The Definitive Technology web site lists two dealers in the Twin Cities that sell the BP2000: Audio King and Audio Perfection. I stopped by Audio King first.
Audio King has a variety of home theater "environment" rooms for auditioning equipment. I was greeted at the door by A/V specialist, Steven Taracks, and was pleasantly surprised with his competent knowledge of audio equipment. Steven led me to the theater room containing the BP2000 set. Because we were in the middle of a larger room, the bipolar surrounds were mounted on the ceiling just above and behind my head. We prepared to watch Independence Day through a Kenwood receiver. As the scene started, the room filled with sound and truly engulfed us. Equally impressive was the center channel speaker. The vocals were distinct and clear- undoubtedly the best center channel I've ever auditioned (at least, it impressed me more than any other).

You'll recall that Independence Day has a few explosions (grin). The bass was no disappointment. Not only was it enough to pulverize kidney stones and knock the fillings out of your molars, but it also vibrated your toes enough to make you feel like you were actually in the Stealth Bombers diving on the mother ship. There's a good reason for this extreme bass performance. Each of the left and right speakers are equipment with a 300-Watt, 15-inch subwoofer. They produce some serious psi and move enough air to practically push a small sailboat across the lake. With this much subwoofer power, I would not need to add a separate subwoofer to the system.

OK, now it's happened. My audio ideology has been whipped into a corner and is thoroughly ready to recant. Without question, the BP2000, a non-THX designed speaker, has out performed, out impressed and out right knocked the socks off of any other configurations I've heard. Now I need to decide if it's the speakers; or is it the full-bodied effect of the bipolar front drivers that I like so much. To answer this, I'll need to hear another set of bipolar speakers.

Excellent product if you are willing to break in for a couple of months. Also, tinker with the bass
until it is right. Did an A/B with my Legacy
Classics. When I started I expected the
Legacies to win. The bp-2000s won going
away. All auditioning was done with music.

This is an excellent speaker.The sound dispersion and balance are amazing.

Definitive Technology loudspeakers give the listener a tremendous "bang for the buck". I own a pair of BP2000TL's, and have not been dissapointed once since hooking them up to my system.

As an organist, the main characteristic I looked for in a pair of speakers was frequency range. Pipe organs are capable of producing sounds almost 2 octaves below the lowest note on the piano, and several octaves above the highest note. To reproduce this sound, you need great bass response, full midrange,and crystal clear tweeters. The BP2000TL's do just this, reproduce the sound very accurately.

Another important feature for me was the fact that these speakers were bipolar. They really make you feel like you are at the concert or performance rather than sitting in your living room. Each of the BP2000TL's contains 2 tweeters, 4 midrange speakers, and a 15" subwoofer with it's own 500 watt power source. The subwoofer is also side-firing, so the speaker cabinet doesn't take up your whole living room (they're not wide at all).

Definitive Technology also gives you a variety of ways to hook up the speakers. You can single, bi, or tri-wire the speakers depending on your preference. I think anyone would have a hard time finding any better speakers for $3000/pair (or much more). I'm posative that I will enjoy my speakers for years to come, and will add several of their other speakers to my system.

Before I address these excellent speakers, let me provide you with some information many people choose to overlook when posting reviews and evaluating sound quality.1) Everone hears sound differently. Your ears do not react exactly the same as someone else's.
2) The very best speakers produce sound EXACTLY as the recording engineer intended for it to sound.
3) No one speaker can optimally produce ALL the sounds we ask-- some do audio, some HT, some do both fairly well.
4) A sound that is pleasing to the ear does NOT necessarily reflect the true recording as intended. Sometimes our ears like the intended sound better, sometimes not.
That said, I can say that the BP 2000's represent the best real world value in sound reproduction for both audio, and HT. Since I got mine for $1000 less than the $3000 retail, they were an even greater value, one of their best qualities. As a musician, audio enthusiast, and recording engineer, I can tell you that the DefTechs do not produce sound EXACTLY as most sound is recorded; only an expensive headphone set can really do that. However, they DO produce sound in a way that sound very pleasing to the ear, while still retaining the spirit of the original recording. Highs are very present, but not harsh. Midrange is excellent, as you can hear on some quality recordings of the acoustic guitar, which is perhaps the most difficult midrange sound to reproduce because of its complexity. The bass requires considerable time to dial in, as it can be overbearing, especially in smaller rooms, but you can tame it with some patience and time. Also, there is CONSIDERABLE variance in how engineers record bass, so I found that different recordings required different bass settings. Kind of annoying, but the flexibility of the BP2000's allows you to adjust for this, while other speakers do not.
Most people's criticism of the highs come from not understanding that your ears are more sensitive to high frequencies than others (that's why you lose that part of your hearing first). So when they turn up the volume, they sound "harsh," like most accurate speakers will. We can enjoy 130dB of bass, but often find 105dB of highs painful. If it sounds harsh, turn down the volume. If it still does, odds are the source lies in the recording, not the reproduction.
When I auditioned, and later bought the DefTechs, I did not compare them to other speakers as much as you may think one should-- I instead compard them to my evaluation of familiar recordings from the studio. I KNEW how these should sound, and the DefTechs positively excelled. I bought them before I EVER saw a DefTech advertisement, and I didn't know who Julian Hirsch was at the time.
I am very pleased with the performance and value the loudspeakers give me through all genres of music and movies. They require careful placement and subwoofer tuning, but patient listeners are rewarded for their patience. While they do not produce sound EXACTLY as the studio tapes were recorded, few, if any, speakers do. And those that do, sound surprisingly flat and uninspired at times. These speakers DO produce sound in a way that is more entertaining and anjoyable than almost every other speaker under 20K, and isn't that what we want from our speakers? if it pleases your ears, go buy them and love them. if your tastes lean elsewhere, than look there. For my experienced and well-trained ears, nothing else in this class even comes close.

