Dynaudio Owner's Thread - Page 12

Hi All,
I am considering purchasing either the Contour S1.4 or the Focus 220 for mainly music setup, i can get either for the same price and it is going to be placed in a medium sized room (6Mx6M)
Music wise i listen to a variety from a lot of rock and pop to house and trance.
In my home theatre room i already have audience 82 and 122C plus 42 rears
Amp wise I am considering a Musical Fidelity A3.5 Amp which gives me 150 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms.
Can i have your views and comments on the Amp choice?
I am not sure whether to pick the Contour S1.4 or the focus 220 or maybe even go for the focus 140 and spend the difference on a better amp?
Appreciate your response!
Fabs

They are completely different animals IMHO. With your room being as large as it is, I would probably lean towards the 220. I love the Focus 220 for both music and HT. The 1.4 is also a fine speaker, but to be honest, it doesn't give you much sonic improvement over the 140. They look different if looks appeal to you, though.

Musical Fidelity is a fine product line and will work just fine with either speaker you choose.

That was about the price I was thinking. I really like them and actually have the Confidence Center as well. I just may not have the room for them in the future. Put it this way if I do sell them they would be missed!

ttontony,
Thanks for your advice, i'm going to listen to some of this gear today with a plinius amp and see what comes out of this.

I was thinking maybe buying the 140 or contour S1.4 and set them up as my mains in my Home theatre room which is only 2.8M wide and 7M long, the audience 82 i have in there are maybe a bit too big and too close to eachother (2m)
Maybe the 140s or S.4 would be a better application in there for movies and DVD-A then maybe move the audience 82 upstairs to the lounge area for my 2 channel setup.
I say this because i also have a velodyne SPL12 sub in this room.
Any comments on this?

A review i read the other day mentioned that the 220 are not that much better than the 140s ( http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorl.../1205dynaudio/ )
Any thoughts on this?


thanks all!
Fabs

Hey folks,
My current setup is RSX-1057, Dyn Focus 220 Fronts, Center, NHT rears(to be replaced with Focus soon) and Denon 2910 DVD player. The setup works great but I believe I can throw lot more power at the Dyns. I looking for suggestions on amplifiers that would compliment my current setup. The options I can think of are

1. 2 Channel amplifies for the fronts - Considering Rotel RB 1080, Anthem MCA20 and ARCAM P90. Should I be considering RB 1070 its have the price of 1080 for reduction of 70W in power. Also 1080 has Damping Factor of 1000 to its advantage, does it really matter? What's y'alls suggestion? I have seen many members suggest Parasound, Krell, Sherbourn, etc. Which one will go with 1057 and will last when I replace it with proper pre-amp.

2. 3 ch amp for fronts and center. - Considering ARCAM P90/3 and MCA30. Does the 75w produced by 1057 sufficient to power the center. Any suggestions for 3x amp is welcome.

3. 5ch amp - I am not sure but I am willing to consider this. What about Rotel Class D amp?

I general would like to know how 1057 would perform as a pre. I have auditions lined up for all the above but would love get your suggestion because that is how I got the current setup and I am happy with it.

I would audition as many amps as possible with your speakers. When I listened to amps I took my Contour's with me as the dealer did not have Dynaudio. So if your demoing I think it's important to at least try and listen on Dnaudio's if you can, or see if the dealer will let you in home demo a piece or two. My thoughs on the amps I listened too.

Bryston VS Rotel.

3BST vs RB1080 same shop A/B comparison

Both amps were good however I prefered the Bryston. With the setup I listened too I noticed the Bryston was more open overall and had better bass response. It also appeard to have more headroom on demanding musical passages than the Rotel did. The Rotel did a fine job, it just seemed to havea mechanical edge that to my ear would be fatiguing over time. With that said I personally would NOT use anythign less than the 1080 if in fact you did like the Rotel sound. The Dyn's just love the power. I am only running 3 sets of bookshelf Contour's and I find myself wanting to upgrade from my 3BST to a 4Bst or SST.

I have also listened to the Dyn.'s on Integra Research (BAT) and McIntosh. While they were both fine amplifiers, their price point did not offer enough of an advantage over the Bryston for me to warrant spending that much scratch.

As you can see I liked the Bryston. I would not say it is perfect, but it is a damn solid amplifer for the money, especially if you are willing to shop the used market! I would consider the Bryston 5BST or Lexicon NT312 they are the SAME amplifier and are 3 channel. The 9BST or Lexicon NT512 5 channel, or multiple 3 or 4 BST's.

As for your pre-pro. Ditch the receiver! While you may be "happy" with it you can get SO much more from your setup. I would strongly consider the NuForce AVP 16 for a pre-pro. Again in this realm I have heard the Rotel pieces and while good, they just did not do it for me.

I post all of this as my opinion, I encourage you to listen for yourself and let your ears decide, but that's my .02 and best of luck to you in your search! Let us know what you wind up with.

I trying out Cary Cinema 3 (200wpc) with the Focus and definitely sounds good. Any experience with the amp? I might be able to get the demo piece for ~2K.

Plan to audition Arcam and Bryston

Thanks

Ranga

Anyone using a pair of the Dynaudio active monitors with an IPod? Thinking of setting up a small office system and figured active speakers would be nice and clean approach. Any advice on an iPod docking station that offers the required volume and track controls would be appreciated.

Bighat,
Have you thought of using Dynaudio's new multimedia speaker. they are designed for this type of aplication. its called the MC15
Cheers.

Thank you. I have. That's actually the speaker that got me thinking that way, but I've noticed a number of other active speakers in the line that might do as well or better and are currently on the market. I think they are all the same in that they take a line level signal. True?
Challenge will be with the docking station. Almost all of the ones I've seen thus far are linked to an associated line of receivers and the remote (provided or with the rvcr) adjusts receiver volume. Hoping to find a dock that permits a volume adjustment from what is normally an unadjustable line level output from the dock connector and not use the fairly low quality headphone jack.
We'll see. I have a nice set of small PSB monitors and a rcvr I'm not using. Might be the better way to go.

