.

Design brief: primarily as small and secondarily as wide-range as possible.

That seems like the charitable interpretation, designed as wall mount rears crossed over to a sub, but as @Francis Vaughan points out, just using a simple sealed box would be a better and cheaper solution.

Like the small ATCs or the BBC LS3/5a?

Most normal people don't/won't buy a sub, the marketing department knows that.

 

[tuga]

-3dB down at 100Hz with a 5.25" Woofer. Why?
You'd need something like 150Hz crossover frequency with this, why would they do that?

They are not catering for the sub crowd.

 

[Robbo99999]

They are not catering for the sub crowd.

Then you just live with the reduced bass response?

 

[3125b]

They are not catering for the sub crowd.

Thats the exact opposite of what they do, they insist on using these with a sub.
Doesn't matter the content, with a flat response down to only 150Hz you'd be missing half of it. Thats ridiculous when we're not talking about a 50$ bluetooth speaker.

 

[whazzup]

Thank you! Really appreciate the testing of these mass market speakers.
I'm curious how to reconcile the differences between these and the measurements done by Sound and Vision though (13 years ago!). Is it because they used close mic-ing?

(Purple trace is Promonitor 1000)
https://www.soundandvision.com/cont...stem-and-pioneer-elite-vsx-84txsi-av-receiv-0

Should the estimated in-room response graph posted in the review, approximate closely with the above graph? Or given the length of time, maybe the speaker components have changed?

 

[tuga]

Then you just live with the reduced bass response?

I guess many people do even quite a few audiophiles, particularly in Europe where homes/rooms are a lot smaller than in the US.

 

[tuga]

Thats the exact opposite of what they do, they insist on using these with a sub.
Doesn't matter the content, with a flat response down to only 150Hz you'd be missing half of it. Thats ridiculous when we're not talking about a 50$ bluetooth speaker.

If they did, wouldn't they have gone for a sealed cabinet?

 

[MZKM]

If they did, wouldn't they have gone for a sealed cabinet?

That would have made the bass response much shallower and thus required too high of a crossover.

 

[Purité Audio]

Traditionally many listeners ( in the U.K. in my experience) choose small speakers with limited bass extension which do not excite room modes, choose smaller and smaller speakers until you find one with no bass whatsoever, arcane.
Keith

 

[Robbo99999]

If they did, wouldn't they have gone for a sealed cabinet?

(That feels like a circular argument)

 

[tuga]

That would have made the bass response much shallower and thus required too high of a crossover.

Shallower yes but with a slower roll-off.
The slight ridge at 40Hz, could that be the tuning frequency of the passive radiator?

If so it looks a lot higher in level in the Sound & Vision measurement posted above, and at 50Hz.

 

[tuga]

(That feels like a circular argument)

Why are so many manufacturers designing and producing these toy-sized speakers if there isn't a market for them?

I agree that the topology's limitations are too serious but the goal of a business is to make a profit.
I have very often seen JBL Controls (and other similar Lilliputian speakers) in pubs and bars. No sub, no bass, awful sound, and yet...

I am not apologising or condoning these or any other tiny speakers, regardless of how low they can go. They may work as desktops or surrounds (in a small room) but that's not how the largest majority of people will use them.

 

[gfx_1]

Why are so many manufacturers designing and producing these toy-sized speakers if there isn't a market for them?
[]
They may work as desktops or surrounds (in a small room) but that's not how the largest majority of people will use them.

I blame Bose, they got the idea in the mind of the masses that small speakers sound good and read enough replies on fora that they don't want large speakers in a room. Hence the requests for bluetooth things and soundbars and wireless as if pulling a speaker wire which last a century is a lot of work.

On the other hand my GF still listens to music on the macbook pro speakers...

 

[ex audiophile]

Imagine the results if Amir had simply used the Noise Harvester

I went through a DefTec phase not too long ago (preASR); their towers received glowing reviews. Their amps must have been glowing as well because I had them fail in their "powered towers" as well as their subs. Our local audio dealer (Paradyme) stopped carrying DefTec and replaced with GoldenEar. Likely a step up, hopefully Amir will get some Tritons to test however I am forever soured on the idea of putting a sub in with a floorstanding speaker.

 

[tjf]

Imagine the results if Amir had simply used the Noise Harvester

I went through a DefTec phase not too long ago (preASR); their towers received glowing reviews. Their amps must have been glowing as well because I had them fail in their "powered towers" as well as their subs. Our local audio dealer (Paradyme) stopped carrying DefTec and replaced with GoldenEar. Likely a step up, hopefully Amir will get some Tritons to test however I am forever soured on the idea of putting a sub in with a floorstanding speaker.

Hmmmm.....Def Tech, GoldenEar, and let's not forget Polk Audio....all are the "brain-children" (or "devil's spawn" if you like) of one Sanford ("Sandy") Gross....the P.T. Barnum of the U.S. consumer speaker market, and.....wait for it....he's sold GoldenEar to Audioquest! How appropriate!

