Definitive Technology Mythos Series Thread - Page 15

Hi, Murray:

I have Mythos 1 fronts, and a Mythos center 8 in my 7.1 system.

For my side surrounds, I selected the Def Tech UIW RSSII's because I wanted bipoles for my sides (and needed ceiling mounted speakers there.) For my rears, I have a pair of 8's to give a more directional feel in the rear most surrounds. It follows one of the recommended Dolby Digital configurations on their website.

Both pairs blend very well with each other and the front three speakers and create a cohesive sound filed because all of the drivers and tweeters are virtually the same. (The Joker shooting the paddy wagon effect just runs around the room in The Dark Knight )

I think the fundamental choice you would need to make in your system is whether you prefer a more diffuse bipolar surround field (popular for movies). If this is the case then I would suggest a pair of Gem XL's (or the UIW RSS series)--they have the same woofers/tweeters as the Ones. If you prefer a more directional approach, a pair of 8's would be superb, followed by a pair of 2's.

On the other hand, if you really emphasize surround music in your system, then directional speakers are probably the way to go, so a pair of 8's would fit well (or a pair of 2's).

Just my two cents...Good luck!

Addendum: I should have read the title of your post before I replied--prefer Gem XL's over the Gem's for this application--worth the extra money in my opinion.

Hi, MacFan:

I think that it's cool you got such a good blend with the Mirages in your room.

I do feel (and it's just my opinion) that your last comment about the back channels is telling.

Although the "right" solution (as I advocated in my post above and what I did in my own system) is to have identical drivers all around, it's obviously perfectly possible to get a pleasing surround experience with speakers that don't completely match because most sources just don't drive the rears anywhere close to full range.

Plus, (and this is clearly heresy) I was sitting in a crowd at a noisy show at an arena and realized that the ambient noise clearly had a totally different timbre depending on where and how far it was coming from relative to my position.

Therefore, although the pink noise test clearly indicates a match between the speakers (and is the recognized ideal), as long as the speakers are level matched and relatively similar, I suspect that the average listener would still feel the surround field was acceptable while watching movies because 1) our brains are used to the varying qualities of ambient noise and 2) few of us know what many things that happen in movies sound like in real life.

Finally, although the advice to try to get identical drivers/tweeters remains sound, most of the time, we ignore the room's contribution as well (i.e., an identical speaker won't sound the same in various positions around the room in most real-world rooms). Your experience illustrates what intelligent auditioning and competent equalization can do.

Sorry for getting off topic--

Congrats, Joe!

Sorry to hear about the damaged speaker--did it look like a problem with shipping or is it the type of defect from the factory.

The reason I ask is that I had to exchange a couple of my Mythos speakers for various flaws (one had some nasty, yellow industrial glue seeping out from under the endcap--actually the protective cloth was stuck to the speaker itself. Others had some rather noticible flaws in the polished finish--large spots that didn't appear polished prior to putting the clear coat on.) I still remember how lousy I felt when I opened the box to that glued speaker mess--I can truly empathize with your situation.

I wonder if perhaps Def Tech needs to tighten up their pre delivery inspections of the speakers.

Anyway, I'm sorry you had the trouble, and hope that ABT takes care of you.

That's disappointing to hear. If you get a chance, you might consider emailing Def Tech as well to let them know since these might not be isolated incidents. I wonder how many others have had this happen.

The "good" news is that at least ABT will only require you send back your speaker in the original box. The dealer I got mine from required me to double box mine to send back--I had to do a custom cutdown of their original box (which was way too big), and ended up having to supply my own packing materials. Took about an hour to get everything packed, and I muttered under my breath the whole time: "No more speakers by mail order..."

It all eventually worked out well though--got a good speaker in return, and all sounds well. Good luck!

1+ Thank you for the reminder, Murray1

Let's help keep this thread from being closed by keeping all non-MRSP pricing discussions to PM only.

Murray:

While I think it's true that Def Tech could improve some of their recent QA processes, please keep in mind that we very likely represent a small minority of all Def Tech purchasers.

Although I had a glue problem with the speaker as described before, once I got my replacement, I have had no problems, and have been thrilled by their performance--they are all I could have asked for. I wouldn't let these few reports scare you off from the speakers--they are designed well.

As long as you purchase from an authorized dealer with a solid return policy, you should be OK. Several of the authorized on-line dealers are very good about replacements in my personal experience, and the B & M authorized dealers should be able to do this as well.