actually being able to see the tele-
vision screen. So we wind up using
a smaller speaker than we probably
should for the center channel. The
inclusion of a powered woofer in
the C/L/R 2300 makes it sound like
a much larger speaker, quite decid-
edly fooling you into thinking
you’ve got another BP2006TL right
there in your system. The presence
of the powered woofer to handle the
really deep information lets the
dual 4 1/2-inch drivers concentrate
on doing what they do best. So you
not only get a small speaker that
sounds deceptively big, you get one
that sounds sweeter and cleaner —
like its larger compatriots across
the front.
Set the bass management to
“large” with the C/L/R 2300, and
the most important channel in your
system becomes one of the most
potent, too. Be careful, though —
this baby’s got the power to caress
you with sweetness and then grab
you by the throat and shake you.
Sound effects that pan across the
front soundstage never sound
sunken or constrained in the center
with no changes in tonal quality. In
a movie like
The Red Violin, where
the voice of the violin is as impor-
tant a voice as any other charac-
ter’s, the C/L/R 2300 is goose-
bumpingly great at revealing both
the subtlety and the majesty of the
tragic violin’s voice.
Another advantage of incorporat-
ing the powered woofer into the
C/L/R 2300 is that it creates a
great bookshelf speaker, one you
could easily use to make a great
left/center/right combination …
or even a five-channel nonbipolar
home theater.
The BP2X bipolar surround
speakers have been around for a
while, but I know why Def Tech
sent them. We can spend a lot of
time arguing the merits of dipoles,
bipoles, and direct radiators for the
rear-effect speakers, but the simple
answer is that the BP2Xs sounded
great in this system. Fronts and
rears worked together beautifully
as one coherent whole.
I was already prepared to gush-
ingly recommend this system when
Def Tech sent a second pair of
BP2006TL speakers with the sug-
gestion that I try using them for the
surround channels. They even
included a little adapter that
allowed me to hook my preamp’s
LFE output to the LFE input of all
four of the BP2006TL towers. I now
had four 8-inch subwoofers filling
the room with 1,000 watts of power.
Listening to an action film with
four of the BP2006TLs powered up
is like strapping yourself onto a
rocket sled and lighting the fuse.
Hold on for dear life because, man,
it’s one hell of a ride! I’m still having
flashbacks from the first 20 minutes
of
Saving Private Ryan. The scene
in
Contact where you can hear Ellie
Arroway’s (Jodie Foster) heart beat-
ing as she’s debriefed in the hospital
made my heart skip a beat, and the
launch sequence in
Apollo 13 made
the hair on the back of my neck
stand up. My couch shook like a
teenager on his first date.
It wasn’t just that there was more
bass — it was the utter authority
and sheer dominance with which
the system took over the room. Bass
came from everywhere. Even more
surprising was the extra thrill that
it added to the rear effects, combin-
ing a sure sense of direction with
a definite sense of spaciousness.
With a music DVD like
Stop
Making Sense
, the feeling of being
there was so strong that I kept won-
dering why my room lights weren’t
going on and off in time with those
on stage.
Of course, not everyone is willing
or able to use a set of tower speak-
ers in the rear. If you can, do. It’s
a deliciously, deliriously entertain-
ing setup. If you can’t, the BP2Xs
will mount up and still give you
a system that packs more wallop
with less from your wallet than
you’ll find almost anywhere else.
Definitely buy your tickets for this
one! With the BP2006TL system,
Definitive Technology has hit the
ball out of the park — and I don’t
think it has come down yet.
“an average potted
plant takes up more
space in your room
than these speakers”
“Dual subwoofers
(one in the left speak-
er and one in the right
speaker) can provide
more-linear bass
reproduction through-
out the room than a
single one can”
“Definitely buy your
tickets for this one!”
“This baby’s got the
power to caress you
with sweetness and
then grab you by
the throat and
shake you.”
“the feeling of being
there was so strong”
HIGH-PERFORMANCE THEATER
Definitive Technology BP2006TL Speaker System
11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148
www.definitivetech.com
Reprinted from the November 2000 issue of HOME THEATER.
Copyright © 2000 by EMAP USA. All Rights Reserved.
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