Edit: Anyone up to speed on this setup?

Who has had a chance to compare the Contour 3.4 versus the Special 25?

Comments?

Kensington has a dock that has it's own volume control. So you can adjust volume with it's remote, it uses an RCA out to the receiver that you should be able to put right in to the active monitor.

The dock on in the dynaudio pic. appears to be the DLO.

Hello.

I have the 72SE's and I'm looking to upgrade the amp. I currently have the Rotel RB-1080, but the sound is somehow lacking. Clarity in the highs is just not there during complicated music.

Of course, it could be my tastes don't match the speakers, but I have heard the speakers in a setup that I liked (running some amp I can't afford... krell or something).

Any ideas for an upgrade? Are the Halo amps a good match for the 72SE's as well? I'm looking for an amp that will give me more forwardness in the highs, without any edginess.

My issue is my budget, I'd like to spend around $1200 MAX for a used amp.

Thanks!

for the bucks try the Aragon 4004 mkII. Very nice amp with loads of power.
Ken

The Parasound Halo A21 is in your realm. A SUPERB amp!!!

Haven't read anything about Aragons. Thanks for the tip.

HALO A21, eh? It certainly LOOKS cool.
I've heard people say that the A21 is more laid back in presentation than the other Parasounds. You still think it's a good way to go?

Looks cool? Yes! Sounds cool? No! This amp is extremely neutral and well balanced. Personally, I cannot think of a better two channel amp for the money or anywhere near for that matter.

As for Aragon? I was once a fan too, however they are no longer. Too bad really.

Thanks for the feedback fellas,

There seems to be alot of Parasound Halos going through Audiogon. I'll try to pick one up there.

I can now register a post on this thread. Major upgrade from the 'college days' to Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 mains and S C center driven from an Arcam AVR350.

Due to paranoia from little fingers, I am in a 13' x 11' room (toddler free zone), but the imaging and clarity is amazing even in the challenging space. The wife within minutes said simply, "they are crisp". A very good term for them. Nothing present that is not in source material. Very kind on the ears.

JF

Hi

I'm looking to buy an amp to power my Focus 220's. I've been drooling over the Parasound Halo models for a while now, and I think I am likely to head in that direction. I'm a little uncertain as to what model to choose. The choice is either the A21 with 400W into 4Ohm or the A23 with 225W in to 4 Ohms. Would the A21 be an overkill or would the 220's need the extra headroom. Any light on the matter will be greatly appreciated. Also any other suggested amps will be appreciated too.

Anyone know where I can find the MSRP on Dynaudio speakers?

Thanks

It's there under Literature (at least for the high speed connection).

I am probably going to pick up some Audience 42s for my left and right mains. I need to have smaller mains, thus the 42 choice and not the 52s. I have no such size issue for my center channel. With that in mind, would you go with the smaller 42C for the technical better match, or would you pair the 42s with the better performing 122C. Is the 122C voiced to match the 42s, or is it meant for the larger mains?

Thanks
Greg

Personally, I would go with the 122c. Centers are one of the if not the most important speaker in a home theater setup. Both the 42s and the 122c come from the same Audience line so they share technology and should be seamless--maybe your dog can tell you the difference. I listened to the 42s with the 122c before I reshuffled rooms in the house to provide more room and found them to be very very enjoyable together.

You will get the benefit of the beefier center with the 122c. I think an unbalanced center tweeter/woofer arrangement is a bad idea for a center and thus would avoid the 42c.

The 122c matches the audience line fine. Keep in mind that the 122c is an MTM array, so it will have a lot of phase problems off axis. The 42c is likely to have fewer off-axis problem. I don't know how significant the lopsided nature of the 42c is though, I haven't heard it personally. I have the T2.1 center which is MTM and it's great, but it does have all the limitations of an MTM design of course.

I feel differently than the others. I would MUCH rather see you use a regular Audience 42 for your center. Keep it vertically oriented as well. Personally I would use 3 pairs of 42's and you would have yourself a 6.1 setup...

Holy Snap! This amp is soooo much snappier and effortlessly dynamic than the old Rotel 1080!

Didn't do a blind test, but it just makes me smile. I feel like I have re-discovered my speakers.

Thanks All.

Mike--I wanted to get back to this question as I just was able to put the two speakers in question head to head as we just took a trade-in on some 3.4s. First off, the 3.4s really impressed me. They sounded dynamic, extremely linear with great bass extension. The Special 25s to me are quite a bit different in that they tend, imho, to be more forward than typical Dynaudio Speakers. Their "forwardness" may not be as linear as other Dyns but it does sound really good. The "sweetness" of the tweeter is probably due to the incorporation of the esotar2 technology which lends itself to my enjoyment of the speaker. Also, the Special 25s have great bass response as they incorporate the Confidence Driver Technology as well; I have never felt the need for more low frequency reinforcement with these speakers.

So, overall I would choose the Special 25s over the 3.4s if I was more focused 2 channel/music listening. It would be tough to pass over the 3.4s for mains in a dedicated ht but I would probably still pick S25s because of their ability to be more resolving on the higher frequencies due to the esotar2 tweeter.

Best Bet--Try to listen to both

Ty:

Thanks for the comparison. I have the 3.4's, but miss the monitor sound I had with the 1.3SE's that I previously owned.

I do not have a dedicated 2-channel system, but do listen to 2-channel music quite often in my home theater.

You got a spare pair of Special 25's that you can ship me so I can do my own personal side-by-side?

Thanks again!