Definitive Technology HT1004 User Manual

sumers think about how products

should perform and fit into our

lives. I, for one, am certainly ready

for this shift. Even if other manu-

facturers don’t follow Def Tech’s

lead, this system is still a mighty

fine-sounding and damn good-

looking group of speakers.

appealing, though. The Mythos are

so intimate in their imaging and

precise in their reproduction that

they create a sonic portrait with

such subtlety and sincerity that, if

you could somehow freeze forever

such an audible moment, it would

be worthy of hanging in the Louvre.

The cabinets’ narrowness, the

lack of parallel sides, the excellent

internal damping, the PolyStone

mineral-filled polymer front baffles,

the specially annealed aluminum

dome tweeters with silk surrounds,

and the Medite planar bass radia-

tors that refuse to let midrange 

frequencies bleed into the room

combine to provide the unfettered,

thoroughly unencumbered lightness

of being a Mythos speaker. But

what it really boils down to is this:

How do these slender silos sound

when you plunk them on the floor

or pop them on the wall next 

to your plasma? In a word: three-

dimensional and thrilling. Well, that

was three words, but you get what 

I mean.

Strong yet Subtle

The underlying nature of the

Mythos Fours, Threes, and Gems

(which, by the way, also fared quite

well as main speakers when I

paired them with the SuperCube II

sub-woofer) is a subtle sweetness

and unerring accuracy. The sonic

blend of the bass with the midrange

vocals, guitars, and harmonica on

Blues Traveler’s Truth Be Told

DVD-Audio disc is a great exam-

ple of this; at the same time, the

ensemble flawlessly reproduced the

maniacally defined antics found on

Chesky’s  Musical 5.1 Surround

Show SACD. In fact, if you don’t

think these speakers have what it

takes to run with the ugliest but best

sounding speakers in the price

range, listen to “Music for Cello,

Helicopter and Cars” on the Chesky

disc. If the system is dialed-in 

properly, it’ll change your opinion 

of how good a lifestyle product

should be.

All of the aspects that make

music sound so good achieve sim-

ilar results with movies. Master &

Commander was much more than

I bargained for with this system —

especially early in the movie, when

you’re lulled into calm by the

creaking of the ship and the break-

ing of the waves just before a hell

storm of cannon shots is released.

These Mythos are no passive wall-

flowers, let me tell you. Seabiscuit,

a much less rambunctious movie

that relies on subtlety of sound and

narration as a large part of its story,

was just as engagingly portrayed

and just as enjoyable.

Hopefully, the Mythos are an

early indication of a paradigm shift

in the way manufacturers and con-

11433 Cronridge Dr. • Owings Mills, MD 21117 • (410)363-7148

Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of HOME THEATER. 

from the

test bench