Definitive Technology BP 2004 Floorstanding Speakers

Definitive Technology BP 2004 Floorstanding Speakers 

DESCRIPTION

Bipolar Tower w/Built-in 125 Watt Powered 10" Subwoofer

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 61  
[Oct 09, 2008]
Phil
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Everlasting speakers, crystal clear sound, Deep base and terrific sound quality

Weakness:

spikes stability is hectic, Sub volume controller is fragile, gross finish cover is easy to scratch.

I bought my bp-2004 when they first came out from ultimate electronics (soundtrack). I have had the product about 4 years and have never had any problem with it. I have damaged the top gloss finish covers of the product, as a result of moving here and there and broke one of the inbuilt volume control level, but that was due to my own carelessness. Therefore, I would recommend that an utlmost care be taken when you are moving the stuff back and forth. I bought the BP-2004 (Bipolar Towers) at $800.00 ea along with Powerfield Supercube I (Subwoofer) at $1200.00, C/L/R 2500 (Center Channel) at $800.00, and rear surrond BP2X at $270.00 ea. Speaker setup is easy but stabilizing the spikes on the BP-2004 on a carpet is hectic. I run the def-tech speakers on a Yahama receiver RX-V3300 and I'm afraid of the sound I get when watching movies and and tv. The speakers do have real deep base and the sound quality is very clear than any other speakers out there. I have listened to top speakers like Martin Logan, Klipsch, and several other ones but I like the Def-Tech better. If you are looking for a top notch speakers, I will say stick with Def-Tech and you won't go wrong because I believe strongly that you would never regret. And by the way, if you like music that much then I bet you that this is the speaker for you. All that you need to do is to get a an EQ and any of the quality cd players out there with quality cables like monsters. Make sure you put gold pins at the ends of the cables if it doesn't come with one and I bet you would enjoy the clearest and rich sound you could ever get with spending such moderate amount on the speakers. They are problem free so don't worry about taking it to the shop to get it fixed. Oh! don't forget to get some power surge to protect your entire system from accidental damage. Like I said the set up is easy, I have the two main BP-2004 on by my huge tv on the left and right sides and the center channel right under the tv and the two surronds in the rear. In case you are not a base fanatic, you should only buy the BP-2004 without the supercube sub because the built in sub on the BP-2004 is great.

Customer Service

I called Def-Tech to replace my gross finish cover(s) and they were very nice. They even offered a sub volume controller free of charge.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 02, 2005]
unclehowie
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

fantastic bass, and cost

Weakness:

probably placement. placing the speaker just right to achieve the best quality sound was a challenge, but soooo worth it.

i enjoy not only listening to music but also listening to movies. the bp2004 fill my room with earth shaking bass, yet provide an extremely smooth mid-range. i have owned dahlquist and polk audio both of which are superior products, but do not come close to what def tech has been able to produce.

Similar Products Used:

dahlquist and polk audio

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 12, 2003]
dennymorgan
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Superb sound Great value Great looking Plenty of bass without separate subwoofer Delivers wide soundstage with excellent imaging Accurate vocals! Will play very, very loud with quality amplification

Weakness:

Placement challenges in some rooms Difficult to stabilize properly Needs high-end electronics to really shine

