Definitive Technology D17 Demand Series Modern High-Performance 3-Way Tower Speaker (Left-Channel) - Single, White | Dual 10” Passive Bass Radiators

These speakers are absolutely amazing. They arrived last night. They were packaged extremely well with care and class. The speakers are beautiful. More beautiful in person than they are pictured. Solidly built. My previous speakers were the Boston Acoustics Lynnfield VR40s which I’ve owned since 1994. I absolutely loved those speakers. I’m using an Adcom GTP-450 Preamplifier along with an Adcom GFA-5500 Amp (200 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms. 350 Watts into 4 Ohms). I immediately put these speakers to the test. I have to admit, at first I was slightly underwhelmed. I felt that the overall sound lacked warmth. I played every genre of music at extremely high volume. Kraftwerk’s Numbers/Computer Love, Pat Metheny Group’s Same River, LTD’s Back In Love Again as well as Vince Guaraldi’s Little Drummer Boy Which surprisingly contains deep low frequency information. These speakers handled it beautifully. I played music through the D17’s at high volume for approximately 3-4 hours. Today I’ve been giving them an even more stringent workout. HUGE DIFFERENCE! Much warmer and open. Speakers out of the box definitely need to be broken in. Obviously, the break-in stage of these speakers are far from done but the difference after three or four hours is extremely noticeable. The speakers are very transparent. The bass is unbelievably powerful. I’m going to have to nail things down. I’m not kidding. The midrange is very forward. Vocals sound clear and present. The highs are crisp but not colored. These speakers definitely respond to adjustments with the controls of my pre-amplifier. Today I’ve played Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones, Johan Strauss, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Debussy, Mendelsohn, Aaron Copeland, the Older album by George Michael, a ton of A Tribe Called Quest and the Spirit Album by Earth Wind & Fire. These speakers can handle anything you throw at them. Just be prepared to make adjustments in the Bass. My absolute highest recommendation.

If you want the best from these D17's, you need an AVR with some serious grunt or an Integrated Amp or power amplifier that is recommended per the manual. I own both the Denon X4300H & the X4500H.With these Def Techs connected to the X4300H, I almost returned them. The overall sound was lack luster & little dull in the mid-range & no control in the treble, but yet very clear & transparent. The bass is good & seems to run below 35hz which is good for an sealed enclosure.I kept the Demand D17's when I connected them to the X4500H. On paper, the X4300H & the X4500H are identical, but that's where the similarity ends. I swapped the 4300 with the 4500 & now the sound is more alive, fuller with control from top to bottom. Sound stage was vast on both AVR's, but the 4500 takes this up a notch in my opinion. The bass is tight, a bit extended to the point I had to drop the bass from 0 to -1 on the bass setting to even the sound out. The mid-range is light years ahead of the Triangle BR08. I own the BR08 & the Wharfedale Diamond 230. If you like, acoustic drums, snares, cymbals, percussion & the like, these things kicks ass. Dialog is just as good & legible as the Diamond 230, but far more clear & transparent with what appears to be no coloration in the sound. With the right gear & placement, Movies, shows & music is a pure joy on these Demand D17 speakers. The Wharfedale’s were my favorites, but now the D17 is the new king in my house.I got these used from Adorama for a cheap price, but I recommend you spend extra & get these new in the OEM packaging to avoid shipping mishaps & damage to the speakers…

It's a shame these didn't get the attention of reviewers at the time. Although I didn't buy them through Amazon I have to leave a review. I just have them hooked up to a Fosi ZA3 at the moment. Soundstage big. Imagining top notch. Clarity awesome. Depth medium definition... although I don't have a high quality amp on them yet and they're in a small room at the moment. I grabbed the D15's last year on closeout. The D17's came up again for a price I wasn't going to pass ($650 Adorama). Theses two past holidays have been a runaway steal in my opinion. Too bad they didn't catch on...price was a factor. At theses prices, they're not going to be topped. These should have taken more seriously

This is a phenomenal speaker that is sadly overlooked and misunderstood.If you feel this speaker is not full enough or has enough definition you are under powering it!It loved power and by that I mean clean power. A high end receiver in the 2 to 3k when new class with a large terroidal power supply. Or a separate amp with at least 100 watts per channel.If you can Biamp even better! This is NOT a party speaker to be driven with a mid to low end receiver.Put a nice high power amplifier to these speakers and they open up amazingly well. Cheers!