Definitive Technology ProMonitor 800

These speakers did not perform as I had hoped for my particular application. In this case, that means placed in a near-field set up about 6 feet apart at ear level. In this setting, I could not place the speakers either very far from walls or from corners created by furniture. In short: a pretty typical near-field set up. These are beautiful to behold. The finish is really slick, and the enclosure has a nice solid feel. I listened for many hours to different types of music ranging from classical, to rock, jazz, instrumental, and singer/songwriter. I ran a number of my 96k/24bit tracks through them. In general I found they offer god detail in the upper ranges, but I just could not get vocals to sound right. What I found is that no matter what angle I used, or how far apart I placed the speakers, the midrange just sounded flabby and "boxy" if I sat at my desk. If I stepped back about six or seven feet, that mostly went away, and they sounded like a typical set of small monitors that REALLY wanted a subwoofer. But, I have to work at my disk, not six feet from it. Go figure. I don't know if this is an off-axis phasing issue, or interaction between the pasive radiators and my walls etc. Whatever. The issue was noticeable enough to persistently bug me in listening. I was motivated by this result to go research the tweeters that had mysteriously died a couple of years ago on my old M&K b1600's (not a small effort, and the replacements I found were not identical). However, after screwing in the replacements, I swapped the B1600's in where the PM 800's had been and that was that. The PM 800's went right back in the box and straight back to Amazon. Every aspect of the audio sounded better from my actual listening position with the B1600's. I acknowledge this was an unfair contest. In their day, the b1600's retailed for close to $1000/pr., and their woofers are considerably bigger (as are the enclosures). It was a relevant comparison for me due to the equipment I happened to have. But, the B1600's were basically developed as a studio monitor, and thus for situations not unlike mine. You have to consider, too, that once you work in the price of a decent subwoofer (not just a big boom-boomer), you pretty quickly find yourself dropping the same kind of money in aggregate as you would for a very able pair of bookshelf speakers that don't necessarily scream out for a subwoofer. And, yes, these speakers are wonderfully small, but a decent subwoofer is not small and is pretty much a requirement with these. So, it all boils down to application. In my particular space these just didn't work particularly well. At least they got me to finally figure out the repair on my old speakers and to free up some space in the attic. Given all the positive reviews, I have no doubts that with a good sub and better placement options, these would be an excellent option. I did not test that application. Three stars - not necessarily good for all applications where small monitors might be considered useful.