The Danish have invaded my setups!

halo

That's right, the Danish made Dynaudio have landed and they've overtaken both of my setups. The main listening room in the living room features a pair of Dynaudio Excite X14 bookshelf speakers in Rosewood veneer while the bedroom now features a pair of DM 2/6 in black ash vinyl.

It's no secret that the Dynaudio C1 Platinum "bookshelf" speakers were, in my humble opinion, the best of he show at AXPONA 2016. Granted, I also thought that the ELAC Uni-Fi series was an outstanding value and a very capable speaker. I got burned by the ELAC speakers so I was very hesitant to take what I heard at the show seriously.

Curiosity got the best of me and I picked up a minty fresh set of the DM 2/6 to audition in my home.

After carefully unpacking hem and placing them on some Wharfdale speaker stands (with my Auralex Acoustics MoPAD-XL Monitor Acoustic Isolation Pads & 9 x 6 x 4 yoga block isolation "tweak") I fired up the stereo and held my breath.

Well, you can probably guess by the title of the post that the Dynaudio speakers made a very positive impression on me in my listening environment. Unlike the ELACs the Dynaudio speakers have some solid low frequency reproduction for a mini monitor (similar size to the ELAC UB5 & the Energy Reference Connoisseur 10). The RC-10 have a laid back sound quality with respectable low end and the UB5 have a nice upper frequency and midrange reproduction but they both lack something else.

It's hard to describe, but if the UB5 & the RC-10 had a baby and the baby did everything they did right, nothing they did wrong, and then took what they did right a few steps farther / higher, you'd have the DM 2/6.

Is this a fair comparison? Yes! No. Sort of?

Let me explain. So, the Dynaudio DM 2/6 had a higher retail price at $800 while the UB5's are $499 with the brushes vinyl finish (the premium black or white finish is an up charge) and Energy RC-10 @ $550. Both the RC-10 & the DM 2/6 are discontinued and can only be found used. However, take into consideration that the Dynaudio DM 2/6 is made in Denmark while the RC-10 & UB5 are both made in China.

Anyway, I will say that, for a fraction of the cost, the DM 2/6 gets me 80% of the sound quality that I heard from the C1 at AXPONA. HOLY COW!

After discussing this with some people who are more knowledgeable about Dynaudio than me,'I decided to try and move up the line from the former base model DM 2/6 (currently the base model is the M10) to the Excite X14. Dimensions are basically the same between the two but they X14 features a cabinet with real wood veneer and and upgraded tweeter.

Either way, these Dynaudio'e sound great the way they are and, when paired with a decent sub, they really shine. Instrument separation and placement are fantastic. Vocals are very smooth and center stage (depending on the recording of course). As I mentioned before, for a min monitor, the bass response is excellent.

Eventually, I can see myself moving into a bigger set of bookies or some floorstanding speakers. I'm loving he Dynaudio sound.

erniejade

Nice pick up!!!!! Pics!!!

halo

lol. Ok folks. I'm on my mobile right now and pics of the X14 are at home.

Here are the DM 2/6 in the main room on the old(er) 18" speaker stands with the Auralex mopads & the yoga blocks:

[Deleted User]

Nice setup! Thanks for posting your thoughts.

halo

X14's in the main set up. Sorry, the pics don't do them justice. The rosewood veneer is really sharp.

halo

halo

DSkip wrote: »

Those are some good looking speakers brother. Congrats!

Thank you sir! They're purdy but I can't see them very well when I listen to music with the lights off....lol!

cfrizz

Very nice, enjoy!

halo

cfrizz wrote: »

Very nice, enjoy!

Thank you Cathy. I hope all works out well in your quest for a new set of Polk speakers!

lightman1

Sexy speakers, Vic! Do the blocks help with the sound? Never seen a decouple like that.

halo

lightman1 wrote: »

Sexy speakers, Vic! Do the blocks help with the sound? Never seen a decouple like that.

Heya Russ!

Thanks, mighty kind of you to say so.

Well, in the very least scientific terms and most subjective manner possible, my own findings are that they work well with the Auralex MoPads. Just using the yoga blocks by themselves increases the height but it's the combo or just the Auralex pads that are doing a better job of decoupling.

The yoga blocks are 9 x 6 x 4 and they're ~ $10 for a pair from Amazon. I heard that people tried the yoga blocks and heard no difference between them and the Auralex pads so I figured that if they didn't work, my wife would happily repurpose them as yoga blocks.

I may look into a set of taller stands and just use the mopads but that's a little more costly. More costly would probably look nicer as well. lol.

Joey_V

What are those aurelex pads?

Good looking system Victor!

halo

Joey_V wrote: »

What are those aurelex pads?

Good looking system Victor!

Thank you Joey

The Auralex MoPads decouple/isolate the speakers from the stands (or whatever they're standing on).

According to the Auralex, "Your loudspeakers are the most critical components you use to verify the quality of your work. No matter how good your mixer, mics, preamps, cables, and other pieces of gear that you’ve invested in, you’re not truly hearing what your recordings sound like until you isolate your monitors from their environment.

MoPAD Monitor Isolation Pads provide sonic isolation between your monitors and whatever your monitors are resting on, INSTANTLY improving the accuracy of your entire monitoring system.

MoPADs are designed so that they can be used to support virtually all sizes of bookshelf loudspeakers or recording monitors up to 100 lbs. each...MoPADs are effective at decoupling your monitors from your room and all its contents. The patented design allows for 5 different positioning options. By using the included MoPAD Wedge Adjusters, you can adapt your loudspeakers to listening angles of -8°, -4°, 0°, +4° and +8°."

halo

cfrizz

Beautiful, enjoy!

erniejade

Sweet!!!!!!!! I have liked what I have gotten my ears on with Dynaudio.

Conradicles

Those speakers look great!

halo

Looks like the Danes have invaded again.

This time, they've arrived with more force and authority.

The bigger "bookshelf" speakers on the stands are the Dynaudio Emit M20.

More bass response than either the DM 2/6 or the Excite X14 despite them all having the same FR according to Dynaudio (50 Hz – 23 kHz (± 3 dB)).

These speakers work better to fill my room with sound from top to bottom and they sound more balanced, to me, than the smaller bookshelf speakers + subwoofer (I'm not using the sub with the M20).

However, my P5 is not connected and everything is running through the Marantz NR1403 & the built-in DAC on the AVR vs everything running through the P5 & it's built-in DAC. Still, the combination sounds very good. I'm sure it will get better once the P5 is back in the setup.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of some heavy hitters from Nordic region in the very near future to pit against the M20.

mikeyb128

New speakers! New center? I love me some dyns, my car comes factory equipped with them, and they sound lovely. I like big bookies, they look great.

Joey_V

New speakers?

halo

mikeyb128 wrote: »

New speakers! New center? I love me some dyns, my car comes factory equipped with them, and they sound lovely. I like big bookies, they look great.

I picked up the X24 center to match the X14 bookshelf speakers about a week after I got them (November '16 so, not that long ago).

The Emit M20 bookshelf speakers showed up on Saturday. lol.

halo

Joey_V wrote: »

New speakers?

Yes, I just got the black Emit M20 bookshelf speakers this weekend @Joey_V

lightman1

Victor....I may have to grace you with my presence soon. Leave a key under the door mat.

MrBuhl

I have wanted to hear these for a long time! Congrats!!

Joey_V

lightman1 wrote: »

Victor....I may have to grace you with my presence soon. Leave a key under the door mat.

Don't do it... It's a trick

Ricardo

Nice Victor. If I ever buy another monitor, it will be a Dane