Since I didn’t want a freestanding subwoofer, I sound shopped for “powered towers” only. That restricted my search to DefTech, Klipsch, AR, NHT, Polk and Infinity, plus a few others. The 04s won easily against all but the NHTs. The NHTs, however, cost three times more than the 04s. Set-up was easy with the simple hook-up although stabilizing the heavy towers was a hassle: It took myself and a neighbor to safely affix the spikes and stabilizer feet. Speaker placement is far more critical than DefTech indicates. I placed the 04s in several different configurations, settling on ten inches from back wall, slight toe-in, tilted back with supplied spikes in front and supplied stabilizing feet in back and the built-in subs facing outward. Break-in took a long time, but worth it! The sound is simply awesome. Highs are light and accurate. I hear Tool’s drum cymbals more distinctly and Miles Davis’ trumpet is clearer, cleaner, and more intimate than on my soft dome ADS 1090s. Mids are right on the money with exceptional vocals. Sting, Norah, Maynard, Sade…whoever; they all sound great. Bass is great (music) to exceptional (HT), but please keep in mind that I’m not a bass freak. HT bass (I use the LFE hook-up) is fantastic: Full but not overwhelming. I have a few friends (total-destruction-of-home-interior bass fiends) that suggest my HT setup would benefit from an additional, dedicated subwoofer. I disagree. The 04s provide plenty of deep, accurate HT bass. Music bass, on the other hand, is merely great. It goes low, but how low does an electric or stand-up bass go? 40 Hz? It seemed to me the 04s pump out bass frequencies that shouldn’t be there. And music bass didn’t seem as “tight” as the dual seven-inch woofers in my ADS 1090s. The same friends that suggested a sub for HT can’t get enough of the 04s in music. I solved the problem by dialing back the bass level on the ’04s to eight o’clock for music, with HT at ten to eleven o’clock. The “lighter” bass setting on music tightened up bass considerably, making me happy and the bass fiends still gobble it up. I cannot imagine why a listener would want more bass than the 04s can deliver in music listening, with the possible exception of rap and/or electronic dance fans. The only negative is the frequent resetting of bass from music to HT and back. Imaging is as good or better than non-bipolar speakers I’ve listened to in the same price range. Vocals are dead center front and drums seem behind the wall. Soundstage is very, very wide considering the excellent imaging. However, the ‘04s that I listened to at Marvin’s sounded more open and airy. The soundstage seemed to extend from sidewall to sidewall to the ceiling. Although I think placing them with no toe-in would open them up more without sacrificing imaging too much, I’m pleased enough with the sound not adjust placement further. In the end, the 04s in HT simply ROCK in their current set-up playing 70% HT to 30% stereo, although music listening will probably increase as my kids age. Finally, I really love the 04’s “look”. Tall, slender cabinets with easy to clean “sock” and caps. The all-black look fits with our décor perfectly so even my wife is pleased. The small footprint allows for a normal arrangement of furniture, TV, etc… Again, my wife is happy. For the curious, my HT speaker set-up is all DefTech: 2004s at L/R main, ProCenter C2, ProMonitor 100s in L/R rear driven by a Yamaha A-V1105 receiver. I will soon upgrade my receiver and later on I plan to upgrade to a C/L/R 2000 at center and upgrade to ProMonitor 200s in the rear. Thus I can set my center and rears to “large” and feed them full range sound.

Similar Products Used:

ADS 1090 Listened to AR, NHT, Polk, Klipsch, Infinity and others

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 14, 2002]
francis
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

low bass frequency slim design

Weakness:

none so far

These speakers really rock my world. It produces great mids and more than you expect bass frequency. They sound just smooth and blends whatever mode you are listening.

Similar Products Used:

bose 701 polk rt1000 infinity klipsch rf7

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 28, 2002]
Jeff
AudioPhile

Strength:

Soundstage, Immersion into music. Good looking speakers, maybe consider for a HT. probably not

Weakness:

-Too much $$ for what you get. -Lack of pristine clarity. -Sub sounds too "boomy"

Let me begin by saying I dont own these speakers, but I auditioned them at "Audio Video" a local dealer in my town. $1500. I listened for an hour or so, to a variety of CD''s. I now have Cerwin Vega RE 20 bookshelf speakers that cost about $400, so I figured these would simply blow me away. Reading reviews on here first, I expected to be simply blown away into a crystaline immersion into musical heaven. (perhaps exagerated) But I really wasnt that impressed. They were "Good" no doubt, but as much as I wanted to convince myself these were the speakers the salesman said they were, I just couldnt convince myself! Im not really a knowledgable audiophile, who''s auditioned many great speakers... but something in these seemed lacking. They didnt immerse me into a lifelike audio experience, closing my eyes I couldnt be fooled into thinking it was a real concert or a real person singing. At times they were fairly "boomy", like some off brand you might find at a Best Buy. They subwoofer seemed to lack some refinement overall. The only real positive thing I could say about these speakers is that they would be good only for home theater maybe. I watched Saving Private Ryan on DVD, and was fairly impressed. These speakers truly surround you with sound, which is good. Unfortunately, not good sound. And this was on a $1800 Yamaha THX receiver.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
3
[Mar 09, 2002]
Dean
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Bass, overall sound quality, price!

Weakness:

Laquered top(sometimes doesn''t fit right)

First of all,This is a review for the 2004TL. I first heard def tech at my friends house and I was amazed at the sound quality of the 2006TL''s which he had at the time(since traded them for the 2002TL''s..WOW!!!!). anyway, I don''t understand why anyone that has some knowledge of good speakers doesn''t realize that these spaekers have a "break in " period. I know this and I was still a bit Freaked out when I fired these speakers up out of the box, but after only about 20 hours they sound 100% better.the bass opened up nicely:). It can be boomy if you crank it all the way up but so can the best subwoofer(that''s why it has an adjustment).Overall the bass is deep and tight and in my opinion sounds great. As far as the depth of these speakers, I find myself listening to music in stereo only! it sounds awesome!I had some older Infinity''s with a Boston Acoustics sub which sounded pretty good but usually sounded fuller in certain DSP modes. I know some people hate DSP but there is really no need for them with the Def Tech''s.However, when wathching movies, eapecially in DTS, the scene storming the beach from Saving Private Ryan makes you feel as if you were on the beach with them!The couch vibrates like you are in the boat!(the room is about 12x30). In my opinion, for the price, these speakers are fantastic,maybe you can do better but it will take alot of time and patience and then, you can''t do much better for the price.It may be the best $1400 I have ever spent.