From my experience:
1. Music and the reproduction of music are art forms, just like painting and sculpture, because the fallible human brain and senses must interpret them. Just because we can quantify a painting in terms of color, texture, and geometry doesn’t make it a science. Some audio companies would have us (consumers) believe that because we (humans) can quantify sound in terms of frequency and amplitude, a science can be derived and applied to create the “perfect” music or the “perfect” reproduction. Yes, there are certain laws of physics about sound that are studied and applied, this does not mean that there is a science of making loudspeakers or amplifiers, only that certain physical constraints must be put in or removed, and generally these are practiced by all loudspeaker designers. Such is the case with a painter. If a painter doesn’t keep his colors separate on his palette, the additive law of colors states that he will end up with the color gray. Does this mean that painting is a science? I certainly don’t think so!

2. Listening comes in two forms; active and passive, and there is a spectrum between them. Within each of the type of listening you can listen for content, and sound quality. Active listening takes effort, because it requires mental focus. Like any talent, there seems to be a small sliver of the populace that seem to have a natural aptitude, others must work at it. Because of this, most of us listen on the passive side of the spectrum most of the time. Switch the ol'gray matter off and take in the entire acoustic experience. We switch into active listening mode when we want to discern a small piece of the acoustic slurry that's hitting our ears, basically ignoring the rest. Pick out a particular instrument in a symphony for example. “Eyes” (actually our brain’s interpretation of what our eyes are seeing) can focus on the bark of a tree, a single tree, or the entire forest the same way that our “ears” can focus on the rattle of the sax, the sax as an instrument, or the entire Jazz ensemble. Similarly we can listen to audio equipment in the same way; the loudspeaker’s imaging, its ability to produce bass, or the entire speaker package.

3. The quality of sound that ANY speaker puts out is in direct proportion to the quality and amount of amplification put into it. Conversely, even the worlds most expensive speakers will probably sound very bad to 99% of the population if driven with a $15 record player and $20 amplifier.

4. Human’s ears/brain can get accustomed to many different types of audio sound. To prove this to yourself go without any type of audio stimulus from an amplified source for 3 weeks—cleanse your audio pallet (very difficult to do unless you are on vacation in the woods). The next time you hear any form of music from an amplified source (even better if it is live) it will blow your mind. The feeling is short lived however, because we immediately begin to form impressions based on what we are hearing and our ears/mind again become accustom to musical stimulus.

5. Stating that a certain loudspeakers is better for HT than for music reproduction is false. The bottom line is that the human brain can only focus on a finite number of things. Generally we focus more on the pictures than the sound when watching a movie, thus overlooking any annoyances or grievances we have with a speakers sound if we were just listening in stereo music mode.

I like the way the Definitive Technology speaker elements and design methodology sound with a good, high quality, high power amplifier and good, quality source material. This is why I have a pair of Studio Monitor 100’s flanking my computer monitor and a pair of BP2002 in my living room.

Thanks my rant, thanks for listening—like you had a choice!