Sandy will be enjoying a well deserved but brief retirement until he gets the itch once again to spawn a new line of speakers that'll very likely keep the passive radiator narrative...Sandy knows the Zeitgeist of the North Am. Mid-Fi speaker market.....for him it's all about the smile curve, sparkly trebles, and a fulsome yet flatulent bottom octave character.....

 

[ex audiophile]

Hmmmm.....Def Tech, GoldenEar, and let's not forget Polk Audio....all are the "brain-children" (or "devil's spawn" if you like) of one Sanford ("Sandy") Gross....the P.T. Barnum of the U.S. consumer speaker market, and.....wait for it....he's sold GoldenEar to Audioquest! How appropriate!

Sandy will be enjoying a well deserved but brief retirement until he gets the itch once again to spawn a new line of speakers that'll very likely keep the passive radiator narrative...Sandy knows the Zeitgeist of the North Am. Mid-Fi speaker market.....for him it's all about the smile curve, sparkly trebles, and a fulsome yet flatulent bottom octave character.....

Didn’t know about the Audioquest thing, maybe just for the $ but not a good look for Gross (IMO). Yet another TGFASR

 

[tjf]

Didn’t know about the Audioquest thing, maybe just for the $ but not a good look for Gross (IMO). Yet another TGFASR

The GoldenEar/AQ deal was just the latest "Sandy's a pioneer in the consumer speaker marketplace, his accomplishments with: blah, blah, blah, Polk/DefTech/GoldenEar, etc. speak (!!) for themselves, and now wants to withdraw from the market for a well deserved rest"

It's a constant rinse-and-repeat theme --

1) build a mid fi speaker company with $$ from investors (not Sandy's own $$ of course)
2) get lots of critical hifi press praise (which speaks to the true nature of the critical hifi press),
3) sell the company,
4) get the $$,
5) find another Investment group,
6) start a new speaker company using the same basic themes from the previous ones along with adding a few new tech features (knock-off cheaply made Heil AMT tweeters, new "Spouse-Acceptance-Factor" aesthetic form factor updates, etc.) and cabinets made as cheaply as possible -- but that's hardly unique to Sandy's playbook...

a successful formula....ol' Phineas Taylor Barnum is looking up from where he resides now approvingly....

 

[ROOSKIE]

I blame Bose, they got the idea in the mind of the masses that small speakers sound good and read enough replies on fora that they don't want large speakers in a room. Hence the requests for bluetooth things and soundbars and wireless as if pulling a speaker wire which last a century is a lot of work.

On the other hand my GF still listens to music on the macbook pro speakers...

While I want my stereo to be the focus in my living space, the manufactures of products like this speaker are right IMHO, the masses do not want anything to do with large speakers. Vast quantities of people do want some decent sound from time to time but they will happily compromise a bit on the sound for something small or better yet invisible. None of these folks will notice or care if the sub and mid do not blend smoothly in the 100-150hrz region. *
As bad as they sounded to me, I could easily see many folks being blown away and with a subwoofer added they would easily work for the non-audiophile.
The ProMonitor 1000 is the largest speaker in this line, most of the units are much smaller yet, this line is a lifestyle line and not meant to impress the hard-core. It would be fair to compare these with like of the BOSE, KEF Eqq, Focal SIb & Dome, the SVS Prime mini set-up, the REVEL M8 SP5, and more.
All of these sets have satellites to small to match a sub optimally and other numerous compromises, but are all very small and easily wall mounted. All are overpriced from the views of any experienced listener. All sell very well none-the-less.
The Deff Tech set with ProMonitor 1000 is $1800+ at crutchfield
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_700PCIN1KB/Definitive-Technology-ProCinema-1000.html

The REVEL version is $1500 with no-subwoofer included.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_265M8BG5/Revel-Concerta-M8-SP5-Gloss-Black.html

Check out this Focal set for nearly $4k. Really??
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091DF51AB/Focal-Dome-Flax-Pack-5-1-Black.html

Everyone is doing it... Non-audiophiles love this stuff, and maybe some audiophiles who just want a bed-room home theater or something like that.
All in all, my guess is that Deff Tech's work here fits right in.

* note on midabss, with floor cancellations (based on driver to floor)and the cancellations of a speaker roughly 2 feet from a wall (my best guess as the average audiophile set-up) the 100-150hrz region takes a beating in null terms. I'd wager that with small satellites and two stereo subs placed correctly, one could get much better frequency response this way in the typical 100-150 hrz zone. NOT that most folks are doing this with this Deff Tech set.

 

[amirm]

The REVEL version is $1500 with no-subwoofer included.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_265M8BG5/Revel-Concerta-M8-SP5-Gloss-Black.html

As an aside, I bought the Revel M8 in that package a while back. Will test it at some point.