control all the way up. (At this point,
you don’t care that your coworkers are
beginning to talk behind your back.)
Finally, you reach the stage where you
deny there is any such thing as bass
response. You convince yourself that
it’s all an illusion that the elite have
created to keep the masses enslaved.
Well, my friends, if you’ve known
the heartache of basslessness, if
you’ve ever been debassed, or if
you’re currently bassmentally chal-
lenged, your days of suffering are
over. Thanks to Definitive Tech’s
PowerMonitor 700, you can now walk
with your head held high and your
tone controls set to neutral. Here,
ladies and gentlemen, available for
the first time to ordinary human
beings, is a bookshelf speaker with
balls—er, I mean bass.
Lest you think that Def Tech is just
being loose with the definition of a
bookshelf speaker, like calling
War and
Peace
a thin novel, let me assure you
that’s not the case. Sure, there are
smaller bookshelf speakers out there.
The PM700 comes in at a modest
16.75 inches tall. While that’s taller
than a vinyl LP, it’s still within reason
for a bookshelf speaker; and, at only
6.8 inches wide, it won’t take up a lot
of real estate on a shelf, either. More
problematics is the 14.125-inch depth,
which is still 14.125 inches no matter
how you look at it. If you’re planning to
place the speaker in an entertainment
cabinet designed to hold 17-inch-deep
equipment, though, the depth shouldn’t
be a problem. So the PM700s are big
enough to be respectable, but not so big
that they’re repugnant.
Like the majority of Def Tech’s
speakers, the PM700 is elegantly fin-
ished with glossy black end caps on
its top and bottom. Although it looks
similar to Def Tech’s bipolar offerings,
the PM700 is a forward-radiating
speaker. Since it isn’t a bipole, this
speaker works on a shelf, in a cabinet,
on a stand, or even as a center channel
(it’s video-shielded, so you can place
it as close as you want to your TV).
A black sock on the front and sides
covers the PM700’s naughty bits, while
a peek at the back reveals a port slot,
the AC power cord, a red LED, an LFE
input, hefty gold-plated five-way
binding posts, and a volume
control for the woofer.
Several of the items in the
last paragraph should have
caught your attention: a
There are some things you just don’t
expect to find together—say, peanut
butter and foie gras or Anne Rices’
vampire Lestat in a Garlique com-
mercial. Other combinations may be
more desirable and more elusive: a
multiterm politician with integrity, for
example, or computer products that
not only work as advertised but do so
consistently (wow, what a concept!).
Rarer still is that mythical, mystical
creation, immortalized in song and
story and lusted after by speaker
designers since the invention of the
voice coil: the bookshelf speaker
with bass.
I know. The mere thought gets you
all warm and goose-bumpy, doesn’t
it? Subwoofer/satellite systems have
come close to producing such speak-
er nirvana—especially when you can
hide the sub away and vehemently
deny its existence until your buddies
threaten to tear the place apart unless
you come clean about the source of
the bass. However, while three-piece
speaker systems can be great, they’re
not always the answer. Sometimes,
you just can’t include a subwoofer in
your system (i.e., domestic harmony
or space constraints simply won’t
allow it). Those who have ever lived
with bookshelf speakers sans sub-
woofer know the pain and suffering
that’s involved. First, there’s the crav-
ings, the unfulfilled feelings, and the
depression. (Unfortunately, there’s
no BassoDerm patch to get you
through this stage.) Then, there’s
the embarrassing period when you
just turn your receiver’s bass
Definitive Technology
PowerMonitor 700 Speaker System
Bass beyond belief.
By Darryl Wilkinson
“Happily, the
detail and precision
of the PM700s’
mids and highs
offer an elegant
counterpoint to the
majestic low-end
power”
GEAR GUIDE
electrifying ... a phenomenal pair of bookshelf speakers”
“
A. Def Tech’s old
faithful BP2X bipolar
surround speaker is a
nice match for the
PowerMonitor 700.
B. The PowerMonitor
700 isn’t tiny, but it
still qualifies as a
bookshelf speaker—
until you hear its
bass, that is.
C. The C/L/R 2500
also sports a pow-
ered woofer.
D. This system does
not need the PF15
TL
+
sub, but it does pro-
vide that last bit of
low-end punch some
of you may desire.
“Simply amaz-
ing ... classical
music and jazz
are just as
impressive
through these
speakers as
rock and rap”
A
D
B
C
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