Similar Products Used:

none similar overall

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 22, 2002]
Big-Lou
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Not very many strenghts from my point of view.

Weakness:

The speaker is very Harsh, not very accurate, the true test is to play these speakers at very low volumes. They would have a tough time filling almost any room.

Sorry to all the true Def Tech fans but these speakers just did not do it for me. I feel these speakers are for very casual listners that like their music loud with booming base. I tired very hard to make these speakers work. I have owned several speakers over the years, NHT, Dunlavy, Apogee, Polk, etc... I thought I would stop spending so much on audio, and pick these puppies do to the nice price range and independent ratings (i.e. Home Theater for 2006tl). At the end of the day I returned them to my dealer, and upgraded to some used Snell XA 75pa (great example of the advantage of dealing with someone locally). The Snell''s were a large jump in price but at the end of the day I am extremely happy. Equipped used with the speakers CLR 2300 (also returned) 2 rear ceiling mounts by Def Tech ( I kept) Denon 3802 Denon DVD

Similar Products Used:

NHT, B&W, Mirage, Paradigm - then finally Snell.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
[Jan 18, 2000]
Veratas
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Bass, small footprint

Weakness:

Weak highs and poor balance of highs, midrange and lows

I auditioned the BP 2004 in a large room which was sound proofed. The speakers sounded quite good at the store. When I took them home I was quite disappointed with the sound. Perhaps my listening room was not well matched for this type of speaker. I had to place the speakers in corners of my room of about 12x20. However I don't believe that a mismatch with the room would account for much of the sound inadequacies that I percieved.
My receiver is the Denon AVR 3300 and CD player is Sony CA90ES. I compared these speakers to a set of Sound Dynamics P-100.
I found the 2004 to be weak in highs and midrange. Female vocals sounded very superficial and thin. There was an overall lack of depth to the sound of instruments,especially acoustic guitar. Rock/Pop sounded unclear and muddled. I attempted to adjust the bass to see if I could get a richer, fuller sound but the bass, although very powerful, only seemed to amplify the very lowest frequencies and overpowered the tweeter. The bass has a tendency to boom easily. It is my impression that this speaker does not seem to mix its component speakers well and the result is a sound that is inferior to the sum of it's components. I was actually surprised at the lack of depth and clarity. I was expecting much more after reading the reviews at this site. The soundstage was of course large but this did not make up for the deficiencies in sound.
I am new to the Bipolar genre of speakers but I may try the energy audissey series before giving up on it. Perhaps the 60/40 balance of the audisseys may make a diference.

Similar Products Used:

Sound Design P-100, Monitor Audio 4's

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
2
[Jan 01, 2001]
Steve
Audiophile

Strength:

Every bit of sound you hear from them.

Weakness:

None

I have been listening to the 2004's for a few years now, at a friends house. I have had mine for about 7 months now. I can say nothing but good about them. The soundstage is immense, and the imaging excellent. I have a farely large room the speakers are in with 12' ceilings. The 2004's fill the room nicely. I was originally looking for a true unpowered 3-way speaker, but found they are all but gone these days. When I was shopping I listened to a good number of other speakers in the under $2000 price range: Mirage, Paradigm, PSB, Monitor Audio, Klipsch, other Def. Tech's--2006 and 2002--to name a few. The mirage were good; the soundstage and imaging was close to the 2004's. However, they lacked the low end response--I was looking at non-powered towers. None of the other speakers seemed to come close. It is interesting to note that I had always been a Klipsch fan, but the horns just seemed a bit harsh compared to the others I auditioned, and the efficiency did not seem to matter. Also, since the 2004TL's came out I have also listened to them and can honestly say I could not tell much of a difference. I have the sub level turned up to about half past 9 o'clock, so the extra power really had no effect. My recommendation is to give them or the 2004TL's a listen.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 21, 2000]
Moe
Audiophile

Strength:

Sound awesome, great base, performance unlike anything I've auditioned. Very clear and detailed.

Weakness:

I haven't had them long enough to find anything

Guys, what the heck, I've asked you guys to put out the proper heading for these speakers! Let's go!!!


BP2004TL NOT BP2004. THEY ARE DIFFERENT, NEW!!!

Similar Products Used:

B&W601, 602, 603


OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 61  

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