Definitive Technology Mythos Gem Handbuch

their walls with the

ﬁnest tapestries for

exactly the same

reasons. Is it any

wonder then that

panel after panel

goes into homes with

teeny, tiny, embar-

rassingly little home-

theater-in-a-grocery-

bag speakers next to

them — or simply

with no speakers at

all? I blame the

salespeople (or lack

thereof). I blame the

imperialistic, aggres-

sive TV manufactur-

ers who would have

us all on bended

knee in subservience to the great, glow-

ing ﬂat-panel on the wall. (Talk about

must-see TV…) And I blame AM talk

radio for convincing people that the

idea of really good audio cohabitating

with nice video is just another wacko

liberal concept that will undermine this

country. (Yeah, I have issues.)

Therein lies my fondness for Deﬁn-

itive Technology’sMythos Series

speakers. With their sleek, slender

shape, they’re like the speaker equiv-

alent of a secret agent stealthily slip-

ping into uptight, frou-frou living

rooms everywhere. Once wired and

in place, they disperse their subversive

propaganda in the form of truly spec-

tacular audio; and two by two, ears

around the world ﬁnally come to their

senses and rally behind our cause. In

my opinion, Mythos speakers are a

marvelous twofer: You get great sound

and great looks, regardless of what

reason brought them through the door.

The Mythos Ethos

Until recently, the Mythos lineup

was missing a small, bookshelf-ish

speaker, if for nothing else than to use

ababy surround speaker. Now, the

Mythos Gem comes along, a modest-

size speaker with its Mythos pedigree

apparent in its boyishly good alu-

minum looks. Although I’ve heard

“my subwoofer

can kick your

subwoofer’s butt ...

amazingly low

but very musical

bass output ...”

from the

test bench

Deﬁnitive Technology

Mythos Gem Speaker System

“it’s hard to imagine another home theater speaker package

that can offer as much bang — or bling — for the buck.”

BY DARRYL WILKINSON

Flat-panel TVs — both plasma

and LCD—are wall candy. I’ve never

heard anyone say, “I’m going to buy a

plasma TV because the picture looks

so much better then what you get from

a (ﬁll in your favorite display technol-

ogy acronym here) projection TV.”

Nope. People buy ﬂat-panel TVs for

one or more of three reasons: they’re

thin; they’re cool; and, boy, do they

make your friends RGB with envy.

Half a millennium ago, I’m sure that

people who could afford it covered

“Get this mini Mythos

system, let your

friends ogle its great

looks, and then fall

under its sonic spell.”

So little, yet so big.

hints that the original concept for the

Gem was for it to be a surround

speaker, it has matured into an Atom

Ant-like, do-it-all small wonder.

Essentially, the Gem is a mighty, mini

Mythos, all cute and cuddly — well,

with aluminum cabinets, thick inner

walls, and internal damping pads,

it’s not really cuddly. In fact, it’s

signiﬁcantly heavier than it looks, and

it’s built along the same lines as the

other Mythos speakers. The bigger

floorstanding models, such as the

Mythos Four, have gracefully curved

cabinets with nary a parallel wall off

of which a naughty standing wave can

begin bouncing in its sonically mud-

dling way. The Gem’s design, as well

as that of some other modest Mythos,

inverts the curve of the back of the

cabinet, turning it inward. This main-

tains the no-parallel-walls design yet

allows you to mount the speaker on a

wall (next to a plasma TV, maybe?).

The included keyhole-type mounting

brackets hold the Gems snugly against

the wall, and there’s a threaded insert

on the back should you prefer to use

a pivoting wall mount.

At this point, it’s already easy to

conclude the Gem is a step above the

ordinary satellite speaker. But a couple

of additional aspects push it techno-

logically — and audibly — to the top

of its very affordable class. In addition

to an aluminum-dome, silk-surround

tweeter (one per Gem), each speaker

uses a pair of three-inch drivers (one

above and one below the tweeter)

speciﬁcally angled to the left and right,

creating what Deﬁnitive calls a wide-

dispersion array. As a result, unlike a

traditional bipole or dipole surround

speaker, the Gem can do the job of

front, surround, or any other speaker

position you can think of. If you’re

subwoofer averse, though, you’d

better search around for another small

speaker to listen to. While lots of small

speakers are designed with a midbass

“the Gem is a mighty,

mini Mythos ... an

Atom Ant-like, do-it-

all small wonder”

“Mythos speakers

are a marvelous

twofer: You get

great sound and

great looks”

AT A GLANCE DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS GEM SPEAKER SYSTEM

HT Labs Measures: Deﬁnitive Technology

Mythos Gem Speaker System

SUBWOOFER: SUPERCUBE III

Connections: Speaker- and line-level inputs

Enclosure type: Passive radiator

Woofer (size in inches, type): 7.5 (1) active, 7.5 (2) pressure-driven infrasonic radiators

Power Rating (watts): 650 (digitally switching)

Crossover Bypass: Yes

Available Finishes: Piano-Gloss Black or Golden Cherry

Dimensions (H x W x D, inches): 10.25 x 10.25 x 10.25

Weight (pounds): 28

Price: $699

These listings are based on the manufacturer’s stated specs; the HT Labs box below indicts the gear’s performance

on our test bench.

