The audience 122 are great tower speakers that are sure to please. I picked mine up for very cheap ($400), after having read the great reviews on this forum. They have very pleasing, warm sound, and don't fatigue. The bass is very tight and crisp, and plentiful for my taste, others may think otherwise. The speakers present a great sound stage, and will sound as good as the quality of the stuff being played, so a nice recording is obviously preferable.

While these have a nice amount of bass, they're obviously small towers, and can't compare with the bass output of a huge speaker. There's plenty for my taste, and probably most people's, but it's just something to note. No real complaints, though, especially for the price. Rotel RA-972 DBX DX5

Transparency, coherence, detail, soundstaging(extremely wide), tight bass Sounds good with all kinds of music!!

With movies they lack bass, but which speaker doesn't. They lack a little depth in comparence with the excellent width, but hey now I'm being picky.

When I was planning to buy some speakers I didn't know what I wanted. So I listened and listened at various hifi stores. First i listened to a pair of Mordaunt Short 908. For the money a very good speaker, especially in the bass, but it lacked some detail and staging. The B&W 604 which I then auditioned were quite an improvement in terms of depth and detail in the sounstage. Still I was not entirely convinced.Then I heard a Dutch Hepta. Wow that was the sound I was looking for, but they were far too expensive, €1400 a piece. The man told the units came from Dynaudio so my search was from then on focussed on the Dyn's. I compared the Audience 52 with the 122 and I bought finally the 122, mainly because of the 'bigger' sound. The difference isn't that much, but I liked the look of the 122 as well. When you purchase these speakers remember they need a long break-in period. Mine about 150 hours. I know this has been said before. but it is oh so true. Out of the box they can sound cold, uninvolving, metallic and small. BUT when they are broken in there is a whole new world of sound opening up for you. System: Marantz sr7200 Marantz dv7010 Sony md-js530 Dyn Audience 122 front Dyn Audience 42C center Dyn Audience 42W rear

Similar Products Used:

B&W 600series, MS 908, Audience 52,42, Hepta, Chario, Infinity Ouverure.

Danes don't lie, natural sound, very poised, excellent tweeter, very precise and controled bass

none for the momen

After a period of extensive listening, I made following conclusions:

B&W: not bad, S2 models are to muddy in the bass, S3 bass was very deep but fatiguing, plays very good when played loud (happens seldom at home, so what 's the use of that) and a bit to "shut in" at low levels.

JBL XTI 80: I missed something in de mid when compared to the Dynaudio 122's

Mission 775: huge speakers, but typical English Mission sound: very pronounced in the highs, good bass is non existent

Infinity Alpha 40: more a speaker voor the techno fan. Sound very "in your face". Good speaker but not for delicate music.

Kef Q55-2: a speaker for the jazz fans. Very good sound, misses a bit bass for my taste.

Dynaudio 42: excellent speakers: accurate and controled sound, misses a bit bass, but a real must for who likes some smaller speakers

Dynaudio 122: sounds like the 42's, but with the extra bass. Very accurate and controled bass. Excellent tweeter. Very open sound and dynamic. Compared directly to the B&W's and the Dynaudio's were a clear winner.

I'm going to buy the 122c in the near future to complete this excellent pakkage.

Just go out and have al listen. Compare them and you will hear the difference!!! These are killer speakers. They scored olso very good in Audio magazine and What Hifi.

Used with:

Marantz SR5200
Marantz DVD4100
Marantz CD6000 OSE Lim Ed.
Tannoy 605 rears
Monitor speaker cable


Lode Nulens

Similar Products Used:

B&W 603 S2 & S3, B&W 604 S2 &S3, JBL XTI 80, Infinity Alpha 40, Mission 775, Dynaudio 42, Kef Q55-2

very fast, great mids and highs, very nice build quality, easier to drive then most other Dynaudio speakers.

They don't go very low, but with a sub they shine

I just put together my home theater. The audience 122's, the audience 122c and 4 audience 42w's. For now I am running them with a Denon 3801. For my sub I am using a sunfire signature subwoofer. Wow this home theater really shines.
I chose the 122's over the audience 70's and 80's because the wofers match the center and the 42's.

Outstanding music in both 2 channel and 7 channel stereo, and for home theater, believe it or not, it is even better.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM NT series

Clean sound, tight

doesnt go very low

Going on about 2 months with these now and they get better all the time.

The low bass isnt there but with a sub you should be fine. Sounds great in stereo mode and home HT setups.

