Dynaudio loudspeakers

[Thinkfloyd]

I have a pair of Excite X32 that I bought second hand. Fantastic speakers even at the new price, but preowned is a steal. They are easily driven by my basic marantz amp, and will probably remain in my system for a long time. They're superbly capable in the lower range, very tight bass with no distortion at all. I've had many listeners comment on how detailed the bass is.

 

[Sonci]

I love Dyns, just for the fact that they never use biwire binding posts on their speakers..

 

[Njb]

I can give a thumbs up for Dynaudio focus 160, they just sound right with all genre of music. Give them a decent amp and they sing. You would have to use the port bungs up close to a wall. I use them about 2 and half ft away from wall with out port bungs and they are not that far off a full range speaker believe it or not. Amp is a biggy with the dynaudio’s to get the best out of them. If your going to be playing music moderate to loud levels, I would be looking at an amp 150 watt plus with a good level of current.
I have used my 160’s with a few decent amps and seen them struggle once the volume was turned up, not to stupid levels mind you. They just didnt have the clout.
See if you can demo a pair with your amp before commiting to purchase.

I have Focus 160s and have progressed from a NAP 200 to a 250.2. They do respond well to more power, but the 200 drove them acceptably. I sometimes wonder about moving on, perhaps to the Special 40s, and wonder whether they are a big enough step up to justify the price. Has anybody compared them?

 

[per flemming]

Would love those Special 40 myself but out of budget

Just had a listen at friends Focus 140, nice smooth tonality, perhaps a bit heavy bas (no bungs) and laid back sound for my taste

 

[highendguru]

If he can rise his budget and he can find a used contour 20 it could be rhe best choise in my opinion.

 

[Space is the Place]

I had three pairs of their Active studio monitors in the past and i quite fancied a pair of the C1/2's a while back, even though the C1's were a fair price, i couldn't bring myself to buy them as the much cheaper Event Opals (now no longer available) were better in every way other than aesthetics.

 

[Sibbers]

C1’s being Confidence C1’s? Just asking because that would seem like a strange comparison given they are not active. I probably have the wrong end of the stick.

On the topic of S40’s (or confidence, or even contours) you will need to give respect to the amplification needed or else you’ll find you end up with a dark bass heavy sound lacking in the mids. I remember looking at what people who raved about Dynaudio speakers tended to own, and was most big old Bryson amps and the like.

Nice to read the excites don’t require such heavy investment in the front end.

 

[TLS]

IMO, it is urban myth thinking Dynaudio speakers need some powerful amplification. They are revealing speakers so they will only replicate the capabilities of the amplifier. Nothing to do with the amount of watts you throw at them.

 

[Curtis]

IMO, it is urban myth thinking Dynaudio speakers need some powerful amplification. They are revealing speakers so they will only replicate the capabilities of the amplifier. Nothing to do with the amount of watts you throw at them.

I used to own some original dynaudio actives and the built in amps would run out of steam and send the speakers into clipping mode!

 

[Sibbers]

IMO, it is urban myth thinking Dynaudio speakers need some powerful amplification. They are revealing speakers so they will only replicate the capabilities of the amplifier. Nothing to do with the amount of watts you throw at them.

I agree with the second half!

I wasted years and a lot of money being convinced I could run these speakers with ‘decent amps’ that just couldn’t drive them properly.

 

[daws0n]

Not heard the newer models but the discontinued Contour 1.x series are still great speakers. They are fairly forgiving of low wattage amps but won't sound their best unless you feed them the juice.