SPEAKER:

Type:

Tweeter (size in inches, type):

Midrange (size in inches, type):

Woofer (size in inches, type):

Nominal Impedance (ohms):

Recommended Amp Power (watts):

Available Finishes:

Dimensions (H x W x D, inches):

Weight (pounds):

Price:

Mythos Gem

Two-way, monitor

1, aluminum dome

3.5 (2), polymer

N/A

4–8

10–200

Satin-Finished, Aircraft-Grade

Extruded Aluminum (Silver or

Black)

10.25 x 4.125 x 4.25

$249/each

Mythos Seven

Two-way, center

1, aluminum dome

3.5 (2), polymer

3.5 (2), planar radiators

4–8

10–175

Satin-Finished, Aircraft-Grade

Extruded Aluminum (Silver or

Black)

4.125 x 19.625 x 4

7.5

$349

Satellite Sensitivity:

90 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz

Center Sensitivity:

88.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz

This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing

close-miking of all subwoofers) frequency response

of the Mythos Gem satellites (purple trace),

SuperCube III subwoofer (blue trace), and Mythos

Seven center channel (green trace).All passive

loudspeakers were measured with grilles at a dis-

tance of 1 meter with a 2.85-volt input and scaled

for display purposes.

The Gem’s listening-window response (a five-

point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal

and vertical responses) measures +2.06/–2.25 deci-

bels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz.The -3dB point

is at 183 Hz, and the –6-dB point is at 143 Hz.

Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.60 ohms at 360

Hz and a phase angle of –47.96 degrees at 188 Hz.

The Mythos Seven’s listening-window response

measures +2.57/–2.81 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz.

An average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal

responses measures +2.74/–2.47 dB from 200 Hz

to 10 kHz.The –3-dB point is at 136 Hz, and the

–6-dB point is at 111 Hz. Impedance reaches a min-

imum of 4.35 ohms at 288 Hz and a phase angle of

–50.35 degrees at 154 Hz.

The SuperCube III’s close-miked response, nor-

malized to the level at 80 Hz, indicates that the

lower –3-dB point is at 46 Hz and the –6-dB point

is at 28 Hz.The upper –3-dB point is at 103 Hz

using the LFE input. — MJP

Need a subwoofer?

Definitive Technology needs to

include the following advisory on their

SuperCube subs: “Warning: Pregnant

women; people with heart, back,

kidney, or liver problems, those suf-

fering from post traumatic stress dis-

order, people who live near a poten-

tially explosive meth lab, anyone

living on the New Madrid fault line,

and Canadians should avoid using this

subwoofer without consulting the

bump to give you the impression

that they’ve got more junk in the

trunk than they really do, the Gems

are tuned to roll off smoothly and

accurately. The result is less coloration

in the midrange and much better

blending with a subwoofer.

In addition to four Gems, the

Mythos system Definitive sent my

way included a SuperCube III sub and

a Mythos Seven — the baby center

channel of the Mythos line. Its driver

complement matches the Gem’s,

although the 3.5-inch bass/midrange

drivers are forward-firing rather

than angled, and it includes a pair

of pressure-driven 3.5-inch planar

technology bass radiators. It sounds

funny talking about a 3.5-inch bass

radiator, but it’s a scaled-down version

of the drivers that help make Deﬁni-

tive’s SuperCube subwoofers such

heavy hitters. As for the Mythos

Seven, it’s intended to extend the mid-

bass reach, which was readily appar-

ent with the dialogue-driven movies

like Frank Miller’s Sin City.

When it comes to music, the Gems

are light and fast on their feet and play

with an openness and transparency

that’s not easy to find in a small

speaker in the less-than-$500-a-pair

price range. They ﬁlled both the Ray

Brown Trio’s Soular Energy DVD-

Audio and Chesky’s SACD compila-

tion of 17th Century Music and Dance

from the Viennese Court with delight-

ful detail. But the one piece that really

brought home how good the Gems are

was Chesky’s 4.0 mix of Bucky Piz-

zarelli’s Swing Live on DVD-Audio.

I like this recording because of the

very natural ambiance in the sound

channels, which the Gems recreated

spectacularly. I’d forgotten that this

mix doesn’t use the center channel —

and, thanks to the way the Gems per-

formed, I had no idea that the Mythos

Seven was as silent as a mime until I

read the liner notes again.

