The ProSub 80 (my favorite speaker
in the package) is somewhat of a
departure for Definitive Technology.
The company is known for making
larger subwoofers (10- to 18-inchers),
not little 8-inch jobs like this one.
The 8-inch woofer found in this
slot-loaded subwoofer uses a polymer
cone and is powered by an internal
250-watt amplifier. The ProSub 80
has all the usual features of a better
subwoofer, including stereo low-level
inputs, a dedicated LFE input, low-
pass crossover adjustment (variable
from 40 to 150 Hertz), and volume
control. The sub also has speaker-
level inputs and outputs for hookup
in a standard sub/sat configuration
(which is how I hooked it up). All
of the speakers (including the sub)
are available in black or white for
the same price.
To evaluate the ProCinema, I
compared it with what is arguably
the reigning champ of under-$1,000
sub/sat systems: the $800 Energy
Take5, which includes the ES-8 sub.
This may not seem fair, given that the
ProCinema costs $200 more, but I’ve
heard the Take5 system put $1,500
speaker packages to shame, and
I’ve never heard a $1,000 system
that could beat it, so I think the
comparison is more than fair.
Starting with music, I was immedi-
ately awed by the ProSub 80. My
sound room is a glutton for bass—its
dimensions are excellent, so you can
feed it all the bass you want and it
never gets boomy, unless the sub itself
sounds boomy. The room ate up this
subwoofer’s bass. Bass notes sounded
powerful and precise, and, unlike
so many other sub/sat systems, this
one doesn’t have an audible gap
between the satellites and the sub.
The ProSub 80 definitely helped create
the illusion that I was
listening to a high-
quality pair of full-
range tower speakers.
As sweet as the
treble and midrange of
the Energy satellites
can be, the same fre-
quency spectrum
sounded even sweeter
through the ProMonitor
80s. On the song
“Once in Love with
Amy,” from the CD Mel
Tormé Swings Shubert Alley (yes, I
listen to Mel Tormé—so what?), the
instrumentation and Mel’s vocals
sounded extremely detailed and natur-
al. When pushed, the tweeter tended to
become a tad bright, but at normal lis-
tening levels it’s near perfect. Unlike
many other small speakers I’ve heard,
the ProMonitor 80s completely disap-
peared in the room and created a very
large, convincing soundstage.
After listening to music, I thought
I had experienced the best of what this
speaker package had to offer ... but
then I put on some movies.
On a bevy of blow-’em-up
scenes ranging from the DTS
trailer of Titanic to the Dolby
Digital DVD GoldenEye, the
ProCinema 80 system kept my
jaw on the floor. The ProSub
80 shook my soundroom so
much I had to turn it down for
fear of shaking stuff off the
shelves in my apartment (I kid
you not!). System integration
was flawless in this speaker
package, with seamless front-to-back
pans and no discernible tonal change
when action switched from the center to
the main speakers and back again. The
Take5 system came closer to the
ProCinema’s performance on movies
than on music, but the Energy speakers
couldn’t muster the same dynamics as
the Definitives, and the 100-watt ES-8
sub, while great, couldn’t match the
[250-watt] ProSub 80’s output. Sure,
the ProCinema 80 system costs $200
more, but I’d pay it without hesitation.
“extremely detailed
and natural”
“Unlike many other
small speakers that
I’ve heard, the Pro80s
completely disappeared
in the room and
created a very large,
convincing soundstage”
“system integration was
flawless”
“Bass notes sounded
powerful and precise,
and, unlike so many
other sub/sat systems,
this one doesn’t have an
audible gap between the
satellites and the sub”
“The ProSub 80 shook
my soundroom so much
I had to turn it down
for fear of shaking
stuff off the shelves
of my apartment
(I kid you not!)”
D. The ProSub’s
got all the
normal features
of a good sub:
stereo low-level
ins, a dedicated
LFE input, low-
bass crossover
adjustment,
and volume
control.
D
ProCinema 80 Speaker System $999
Definitive Technology
11433 Cronridge Drive, Owings Mills, MD 21117
(410) 363-7148
www.definitivetech.com
Reprinted from the October1999 issue of HOME THEATER.
Copyright © 1999 by Petersen Publishing.
All Rights Reserved.
“The ProSub definitely
helped create the
illusion that I was
listening to a high-
quality pair of full-
range tower speakers”
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