Creating a great-sounding home theater is a surprisingly challenging feat. It requires careful auditioning of speakers, preamplifiers and amplifiers. Some consider the electronics the most important link in this audio chain, but I would argue that the speakers have the most difficult job in the room -- to create the proper amount of bass, clear dialog and effects and also reproduce music properly in your theater environment. Definitive Technology, maker of high-quality speaker systems, is easily up to the challenge. As innovators of loudspeaker design, and the first to offer speakers with built-in powered subwoofers, there's no question that their new PowerMonitor system deserves a listen.

Unique Features
The system that Definitive Technology sent us is built around a pair of PowerMonitor 900s, their top of the range monitor speaker. When it comes to speaker design and layout, there really are two types of speakers (with many, many iterations inside these categories): tower loudspeakers and monitor loudspeakers. You've all seen towers -- they are speakers that stand on the floor, but don't require stands. Monitors are meant to sit on stands or fit into bookcases or cabinets. The PowerMonitor 900s were created to either sit on stands or in a bookcase. But something very special sets them apart from conventional monitors. They feature a built-in 250-watt powered 10-inch woofer, a 1-inch pure aluminum dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch cast-basket upper-bass/midrange driver. As you can probably tell, this speaker is designed to rock. Whether you place it on

stands or in a cabinet, you can tailor the subwoofer's output with the included dial on the back of the speaker.

Coupled with the PowerMonitor 900s, Definitive Technology also sent us their CLR 3000 center channel. This also features a 150-watt powered subwoofer, a 10-inch woofer and similar tweeter and midrange drivers that will integrate it seamlessly with the PowerMonitor 900s.

For the surround speakers in our 5.1 demo system, we used Definitive Technology's BPVX/P bipolar on-wall speakers. Since it's a bipolar design, it spreads sound around the rear part of the room, giving a diffused type of surround sound. Also featuring powered bass drivers, it blends with the front speakers quite well.

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