Def Tech Owners/Stereophile Reader

[rsachs]

Quick Poll: How many Defintive Technology owners read Stereophile?

Background: I ran into John Atkinson, editor of SP, and asked him why there are never any reviews of DT speakers? He said that "the overlap of my readers and Def Tech owners is zero." Odd he was talking to one.
He went on the state that "his listeners" don't like the "Def Tech sound."

Frankly, I think the man is biased, and has not heard a DT with good amps/source.

Interestingly, TAS listed one of the entry level DTs in their Recommended Speakers, and Robert Harley told me at RMAF that several reviews of DT's will be coming out in TAS soon. I'm sure that there is an overlap of TAS and SP readers.

So, please raise your hand if you qualify as a Stereophile reading and (happy) DT owner.

Thanks,

 

[zildjian]

I am a Stereophile subscriber, and I have Definitive BP2000's, CLR 3000, & BPVX surrounds and have been very happy w/ them. Sure I like the speakers in Stereophile, but there's a lot to be said for good performance/price ratio around the $3k range. Maybe I should check out TAS instead of stereophile for a while.
Brad

 

[Bryce_H]

I have read a few issues of Stereophile in the 10+ years I have been into HT. Never have been impressed with the magazine as I am definately into HT and little into music.

I have a full DT set-up BP2002, CRL2002, BPX.

 

[The Chukker]

I ran into John Atkinson, editor of SP, and asked him why there are never any reviews of DT speakers? He said that "the overlap of my readers and Def Tech owners is zero." Odd he was talking to one.

Equally strange, I own and love Def Techs and the overlap of Stereophile magazine and myself is coincidentally zero.

 

[porziob]

Def Tech

Might their missing in action status @ Stereophile be due to the fact that their ad $s are spent elsewhere?

 

[deftech]

obnoxious americans

I do not subscribe to sp but have bought an occasional copy.
I think there is an unfair perception that dt's are big, loud, obnoxious american speakers that would not sit well with the wine and cheese crowd.
I went into a local shop the other day and did a side by side with 7001's, vandersteens, paradigms and psb's. The dt's were the most expensive (not by much.) I liked the other brands, they all had their strengths. But the sheer "you are there" feeling was clearly there when listening to the dt's.
It sounded like the band was in the room. Very dynamic. Just my opinion...

 

[flyv65]

I subscribe to Stereophile and I own a set of DefTec's, albiet the ProMonitor 80's. I shopped the towers several years ago (I couldn't tell you what models right now: 2002 maybe? 2006?), but didn't care for them at all. Perhaps I'd like the 7000 series is better, but right now I'm very happy with my current set up.

Bryan...thought the ProMonitors were good bang for the buck, tho...

 

[rollinrocker]

sachs,

I own def techs and i subscribe to stereophile. I also subscribed to stereophile guide to hometheater before it became avguide, then became a webzine. If i'm not mistaken, the guide to home theater mag raved on a def tech system, and listed the setup in its yearly "recommended compoments" issue. TAS did the same thing with the bp7001sc. I'm the first to admit these speakers require a lot of work to setup, including being very dependant on room treatment, but JA may be ruling them out without a proper demo.

 

[tlqualman]

I read Stereophile and am a DT owner (10 years now). I started out with BP-10's and a CLR2000 and were very happy with them. I have since upgraded my front and center speakers but still have the BP-10's as my rears. I do believe that there is a bias at that magazine but think they still provide alot of good information. I still recomend DT's to friends starting off with home theaters.

------------------------
Pioneer Elite PRO730HDI 64"
Denon 5700 reciever as my processor
Parasound Halo A51
McIntosh MC126
Montana SPX and SPC speakers
Pioneer Elite 47A DVD

 

[AdrianMills]

Quick Poll: How many Defintive Technology owners read Stereophile?

Background: I ran into John Atkinson, editor of SP, and asked him why there are never any reviews of DT speakers? He said that "the overlap of my readers and Def Tech owners is zero." Odd he was talking to one.
He went on the state that "his listeners" don't like the "Def Tech sound."

Frankly, I think the man is biased, and has not heard a DT with good amps/source.

I've read Stereophile a couple of times in the past but I'm always left feeling that my money could have been spent better elsewhere - like giving to some guy on the street. Like a lot of the stereo mags it panders far too much to the subjectivists/tweakers and there’s that “nose in the air” audio snobbery overtone going on there somewhere; JA's comment to you seems to confirm that.

You wouldn't be the first to complain Atkinson’s bias either - here's what the Boston Audio Society had to say about some of his testing and analysis methods; Wishful Thinking.

I'm not a DT owner.

 

[rsachs]

Stereo-Snob

Thanks all for the responses.

As between SP and TAS, SP tends to be more "objective" IHMO; at least JA will measure a product and call it out if it measures poorly (like the Zanden $$$ CD player which measured like a dog). Even the subjective aspects of the reviews actually describe the product, and do comparisons with similiar products. TAS does not even pretend towards any sort of 'neutral' viewpoint, but just gushes.

Perhaps the best thing in SP are the articles by Keith Howard on various technical issues, like distortion, sampling, dithering, etc. where he actually does testing of specific issues and reports on his findings in a clearly written and technically detailed way. Outside of the AES journal and the like, no one does that.

Bob

 

[sjsmithjr]

"I think there is an unfair perception that dt's are big, loud, obnoxious american speakers that would not sit well with the wine and cheese crowd."

and

"But the sheer "you are there" feeling was clearly there when listening to the dt's. It sounded like the band was in the room."

I think you nailed it. Before I decided to make the most of my liberal arts degree and settle into a "day job", I was a monitor engineer for a pro audio company. My BP2000s are big, and my wife will tell you that they are obnoxious, but nothing I've ever listened to can come close replicating the sensations of a live concert in a good hall, and I'm not just talking rock and roll either.

Sam Smith
Knoxville, TN

 

[braminator]

I do not own DT's, but your view is right on. Stereophile over the years, as become a catalog. Not a listerners magazine as it once was. The more the manufacturers pay for ads, the more the magazine talks them up. They need there paycheck too!