I'm driving the with an Onkyo TX-DS696 and the power is fine.

I also have the audience center channel with them.

The huge amount of DETAILS in the sound. Compact floor stander, classy appearance.

Small footprint due to compactness gives the impressive it can be easily toppled over. Vinyl instead of real wood veneer but the vinyl looks really good.

Bought these babies last nite!

Haven't done any critical listening yet but, from prelimary listening, it sounds really, really good. The details are incredible. My MA PMC 702 was no lemon but the Audience 122 really shine and brightly!

I'll do some critical listening tonite after it has been burn-in with pink noise for at least 24 hours. I heard Dynaudio speakers take a long time to burn-in but I can't wait any longer.

This is my first pair of floor standing speakers and my first non-british speakers. Decide to buy Dynaudio after reading all the good reviews on various website and audio magazines. Also, it allows me to build up my home theater system slowly over time by adding the 42 and 42W for surround speakers, which share the same mid/bass drivers and tweeters as the 122 and 122C. (Am going to collect the 122C tomorrow :-). Other brands offer the same but they're not as musically and not as compact and home friendly as the Audience series.

Was comtemplating on getting the Audience 42 because of its performance in 2 channel stereo but it would seem like a downgrade from my PMC 702 and may not offer the slam-bang for home theater application.

Was comprehensive on the 122 because of the lack of reviews but decide to go for it. After all it shared the same mid/bass drivers and tweeters (apparently) as the excellent 42 so it couldn't have fallen too far from the tree to be different in too bad a way.

After last nite, my apprehension was quickly forgotten. I didn't do a A/B comparision between the 42 and 122. Obviously the 122 would have more bass but I'm more concern with the mid and high plus the imaging and soundstaging of the small monitor.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'm going to play these babies tonite and will post my findings in this website, which btw has been very helpful. I really appreciate the time fellow reviewers took to post their thoughts, likes and dislikes so that prospective buyer like myself may make a sound judgement when purchasing audio equipment. Having said that THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Regard,
Roy Miu

Receiver Denon AVR-3802
Pioneer DVL919 (LD, DVD, CD) player
Marantz CD67 SE MKII
Sony Playstation 2
Dynaudio Audience 122
Monitor Audio baby satellites for surround
Rel Q150E

Similar Products Used:

Kef, Mission and Monitor Audio PMC 702 bookshelf speakers.

crispy, clear and ver open sound

there good be more deep bass

I use this system (audience 122, 122c, 42) for home cinema,
( I use It with a kenwood krf-x7775d amp)and I`m very pleased with the sound the only minus is that it lacks deep base but then again if you put a extra sub to the system that problem is solved.

Great high and mid. The tweeters are excellent with very good dispersion. The mid/bass drivers produce haunting, goosebumps inducing vocals. The bass is fast and tight.

The cabinet could be heavier and coupled with a broader, wider base plate to provide more stability. Bass doesn't go very low but this is a slim floor stander with small mid/bass drivers so this may not constitute as a weakness.

After running-in these wonderful speakers continuously for over 50 hours, I'm ready to post my second review.

Please note that I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination. This review is done in the context of my system setup, listening room and personal views.

The tweeters are excellent. The highs are airy, bright and open without harshness. Very good dispersion, which could be attributed to the significant protrusion of the soft dome tweeter from the cabinet. The tweeter protrusion is a cause for concern for many that it may be damaged easily. I voiced my concern to the Dynaudio dealer, he poked, or more like jabbed, the tweeter with his finger and the tweeter bounced right back. He also mentioned, in cases where the tweeter stays invertted, just slowly "massage" it out, which he demonstrated to my satisfaction. Finally, he warned that as long as the accidental contact is not sharp enough to puncture the tweeter, it should remain problem free.

Imaging is very good despite low tweeters position on the cabinets. Bringing my ears down to level with the tweeters don't yield noticeable difference in imaging. Nevertheless, I'm going to place thick slabs of concrete under the speakers to elevate the tweeters to ear level in my listening position.

The mid/bass drivers produce accurate, smooth vocals. Vocals sound real and no noticeable coloration or "chestiness". Bass is fast and tight, and it integrates very well with a fast, tight subwoofer like Rel. In my listening room, the bass (without the sub) extends to 38 Hz and disappear rapidly thereafter.

