Definitive Technology Demand D17 Floorstanding Speaker, Right and Left, Piano Black

2025-01-08T10:01:41

Although not broken in yet, I am EXTREMELY pleased! Highs and mids are great. You will need subs most likely. Everyone says they need a great deal of amplification and sure, you're probably right but I have a denon at only 80 watts per channel and they sound phenomenal. I will be adding a amp soon to see what these puppies can really do!

Brandon W.

2024-10-20T11:17:50

Sounds amazing. Low end increases the closer to the wall. And can dig pretty deep. Super clear mids and highs. Quality all the way. Oh, and beautiful too, although I had zero requirements there. Def Tech rocks! Wish I had room for a second pair given the amazing price I snagged these for.

MICHAEL P.

2024-05-07T18:45:31

At this point, I've owned probably a hundred or so sets of decent speakers over the years (used to flip/collect AV gear). The Def Tech D17s are without a doubt the best pair of speakers I've had so far, second only to (funny enough) the pair of Def Tech Mythos 1s I had a few years back. There is a seriously uncanny sense of presence of actual performers and corporeal instruments with these? especially when supported by a good source + amplification. Is it as good as say a set of Usher BE-20? No, not even in the same world? but there are aspects of the D17 sound that bear a striking degree of resemblance to the experience I had auditioning the Ushers (which, to be fair, were also paired with probably $250k worth of front-end kit). A lot of that is in the realm of where music starts to transition from something you "play back" to an experience more akin to wandering into a live set where pressing pause would be rude to the performers. The D17s are one of the first times I've found myself hesitating to stop listening based on this strange sense of a connection to those involved in the recording. If I'd experienced something similar from gear I actually owned previously, then I certainly don't recall it. What I did find was that wasn't picking apart aspects of the frequency or transient response (or PRaT or whatever other dumb acronyms the insufferable version of obsessing over audio playback looks like these days) at all while listening. There is gobs of bass energy though. A really perfect amount of it actually. I am having a hard time faulting any specific area of these speakers. They are brilliantly dynamic and convey shifts in timbre and intensity that is sometimes startling. Where a lot of other speakers allow layers of additional instrumentation to simply congeal together and rapidly lend to a sense of crowding and murkiness? these? feel like every individual element is able to step cleanly into just perfectly apportioned spaces and bloom. The soundstage has an absolutely hypnotizing level of expansion beyond the physical position and placement of the speakers themselves. Okay, now that I consider it, there is one thing that is just ever so slightly "missing". That's the very last upper octave of detail that I had in spades with the Monitor Audio Studio that these are replacing. The MA Studios used the high-end tweeter from the rather spendy Platinum series however so they also did a lot of things very right. I went ahead and bought a set of Aperion Audio planar super tweeters to see if that fills in gap there. I have some decent gear backing these up like a Gustard x26pro DAC, high-end external 10Mhz clock, Crestron CNAMPX-12x60 (basically a multichannel ATI amp), and one of those power conditioning devices that actually regenerates the AC wave output ? AND, the D17s are bi-amped. Still, you would be extraordinarily hard-pressed to do better than these at $1k. I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting the white gloss version but otherwise these are just spectacular. Unless you have a set you absolutely adore already, just get them.

Josh H.

2024-02-10T20:02:01

Awesome sound quality, a great set of speakers for audio listening. Great clarity and good bass. I am running it with an Onkyo AV setup with a Klipsch subwoofer. A great deal and fast shipping from Adorama. Love it so much I also purchase the D15.

Lee V.

2023-12-18T09:38:25

One of the best Hi-Fi system purchase in my life. Thank you Adorama for being a fantastic company with great products and great price!

HO-TUNG C.

2023-12-18T04:22:22

This is an amazing speaker with deep bass and crystal clear audio... I would some what agree with that it needs a little bit of cranking up the volume for this speaker to come to life but once it does it sounds amazing.

SAKTHI K.

2023-06-21T16:07:12

Great speakers, beautiful design.

SITEN O.

2023-06-05T13:44:54

The Demand 17, after about a week of burn in, opens up and reveals itself to be a dynamic, neutral speaker that works with all sorts of recordings. From the treble to the midrange and bass notes the speaker is tight and in control. The bass is very good, but I will be adding a sub in the future to get the lowest bass notes, as it down to 40 Hz. Ninety some percent of the music is fine without a sub. Tom Cruise's, Edge of Tomorrow didn't really need a sub. If you do get them I would advise using a good class A amp as class D sounds lifeless. You may also want to flop the speakers as they are the left and right orientation sounds better when they are switched.

MILTON M.

2023-05-30T09:36:12

You can't beat the price of $1100 for the pair

Thomas M.

2023-05-30T09:33:29

Honestly, I almost sent sent the Demand 17's back. I had paired them with a very expensive and beautiful class D amp, and it was a poor pairing. These beautiful, gorgeous speakers were lifeless. Before giving up I dragged my 12 year old, thrift-store purchased, 100 watt in stereo, class A Sony receiver, and suddenly the Demand 17's came alive. Center imaging and soundstage opened up and the bass started shaking the house. If you pair them with a decent class A amp, and you get them at the rock bottom price from Adorama then you will be golden. Hurry, as I think they are on clearance. So very happy I gave them one more chance.

MILTON M.