Absolute Sound

Believe in a Thing Called Love” from
Permission to Land [Atlantic] by The
Darkness. This song is full of crunchy
guitars and 1980s hair-band kitsch. The
beginning of the song starts with the
main riff, full of distortion, played at
very low level for two bars; then in the
third bar, a bass, kick, and snare drum
snap into action with such head-rockin’
loudness and good soundstaging that I
felt like I was sitting in front of a 12-foot
stack of Marshall amps (although when I
checked, the volume of the Panache was
only set at 25%). Powered by the
Panache, the rhythm and pacing—that
is, transients and dynamics—of the
music sounded spectacular, progressing
from the quietest to the loudest passages
without losing detail. I wanted an amp
that didn’t lose clarity, resolution, or
dynamic impact at any volume level, and
I found what I wanted in the Panache.
Simple is as simple gets, and from
this no-frills amp I mostly got just what
I wanted. What might have made it
even more enjoyable, however, would
have been a remote. I hope I’m not being
too picky here, but I do appreciate being
able to select inputs as well as adjust volume
levels from my couch (these are
basic control functions many audiophiles
want to have when auditioning
music). While not fancy, the amplifier
that pleases me has to deliver all the
essentials right, and this the Portal does
magnificently.
Completing my system was a pair of
$1598 Definitive Technology BP7004
loudspeakers, smaller versions of the
BP7002 SuperTowers (note, though,
that they are “smaller” relative to the
very big sound and value that all members
of the SuperTower speaker family
seem to offer). The BP7004 features
bipolar driver arrays (with identical sets
of forward- and rear-facing drivers)
incorporating two 5" bass/midrange
drivers with cast-basket frames and two
1" aluminum-dome tweeters. The bass
section of the speaker provides a built-in
powered subwoofer that consists of a 10"
driver and two 10" pressure-driven
“infrasonic” passive radiators, powered
by a 300-watt internal amplifier.
Whatever I chose to throw at these
speakers, I was always able to hear something
good that I hadn’t heard before—
especially in the bottom octaves. Can
you say FUN? Couple the Def Techs
with the high-resolution Philips player
and the potent Portal Panache, which is
more than able to push the speakers
with oomph and clarity, and you’ve got
a perfect three-way combo.
The tonal balance of the BP7004s
was very impressive. Because the
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