As a whole, the Audience 122 is revealing. I suspect if partnered with a poor quality source and amplication the 122 could sound bad. Increasing or decreasing the volume control produces an audible "clicking" sound on my Denon receiver, which wasn't apparent on my previous MA PMC 702. It's so revealing that even the lips smacking noise made by a newsreader on radio was produced clearly, which made listening to the news comical and to a certain extent irritating.

The revealing nature of the 122 makes it a fine pair of main channel speakers. Details that you never thought existing in broadcastings and recordings are unveiled. I was watching U-571, again, on cable and the background noise made by submarine was distinctly audible. The same apply to my CD collection.

Imaging and soundstaging is superb. Playing a imaging and soundstaging test track from Chesky Records' Gold Stereo and Surround Sound Set-up Disc, which comprises a small orchestra moving around the studio while playing their instruments, the sound extends way beyond the left and right sides of the speakers. You can "see" the orchestra move left to right from behind the speakers, right to front right (my right), front right to front left (my left), front left to left then, finally, move left to right before exiting through a door on the right of the right speaker. Wow!!! The sound was clear and seamless as the orchestra move round the studio. My previous MA PMC 702 never came to close to what I've just heard from the 122. AWESOME!!!

In addition to all the above, the 122 is musical and dynamic. Madonna’s The Power of Goodbye and Ray of Light came through with lots of details and tons of deep tight bass. Santana’s The Best of Santana album gave insightful high, mid and low details, and oozing with toe tapping dynamics . Badi Assad’s Pau Brasil and Carlos Heredia’s Aries Del Poliogono - WOW!! Moving to vocals and slower tracks, Diana Krall and Stacey Kent were in my listening room.

I can’t comment on 122 performance in home theatre too much due to mismatched centre and surround speakers. Of the little test that I’ve done using Planet of the Apes and Rush Hour 2, both DVDs with DTS-ES encoding, the 122 coupled with Rel came through with flying colors. Please note that I find testing speakers in home theater difficult because I don't know what consitute accuracy but if there's LOTS of slam-bang presence then 122 passes my test with flying color.

In summary, the Audience 122 should be auditioned for 2 channel stereo due to the imaging, soundstaging, revealing nature and dynamics.

For home theater, a good quality fast, tight subwoofer should be used. Even without a subwoofer, I suspect the 122 should be quite a capable performer minus the ground shaking, door rattling effects. Imho, I think even a big floor stander would still benefit from a subwoofer to fill in the lower octave.

Another reason why the Audience 122 should be auditioned because of matching speakers for centre and surround, namely the 122C, 42, 42C and 42W. All these speakers share identical sized tweeters and mid/bass drivers. My system has mismatched speakers and the performance is less than ideal. That's why I bought the 122 so that I may add the Audience 122C and the 42 series for surround as I move along in search of home theatre nirvana.

My two cents worth.

Regards,
Roy Miu

Denon AVR-3802 receiver
Pioneer DVL-919 (LD, DVD, CD) player
Marantz CD-67 MkII SE
Sony Playstation 2
Dynaudio Audience 122
Monitor CC700 centre speaker
Monitor Audio baby satellites for surround
Rel Q150E

Similar Products Used:

Kef, Mission and Monitor Audio PMC 702 - all bookshelf British speakers.

uncoloured sound, great midrange and highs

bass output wil not satisfy everybody

I have to write this review because an ex-collegue wrote the "review" below and then posted it under the name of a collegue I am still working with, he didnt even hear the speakers in my home! Very funny, Fern...

I am listening to these speakers for more than a month now, and am very pleased with the sound they give, a very natural and uncoloured sound, with great vocals and real sounding instruments, the detail and soundstage is very good and I have been through my entire CD collection, enjoying the music in a new way.
I am so pleased with the sound that I bought a pair of Audience 42's as rear speakers last weekend, and am burning them in now.

Similar Products Used:

Translator, Kef

power, brightness, brillance

er... none!

A week ago I got a pair of the Dynaudio 122 speakers to try before buy.
Before this I used a pair of giant Jamo speakers with double woofers and tweeters. I always thought that a deep warm bass could only be produced by large woofers, say 15 inch. The 122's blew me right out of my chair! The sound was really overwhelming with rich basses, very bright and crisp hightones and a perfect "sound-colour" overall. I inmediately went for the 122c centercabinet and a pair of Dynaudio 52 to complete my surroundset. Using a Sony STRDA-50ES, combined with the S725 DVD-player and a separate 300 watt subwoofer, these 5 speakers completes the sound I was looking for so long!