Tower Speaker Reviews

You can play with toe-in to find the combination of spaciousness and pinpoint imaging you prefer. In a big room like mine, I did end up spreading them just a bit more than Sandy had. While I never got the sense of front to back depth that, to this day, has most artfully been created only from large Magnepan speakers, in all other areas, the ST proved to be an amazingly enjoyable speaker for stereo listening. All the system had to do now was not trip up with home theater, and we'd be talking home run!

Hymtheatros
When I started this review, I didn't use my reference subwoofer with music or movies. After a month, however, I put my 18" Velodyne subwoofer back in, but for movies only. Most movies didn't gain much (if anything) from the addition because the ST's active subwoofer section is amazingly good even in my large room. But some, like Transformers were just begging for as much bass as the Good Lord (or Michael Bay) could provide. Who was I to argue?

I really enjoyed the TV series Heroes in high-definition on NBC's broadcasts, but I was shocked when I put on the HD DVDs. Coming out over component video from my Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player at 1080i/60 into my 768p Fujitsu plasma, the image was far superior to anything I saw on DirecTV (I know, I know, I promised "no video"). But the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is excellent in its own right. From the hard driving Buddy Guy version of "Mustang Sally," to the enveloping and eerie music from Peter's dreams of flight, the Mythos system makes movies, er, TV shows, fun.

Dialog over the Mythos Ten center channel was highly intelligible. My only complaint about the center channel would be the physical arrangement of the two midrange/woofers flanking the tweeter, which invites comb filtering. But while I did notice some change in timbre as I moved off center, dialog remained highly intelligible even in spots where frequencies were subtly cancelling out.

It was a real surprise hearing King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King" in chapter 4 of Children of Men on HD DVD. Greg Lake's melodic voice certainly added to the political heavy handedness of this movie (I mean, check out some of the "news" posted on the walls in Jasper's house and if you're still a free thinking man, you'll know what I mean). The crowd at the dog track was expertly laid out, and while you couldn't understand most of the shouting, distinct voices still filled the room. While the Gem XL might have been small, they fulfilled their purpose. During the ambush in the woods, the sound from the rear of the room was nearly equal in amplitude with that from the front, which is quite a feat for such a tiny speaker.

With kinetic movies like "Children of Men," I did hear some compression and strain at very high levels from the system as a whole. That last scene, for example, is a cacophony of sounds, many of them quite sharp. The calming sounds of the woods during Julian's improvised funeral and the music that follows (female soloist) were restorative of my faith in the system however, with a large soundstage that was precise, accurate and quite mood inducing.

Putting in Aeon Flux on HD DVD (a movie with a ton of style, if not substance), the sound during the opening MTV credit was spacious and ruinously good! This movie has one of the better surround soundtracks in my collection, a fact that was brought to the forefront by the Mythos system. From the bass heavy theme music of the Monicans to the sounds of a futuristic marketplace, the Mythos puts you into movies in a very exciting way. The DTS track was excellently reproduced, with the Mythos system seemingly pushing the walls of my home theater farther out. Again, I did run into some compression at very high levels, but all the "moody" stuff was simply uncompromised.

Of course, the 800 lb. gorilla in my collection is the recently releasedTransformers HD DVD. This disc is everything you'd expect from a Michael Bay movie, and more. The second half of the movie proved the Mythos system's ability to handle action sequences with the best of them, with robot propelled ammunition zinging in every direction. Within the pentangle formed by the five speakers, sound pressure levels got very high, but compression or distortion was extremely fleeting. Even at these very loud levels, everything sounded very solid. Gunshots and crashes, now supplemented by the subwoofer, were visceral. The Gem XLs in the rear were very extended and offered impeccable surround sound information, especially small details like the chatty and cute (but dangerous) mini-Transformer character that shadows our protagonists. The timbre match with the front channels was excellent and except for some special effects intentionally meant to propagate from the rear, the Gem XL's effectiveness was properly subtle.

The first half of Transformers is just as interesting, sonically, as the second half, but only because the Mythos gets to strut in a different way. When Sam Witwicky does his class presentation, dialog in the center channel is crisp and solid, and the Gem XL surrounds fill in the laughter from his classmates with believable clarity. In fact, believability was the Mythos system's mantra.

My Big (Not So) Fat Greek Speaker
The Mythos system is designed for audiophiles who thought they needed two separate systems – one for movies and one for music. The Mythos ST is a wonderful sounding speaker on its own. The presentation is not forward, but it is accurate and precise. If you or your electronics need more forgiveness from your speakers, keep looking. The Mythos STs are far from analytical or sterile, but they're not laid back either.

As a whole, the Mythos system is a relatively affordable system for anyone who values accuracy and musicality in a home theater system over sheer gut wrenching volume. I highly recommend anyone considering a new audio system take the time to find a Mythos ST based system and have a listen. You'll be as thrilled as I was.

Highs
Super Towers sound like many speakers that sell for twice the price
If you don't want a subwoofer, you don't need a subwoofer
Oh yeah, B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

Lows
If the recordings hot, you'll know
Why my vinyl sound bad?

Note: Due to time constraints, the measurements for this speaker system were not completed in time to run with the review. These will be added to the review as soon as they're completed, so check back soon. –Ed.]