I've owned Defs 2002 for two years now thought I'd throw in a few comments. I've auditioned evrything before purchasing the Defs. It came down to Thiel 3.6s and the Defs 2002. With the subs turned off on the Defs the Thiels were slightly tighter in the mids and upper bass. You had to do a lot of A,B listening to notice this however. With the subs turned on it wasn't a fair contest.Theils are nearly the best speakers money can buy so I was sold on the Defs. I have upgraded my system with 2 Classe amps in bridged mono, Classe Dac 1, Theta Jade transport, Audio Research LS15 preamp, all interconnected with MIT interconnets. These speakers have let every nuance of information come through with great detail and imaging. They never cease to amaze me or my friends.
Some observations. As with any speaker, placement is very IMPORTANT! Point subs inward, measure for correct angles, measure distances from walls, listen for reflections, ect. Also, I don't care what reviewers say about these speakers needing small amplification to drive them because of the powered subwoofers they are wrong. Sure they will play clearly, but they won't image properly. Remember, you still need to drive 12 SPEAKERS!! I'm using 2 Classe 100 watt amps in bridged mode. These are high current amplifiers. The Defs really like them because of there sweet, detailed, non fatiguing sound. But there expensive!
Amazing speakers for the money. Hope this helps.

After months of reading reviews at Audio, I can finally offer legitimate insight and input on a product. I purchased The BP2000TL's. They were one month old demo's, in excellent shape and a good price
Like all speakers, you can't fully appreciate them until they have been burned it for several weeks. I think the demo's are now producing their true sound signature. The difference between The BP2000 and The BP2000TL's is primarily in the bass region. The 2000TL's have ported base enclosures and 500 watt internal amplifiers. The old 2000s did not have ported base compartments. Moreover, the internal amplifies are rated at 300 watts each. In my opinion you can't tell the difference between the two until you reach the real deep base frequencies. At which point The 2000TL's will come across less restrained, more dynamic and powerful. The ported enclosure allows the base driver to move more freely and respond quicker. However, this is only experienced at deep base levels.

The BP2000TL's are very efficient. At 12db, they are loud. We set up a pair of Martin Logan ReQuest and had to double the db to get the same output as The 2000TL's. The ReQuest sound better than The 2000TL's, but only in the sweet spot. If you move to far to the left or right you loose this advantage. I almost bought a pair of ReQuest but did not feel they were suitable for my home theater application. I am not saying that is the case for all home theater applications. I am just referring to my room accommodations.

Although the 2000TL's are efficient and can produce quality sound from just about any power source, I do recommend a good quality amplifier with lots of power. Each enclosure has 6 drivers and consequently will draw lots of current. I would recommend at least 200 watts per channel. The Sunfire amps are an excellent choice. They are design for biwiring and put out tons of power for current hungry speakers and are reasonably priced. I have two Sunfire amps and am looking to buy a used one.

How do BP2000TL's sound? Wonderful! You have to give yourself time for proper setup. To much base will sound boomy and will give you a migraine. They have more options then most speakers. You can single, bi, or triwire these speakers. The two internal 500 watt subs alone are worth the retail price, not including a total of 12 other drivers. I don't think you will find a whole lot better in this price range that will do home theater right. Matter of fact, Definitive new center channel speaker with built in powered sub matches the BP2000TL's perfectly. I have to commend Definitive for paying attention to the industry of motion pictures and the full range sound requirements that are being demanded in action movies.

These are bipolar speaker, which I think are best for home theater use. Your better commercial movie theaters have the option of using many speaker in the front, side, and rear to produce surround sound. With bipolar speakers, you can get the same full sound effect but with less speakers. If you plan to listen to some music, then still consider these speakers. If you are going to listen to music only, don't buy these. There are much better speakers in this price range for music only. The BW's come to mind. But don't take my word for it, go check them out for yourself. For movies you wont be disappointed with The BP2000TL's, I'm not.

Can anyone tell me where I can get a great deal on the C/L/R2000 and BPX, BP1x or BP2x to match my BP2002

I auditioned NHT, Mirage, DefTech and Paradigm speakers in the $2500- $4500 price range. While each had their strengths and weaknesses, none had as few weaknesses across the board as the BP2000. I am particularly impressed by the incredible dynamic range these towers possess. They excel at microdynamics yet can play at a far higher volume than the competition without sounding harsh or compressing the dynamics. Their bass is particularly outstanding. I have tried several subwoofers (Velodyne and Mirage) in my listening room and could never obtain a truly seamless match to the monitors I was using. In addition, I had a strong room resonance at 48 Hz and could never find a location for the separate subwoofer that tamed it. No such problems with the BP2000. Its bass is extremely tight, smooth and well integrated. And it literally shakes the walls. The BP2000 may not be perfect but no speaker I've heard, for less than several times its price, comes close.