[ttowntony]

Well, I just had the distinct pleasure to dial in a brand new pair of Dynaudio Temptations for my customer. This is to be the last setup my customer ever wanted to buy, so he wanted to really do it up right. Anchored by the Temptations, we mated them with the brand new Krell EVO's. This system retails in the $75K range, so I couldn't wait to get started setting these up. This indeed will be the last setup he ever buys, it is extraordinary!!!!


First, unloading the Temptations (300 pounds each) wasn't the easiest of things I've ever had to do. However, unboxing was a breeze! Dynaudio packaging is second to none. The crates the Temptations come in are well mastered themselves. I've never seen such attention to detail paid to the boxes before.....bravo! There is definitely a trick to unboxing them, but we were able to figure it out.


The room they were installed had a nice dedicated layout. Roughly 22'Wx30'L was more than ample room for these guys to perform to their fullest. Once placed, which was 3' out from the back wall, we were ready to hook up the equipment. This is a 2-channel setup mind you, so I didn't have to worry about dialing in the surrounds and center......that was nice for a change. My first love will always be 2-channel systems....I have to say, this is the best system I have ever heard in my life and they only had an hour or so playing time on them. We'll be back out after 300 hours or so of playing time to review again. But, I must have received a half dozen or so calls and emails already from my customer stating how much he loves them.


There will be more details later, but I wanted to at least get some of my initial impressions out there.


Tony

 

[CINERAMAX]

I have installed a surround system with the Temptations/center and c4 surrounds and it is easily the best sounding surround I have heard with mac kit. Next winter I will do another one here in town with a tact front end but I am still undecided to go analog amplification in which case I'd probably recommend ML amps. To this date it beffudles me why Dynaudio has not better penetrated a better footprint of the USA market. That esotar tweeter sure has proven to be a reliable building block to a succesful sounding theater.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi


Not yet ready to pull the trigger on the speaker upgrade, rather bringing the HT to a higher level. I share CINERAMAX befuddlement. The Dynaudio entire line is out of this world. Yet not that well known.. They are that rare kind of speakers that seem to reconciliate widely different taste... To this day I have not yet heard a dynamic tweeter better than these and this include the famed diamond tweeters on the Kharma.. It is not they have superlative highs but "normal' mid-range.. They shine all over...as good or better than the best speakers on the market but they have an homogeneity of sound if you allow me this expression, that is rare in coe speakers; in other terms the sound has one flavor and it is neutral not in the sterile sense but the sense of adding nary a coloration you can put a finger on.. They are refreshing in this way. hearing music on them sound like a new experience because it seems you are listening to a new work free of the "grit" one hears in most speakers. I recently re-heard them and damn!!! I had forgotten how exceptional they are... The Evidence that is, the Temptations are not that far behind... bass head wil be shocked by their bass dynamics and the woofers are really small looking but they wil surprise you by the depth and power of the bass even in big rooms.. They are amongst the most powerful speaker in this region I have heard... Think in term of the kind of bass power the Genesis 1 and 200 are able to produce but with much better mid-bass...

 

[casualgolfer]

Well, I beg to differ. I owned Dynaudio Evidence Temptations for a year and a half. I originally owned MBL11E speakers which to me had muddled higher frequencies that prevented you from hearing strings. When I compared side by side with Dynaudio Evidence Temptation it had superior balance overall and you can hear strings with convincing speed and dynamics that I did not hear from MBL111E. So, I sold the MBL111Es and got the Dynaudio Evidence Temptation and was happy for a while until I started to get fatigued after extended period of time listening to these speakers. There is some kind of high frequency irritants that is very subtle but noticeable after prolonged listening. To get rid of this, I tried all kinds of high end audio interconnects, speaker cables, preamps, amps, sources some of which made it better but the fatiguing effect was always there. So, I finally concluded that the problem is due to the speaker whether that be from Esotar tweeters or cross over, I don't know which. I even went to dealer that had both Temptations and Masters to see if it was a problem with Temptations. Well, I determined that the Masters sounded quite smoother and to large extent most of the fatiguing effect was gone. So, most likely the superior quality of crossover in Master model or conversly less expensive crossover design in the Tmeptations might be the culprit. Whatever it is, I wasn't about to dish out the ridiculous price for the Master model to upgrade.


Then I got to be friends with a guy who had a pair of Kharma GRMC speakers with Enigma upgrade and I was just floored with smoothness and naturalness of its sound. Since I liked it so much, my friend was willing to sell me his pair so he can upgrade to higher model in the Kharma food chain. So, he brought the pair over to my place to do an A-B comparison shoot out. IMHO Kharma sounded ever so natural and smoother with much larger soundstage and accuracy than Temptations and gone were the fatigue listening to Temptations and just pure musical bliss from Kharma. Needless to say, I sold Evidence Temptations and bought his Kharma speakers. I liked it so much that I went ahead and got myself Kharmo 3.2 FE with enigma upgrade for the rears, and Kharma center channel and made a combo audio/home theater system. Kharma speakers are efficient to boot and friendly on the demands of the amplifier as well and some of the well known syncergy with the speakers are with tube amplifiers such as Lamm. I have MBL9007 amplifiers that I power the main speakers with and MBL9007 amps which after cmparing with many other high end solid state amps is the best sounding one so far(I personally don't care for tube amps due to heat and maintenance issues although I've hear excellent tube maps like VTL Siegfieds and Lamms) After having tried many high end speakers, I am now a happy camper.

 

[David Shapiro]

I beg to differ with both. I owned Dynaudio Temptations and had the same surround setup described by Peter, although with Boulder amps. I've switched to MBL 101e's and I've never looked back. Spacious sounding, incredibly dynamic, imaging, it's all there. The problem with MBL's is that setup and system synergy are difficult. But once you have them dialed in, they are great. It's all about taste, gents.


David

 

[Andy Lammer]

David, what amps are you using on your 101E ?

A local guy is soon getting 101E's and happens to have Pass X600.5 monos on hand at the moment.


- Andy

 

[David Shapiro]

Hi Andy,

I currently have the MBL 6010 D preamp which was a big upgrade in dynamics in my system, without sacrificing tonality, imaging or ambience. The amp is a Boulder 2060, which may not be a good match for the MBL's, which need a warmish amp with strong bass. The Boulder is very neutral, and kind of low on dynamics, partidularly bass.. Of course, this is all in my system, with my ears, blah, blah, blah.

I'll probably be looking at on of the big MBL's.


David

 

[KeithR]

i want to hear the new Dyn Sapphires...anyone get a pair yet?

 

[Tmueller]

Regarding the Sapphires--I have listened to them very briefly at Dynaudio when picking up some gear for a customer. The finish is literally stunning. (Pictures do not do the carpentry/fit and finish justice) The pair I heard was still breaking-in but out of the box they were stunning. They reminded me of the way the C1s pull you into the music but with greater impact, bottom-end, and beauty. I don't want to draw conclusions until our demo pair arrives but out of the gate they sound like the real deal.

 

[KeithR]

yeah, that's why i was interested. love the C1s, but with a big room i need more heft or go with a sub---which always concerns me.