Customer Ratings & Reviews

The good: very clear, crisp highs, clean midrange, taut bass. Sound great with jazz, folk, and most pop music; you can hear all the distinct percussion sounds, and instruments and voices sound very natural. Excellent choice for movies, if paired with a decent subwoofer. The bad: Those highs can get shrill and harsh on more complex music: anything with lots of electric guitar, or anything orchestral. The bass doesn't go anywhere near the claimed 35 Hz, but you shouldn't expect that in bookshelf speakers. The frequency graph shows a hump around 100 Hz, which is typical for bookshelf speakers: manufacturers emphasize the upper bass to make up for lack of lower bass. But in the SM 45s, this hump isn't annoying at all because the bass is so taut. Bottom line: if you listen to a wide range of music you probably want to get a better speaker. But if you just want them for movie watching, you probably won't find a better speaker for the price than these.

Went from a Yamaha entry level AVR where the speakers sounded OK to a Sony STR-DN850 and WOW, huge difference. Went from 70 watts per channel to 150. Not sure if it's so much the power as it is the quality of the amp in the AVR, but they sound clearly much better now. They sound so much better that I'm scrapping my plans to spend $1500.00 on a pair of KEF LS50's. These 45's are clearly a great value for the money!

I was looking out for speakers with good high end imaging/detail and clarity for surround duty. I tried nearly 6 to 7 brands for rear surround duties starting from JBL loft series, Wharfedale 10 SR, Polk OWM3, Pioneer SP BS41, B&W 686, Energy RC-10 etc. Finally settled for SM45 bcos Definitive gave me that imaging, musicality and sound that I had no clue where it is coming from when watching movies. Since I don't have kids at this time I am currently using SM45 on a stand for rear surrounds. In future I am planning to get promonitor 1000 so that I will have the flexibility of mounting it on the wall for rear duties and move SM45 for near field listening. For near field listening, I tried running SM45 with HK3490 and Cambridge DAC magic 100. It sounds amazing and I couldn't believe my ears. This review is coming from a person who owns B&W 685/HTM6X, Energy RC-70/LCR and few others that I don't remember :). Trust me and buy this for surround and nearfield duties. You won't be disappointed.

I bought these for my rear two surrounds in my 7 channel setup and was wanting something that was not bipolar and could also be used as 2 channel speakers. I was not expecting that much due to the fact that the demo in magnolia was only what I would refer to as "decent." I got them home and hooked them up and wow I was surprised at the amount of bass they produced. I also have BP8060ST towers and honestly they sound better than the towers do (minus the level of bass); this may be due to the same tweeter and larger mid-bass driver. I have to say I definitely love these speakers and they sound better than the SR8080BPs that I have as side surrounds as well. All and all I would not hesitate to base even LCRs off of this speaker and for the price it is fantastic. The only other major thing I have to say is that I considered buying the SM55 and SM65 but these have better bass because of the rear port. If you are spacing them away from a wall like I did then this is the right speaker but if it will be flush in a bookshelf I suggest either of them that has the passive radiator instead.

Background - I am an active studio musician and a bassist/pianist, own focusrite pre amps, M-audio studio monitors and Sony MDR-V6 headphones as a part of the studio gear. With that out of the way.....had been planning to downsize my living room HT/Audio system to bookshelves for a while. Moving down from Polk TSI500 fronts, they are extreme speakers capable of very loud performance. I was running the fronts alone using a pioneer stereo receiver and the rest of the HT gear using a Sony ES receiver STR DA2400ES which doubles as pre amp for fronts. Even with a lot of power left in tank I never really could run them at full blast in a (15x20) living space. Started to look around for bookshelves, not the stereophile recommended $20000+ pair of magico Q1s but somewhere in my comfortable $300-500 range and narrowed my choices between Definitive Techs new studio monitor series bookshelves, B&W 686 and the Mirage OS3 satellites. If you are an audiophile and love running seperates, $500-1000 pre amp, $1000-2000 amplifiers, and $100 or more cables then do not read further...you will not like the equipment choices below. I listened to these, switching back and forth between these speakers in the magnolia HT room withtout subwoofers. Im glad best buy has these acoustically treated rooms for comparison! Used the following reference tracks on my CD for testing played from a sony Blu Ray player that was in the room. All speakers were powered by a Denon 2113 Reciever which is very comparable to my Sony STR DA-2400ES 1. Michael Bubble - All of me 2. Dark Knight OST - Why so serious 3. Deadmau5 - Slip 4. Norah Jones - Come away with me I generally look for speakers that are easy to drive with modest amplification, 8 ohm loads work!. Should have great high and mid frequency performance. I have a Polk PSW-505 sub, which is a monster and takes care of low frequencies 100hz down for both audio and HT use. Listening tests revealed the following Crystal clear highs - SM45 followed by B&W and then Mirage. To me the mirage sounded a bit exagerated. This was a concern, as my home has hard floors and if a speaker sounded bright in a treated room, it will sound harsh in living room like mine. If you have carpets, it might work out differently. Mid Range - B&W took the win here closely followed by SM45...mirage was weak here. Low end - SM45 and B&W were tied in this, both of the speakers seem to have light low end performance. Mirage had none till I turned volume further up by around 6db. Remember these are bookshelves with 5inch woofers and for them to provide a balanced bass is an excellent acheivement. If you do not plan to use a subwoofer check out the SM55 or the 685B from B&W. Finish - Studio Monitor 45 takes the cake in this round for me. B&W with their yellow cones and black finish looked bad compared to the eleagant finish of the SM45. I told the manager I liked them and she was kind enough to give me a great discount on the speakers. Instant gratification..:)...thanks Best Buy...you beat any online rate available on that day. Took the SM45 home and set it up on my bookshelves, the sound is just full, smooth and silky mated with my subwoofer. I am totally in love with the speakers. Studio Monitor 45 is an amazing speaker from Def Tech, buy them you wont be dissapointed! Equipment used for driving the speakers AV Receiver/Pre Amp - Sony STR DA2400ES Stereo Amp - An old Pioneer VSX 516K running stereo Cables - 14GA cables from parts express. RCA - Monster RCA cables for pre amp to amplifier. Source - Roku2 XS(Pandora/tunein) - connected through HDMI to Sony ES Sony PS3 for audio CDs/DVDs connected through HDMI passing LPCM

Awesome sound for a reasonable price. Set up is user friendly and quick.

The sound is incredible from such a small size. Put them on stands or make sure they are ear level, it makes a big difference.

The sound from these speakers are awesome, however there is no midrange. The sound that it generates is great though. My personal downside is that the speakers are BIG and no midrange speaker. To big to be placed on the speaker stands that I have for them. I am returning for the DefTech 800.