HIGHLIGHTS

Excellent integration of sats and sub

The beauty is more than skin deep

Gems work great in just about any

speaker location

DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS GEM SPEAKER SYSTEM OVERALL RATING

Value

àMy subwoofer

can kick your

subwoofer’s butt

àIt only looks —

and sounds —

expensive

àTurn it on, and

you’ll completely

forget how much

you paid

Features

àVariable crossover,

phase, and output

control on

SuperCube III

àWall-, stand-,

or shelf-mount

for Mythos Gems

and Seven

àSilver or Black

Mythos ﬁnishes

Performance

àGem/SuperCube

integration is so

good it’s scary

àSimilar drivers and

cabinet construction

creates a nearly

ﬂawless soundﬁeld

Ergonomics

àIncluded wall

brackets are easy

to mount

àThreaded inserts

for pivot mount

àThe Gems have a

small wallprint, and

the Mythos Seven has

a small footprint

The Mythos Gems and

matching Mythos Seven

center channel work so

seamlessly with the

SuperCube III, create

such a coherent sound-

ﬁeld, and looks so

gorgeous together, it’s

hard to imagine anoth-

er home theater speak-

er package that can

offer as much bang—or

bling—for the buck.

General information

Mythos Gem Monitor Speaker, $249/each; Mythos Seven Center-Channel Speaker, $349;

SuperCube III Subwoofer, $699

Deﬁnitive Technology, (410) 363-7148, www.deﬁnitivetech.com àDealer Locator Code DEF

97 98 94 97 98

“the Gems recreated

spectacularly ...

a nearly ﬂawless

performance”

“the Gems are light

and fast on their

feet and play with

an openness that’s

not easy to ﬁnd”

Build Quality

àIt’s hard to

ﬁnd such internal

damping and

cabinet density

in a satellite at

this price

àClassic Deﬁnitive

Technology looks

conceal a subwoofer

use his weight to hold you down while

he pounded your face yet couldn’t run

fast enough to catch you if you got

away, the SuperCube III is as spritely

inperformance as it is powerful. Try

comparing the pounding soundtrack

from the getaway scene in The Trans-

porter with the much more rapid

cannon and shrapnel impacts in

Master and Commander and you’ll

hear how this incarnation of the

SuperCube can slap you or whap you

—or simply stomp you into the

ground if it so chooses.

So what’s a persnickety plasma

person who doesn’t know jack about

sound to do? Get this mini Mythos

system, let your friends ogle its great

looks, and then fall under its sonic

spell. You’ll be converted. If you’re

reading this magazine, you probably

don’t need to be converted, but I’ll bet

you know a person or two who does.

The Gems with the Mythos Seven and

SuperCube III is a can’t-go-wrong,

first-class, you’ll-thank-me-in-the-

morning recommendation. On the

other hand, if you’re already a devotee

of superior sound but would like

something a little classier in looks

that’salso a bit smaller than what

you’d typically need to satisfy your

audio cravings, you’ll find that

the Mythos Gems are absolutely

sparkling — to your eyes and ears.

Diamonds may be forever, but these

Gems are for everyone.

“truly spectacular ...

acan’t-go-wrong,

ﬁrst-class, you’ll

thank-me-in-

the-morning

recommendation”

advice of their doctor, seismologist, or

spiritual advisor.” The other Super-

Cubes I’ve listened to (often while

huddled in the corner for fear of the

building coming down) have had

amazingly low but very musical bass

output — and lots of it. The Super-

Cube III is no exception.

Deﬁnitive says that the SuperCubes

share technology that combines small

cabinets, active long-throw drivers

with big magnets, pressure-driven

infrasonic radiators, and a high-power

digital amps. (Now we’re talking!)

I’ve never been able to verify what’s

inside of a SuperCube subwoofer. I’ve

been reluctant to take one apart lest

everything ﬂy out at once like one of

those spring-loaded snakes in a can.

Seriously, these suckers seem denser

and heavier than lead, which means

those digital amps are probably pow-

ered by a small thermonuclear reactor.

The SuperCube III looks like its

bigger siblings (with signature piano

black gloss end caps and a black sock

covering all but the jack panel and

heat sinks on the back) and acts like

them, too. It’s a brute, albeit a small,

10.25-inch cubed one. But, unlike the

beefy grade-school bully who could

from the test bench DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY MYTHOS GEM SPEAKER SYSTEM

“Mythos Gems

are absolutely

sparkling —

to your eyes and

ears. Diamonds

may be forever,

but these

Gems arefor

everyone.”

“so good it’s scary”

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

Reprinted from the December 2005 issue of HOME THEATER.

For information and dealers

www.deﬁnitivetech.com

Also available in black.

Shown with optional GemStands.

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