Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 65 Speakers Journeyman Audiophile
By Andre Marc
The market for sub-$1,000 speakers continues to get hotter. Combining modern design tools and talented engineers with manufacturing in Asia allows more great-sounding loudspeakers to occupy this price range. Products from Definitive Technology always come up at the top of friends’ and reviewers’ lists. The SM 65 speakers reviewed here retail for just $900 a pair.
The SM 65 stands 20 inches tall and measures 18 inches from front baffle to back panel. Weighing in at 22 pounds apiece, this is no “mini monitor.” The speaker’s gloss-black front baffle is attractive and features a D’Appolito array, with Def Tech’s proprietary 5.25-inch midrange driver above and below a specially treated aluminum dome tweeter. Interestingly, the speaker combines a top-firing passive radiator with a phase-coherent crossover network and heavy internal bracing on the cabinet—this is top-quality stuff for a speaker at this price.
Simple Setup
The SM 65s are finished in black, and each speaker comes equipped with two sets of high-quality binding posts to allow for bi-wiring. I single-wire the speakers with a pair of Transparent MusicWave cables. Def Tech supplies a set of attractive grilles with the speakers, but all of my listening was done without them. The speakers benefit from high-quality stands; I use stands from Sound Anchors for my review.
Toeing-in the SM 65s at about 20 degrees works perfectly in my room, and because of the speakers’ small size, they are easily adjusted to achieve the ideal balance for your room and taste. The review pair arrives with a few hours on the clock, so it only takes an hour or so for the speakers to settle into a groove that keeps me in the listening chair for hours.
The SM 65s’ 92-dB sensitivity makes them incredibly easy to drive; they require very little power to rock the house, which makes them a good fit for low-power tube amplification. They are an excellent match for the 20-watt-per-channel Bob Carver Black Magic 20 stereo amplifier I reviewed last issue. Our publisher even mentions that he has excellent results pairing the SM 65s with his 25-watt-per-channel 845 SET amplifiers and the EL-34-powered Ultravalve amp from AVA.
Getting Down to Business
After just a brief listen, I quickly discover the areas in which SM 65s are superb. First and foremost, they excel at presenting soundstage depth, providing the best I have experienced from a sub-$1,000 speaker, with the recording space extending well behind the speakers. The soundstage width these speakers provide is equally enticing, as they spread the performers across my listening room. Even more exciting is the tonal purity through the midrange that the SM 65s deliver; vocals are beguiling, as are acoustic instruments. Piano, strings and acoustic guitar are well represented, which is a tough mark to hit at this price.
Thoroughly satisfied with speaker position, I turn first to the sublime new release from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away, which I have been listening to a lot recently. This is one of the most melodic and focused recordings of Cave’s amazing career. Midway through this dramatic song cycle, it becomes clear to me that I’m experiencing a performance, rather than merely listening to a home playback system, which is a rather rare occurrence for a speaker of this size. Through the SM 65s, Cave’s voice is as present and dimensional as one could hope for, especially within the context of the sparer arrangements—a definite goose-bump moment.
The excellent 2002 remaster of Lou Reed’s classic album, Transformer, is a blast through these speakers, with all the elements of the mix coming together as a coherent whole. Key tracks like “Satellite Of Love” and “Walk On The Wild Side” sound fresh and lively. It’s easy to hear why this album was so hugely influential.
Marvin Gaye’s overlooked masterpiece, In Our Lifetime, is equally revelatory. The genius of Gaye’s catchy melodies, funked-up rhythms, dense arrangements and famous vocals (which are clearly at their peak at this point in his career) all feel as if they are framed in a halo, while the speakers easily keep pace with the snappy bass lines and syncopated beats—pure magic.
Staying on the Marvin Gaye kick, I turn next to his sprawling masterwork from 1978, Here, My Dear. This R&B/funk classic sounds otherworldly through the SM 65s, which never single out any obscure detail at the expense of overall musical flow; it feels like I am sitting at a mixing console in a smaller room. The StudioMonitor lives up to its title.
By Comparison
Though my reference Harbeth Compact 7ES-3s are considerably more expensive than the SM 65s, both pairs share aspects that I enjoy—primarily seamless driver integration and tonal purity. Even after a short time, it’s obvious that the SM 65s make great music. They are highly balanced speakers that make extended listening sessions a breeze, while eschewing fireworks for timbral clarity.
The $900 SM 65s use the same mid-woofer and tweeter as the $400 SM 45s, which TONEAudio recently reviewed, as well as an identical cabinet design. The simple enclosure is perfectly acceptable at $400, but as we approach the $1,000 mark, there are a handful of competitors providing better aesthetics. I’d happily pay another $100 to see the SM 65s in a cabinet more worthy of their sonic performance. (Perhaps a Signature series is in order?) The same goes for the binding posts and jumpers, which seem to be plaguing a number of other speakers these days. The SM 65s’ binding posts are difficult with beefier speaker cables.
However, these are minor points. In the end, the sound quality of Def Tech’s SM 65s proves paramount. These are a great pair of speakers around which to build a high-performance yet reasonably priced system.
Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 65 Speakers