Tower Speaker Reviews

Even if you're not a baseball fan, you've probably heard of Mark McGwire. After crushing the previous single-season home-run record a couple of years ago, McGwire continues to pound the ball out of the park to the delight of Cardinals fans everywhere. Yet, despite his imposing form and incredible swing, McGwire (like most power hitters) strikes out with some regularity. Of course, who's going to complain to a guy who has hit 72 home runs in a single season?

Sandy Gross, founder of Definitive Technology, is the Mark McGwire of hi-fi. Somehow, this guy has been able to come up with one incredible speaker home run after another. As a result, there are two problems when reviewing a Def Tech speaker system. The first is that there has been so much praise and adulation penned in the past that it's hard to be complimentary without being repetitive. The second problem comes when it's time to pack up the speakers and ship them away. You start babbling wild excuses to extend the deadline. "My cousin's cat died…so much stress…I haven't had time to listen. I need another week…" Eventually, though, the painful time comes, and there you are with tears and packing tape, handing off your newfound loves to an oblivious UPS guy. "Treat them gently," you beg the guy in brown. (Man, it's tough being a reviewer.)

Undaunted, I jumped at the chance to review the latest home theater system from Def Tech. I'll admit to some concern, though—having had ample listening time in the past with Definitive's big boys, the BP3000TL and the BP2000TL. As a friend of mine said when he heard I was going to review the new BP2006TL speakers, "But all they've got are dinky little 8-inch powered woofers. Why do you want to listen to something like that?" Such are the perils of prosperity—when you're around great gear a lot, it's extremely easy to get jaded. The next amp's got to be bigger. The next CD changer's got to hold more CDs. These are the times when you just have to be thankful and remind yourself that, in less-fortunate places in the world, some people still listen to audio in mono.

The gear that arrived was a pair of the new BP2006TLs for the left and right front channels, the new C/L/R 2300 for the center channel, and a pair of old standbys, the BP2X bipolar rear on-wall speakers. It's physically a pretty small system. The BP2006TL speakers stand just a little over a yard tall (38 inches), but they're only 6¼ inches wide! In addition to being sleek and narrow, these speakers are less than a foot deep (11½ inches). Flanking a television or even out in the open, the BP2006TLs pleasantly blend in with the rest of the room. Heck, an average potted plant takes up more space in your room than these speakers do.

Visually, the BP2006TLs follow the wildly popular form of their bigger brothers. A black fabric sock covers all but the last inch or so of the top and bottom of the speaker, where black-lacquered end caps add an elegant touch. The sock, aside from neutralizing the physical appearance of the speaker in the room, also contributes to the quality of the sound by eliminating any baffle effect a speaker grille might have on the performance of the speaker.