Sylvester The Cat

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
Wonderful small monitors with a large, airy sound that makes listening to music just fun, while at the same time, keeps up with good monitor qualities, such as neutrality, lack of boxiness and a very accurate reproduction of acoustic intruments.

The upper midrange is very convincing with string instruments sounding their very best without becoming hard or edgy.

Piano has adequate weight to sound convincing, for such a small enclosure, and the human voice is projected in a very realistic, natural manner and, very fine detail, such as the breathing technique of the artist, can be heard clearly, when they're connected to high resolution amplifiers.

Talking about amplifiers, these speakers demand the best both in quality and power.

Their rated impedance of 4 ohm and lowish efficiency of 86 dB means, you will hear them at their best with amps. that have well designed power supplies and can deliver high current levels when peaks in the music demands it.

My Densen DM 10 amplifier, rated at 75 watts into 8 ohm and 150 into 4 ohm copes quite well with them, even though, when connected to a larger amp. ( PS Audio), delivering 150 watts into 8 ohm and 225 into 4 ohm. the sound opens up further and you can reach high SPL without loss in quality.

The more power the better it seems.

In my system, the 52's have taken the place of a much more expensive pair of Spendor SP3/1P monitors, that also are a great speaker, but don't have the 'fun' element the Dynaudios offer.

Pair them with the highest quality electronics you can afford and let the little Dynaudios intoxicate you with music.

Strengths:

Sparkling highs making music a very enjoyable experience.
Adequate bass for the average room.
Accurate sound, neutrality, finer detail, all excellent.

Weaknesses:
As monitor come, none.
Need space around them to breath, best away from walls.
Need quality stands to give their best
Demanding with amplifiers but very rewarding when the right combination is found.

Similar Products Used:

Spendor SP 3 /1P, ProAc, Monitor Audio, Rogers LS7 etc.

Michel Molier

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.86 of 5, 7.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Wiesenhavern in Hamb

Summary:
This review concerns the 52SE (STP) model.
It’s been 3 months now since my old loudspeakers made way for a pair of Dynaudio Audience 52SE. It’s worthwhile positioning these speakers well. You can alter the bass output by moving them closer to or further from the back wall. If your room doesn’t allow you to do that then I would recommend auditioning them in your listening room before making the decision to buy. In my room I keep them relatively close to the wall (about 2’) because the room is fairly large. To stuff the bass port with the plugs provided is only an option if they sit on a shelf or if the room is really small.

The sound has changed dramatically over time. It has taken me 3 months to run them in. I guess about 150 hours or so. A good trick for running them in is to put the fronts of the speakers close together and change the phase of one of the speakers. Now you can crank up the volume and leave them playing overnight without starting a rumble with your neighbours. You have to be patient with them, don’t judge them after two weeks of listening.

It’s difficult to describe how these speakers sound. Which is a good thing. They sound neutral all the way. A well balanced, clean and polite sound with no hint of boxiness. The soundstage is not projected towards the listener but sits around the speakers and backwards. It took me a while to appreciate that feature.

I auditioned the whole Audience series in a shop in Hamburg which were all connected through switch board for the listener to operate. In the end the 52se and the 72se were my winners. I didn’t bother listening to the Contour line because it’s above my budget. In the end I’m very pleased with the 52SE. They really start to shine if you feed them some current.

Setup (from source to speaker):
Denon DCD-1520 cd player
Oehlbach NF-113 digital interconnect
Denon DAP-2500 digital pre-amplifier
van den Hul D-102 mkIII analogue interconnects
Denon POA-4400 mono power-amplifiers
van den Hul D-352 speaker cable
Dynaudio Stand 4 (sand filled front column)
Dynaudio Audience 52SE

Strengths:
Neutral
Detailed
Value
Can play loud and even louder!

Weaknesses:
It takes ages to run them in.
extra sensitive towards placement

Similar Products Used:
none

Catch22

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Private-New

Summary:
This is my opinion of the 52SE version, a 2 way monitor rated at 4 ohms, 86db sensitivity, 13"x8"x9 1/2", non biwire accepting spades or bananas.
If you are considering these speakers, I would highly recommend reading Wes Philips' review of the Dynaudio Focus 140 loudspeaker at the Stereophile site. Wes' impressions of the Focus 140 so closely mirror my impressions of the similar 52SE speaker that I am convinced the shared characteristics are not accidental. The 52SE is one of those rare components that need no caveat in being able to recommend them to anyone, regardless of their system, preferences or room requirements. If the price is within the budget allocated for loudspeakers and you are satisfied with the lower frequency limitations of a stand mount speaker or are willing to add a sub to achieve the lowest octave, the little Dyanaudios are enormously competent speakers. The tonal balance is ever so slightly to the warm side without losing any transient detail or high frequency resolution. Rather than detailed and etchy, the 52s are gently layered with full bodied detail. They can capture both macro and micro dynamics. In listening to recordings such as Donald Fagen's, The Nightfly, this heavily detailed disc has such a wide dynamic range that less competent speakers and components fail to present the very subtle nuances and timbral shadings. I had no problems discerning every aspect of the recordings through the Dynaudios. I didn't find the 52s to be either laid back or forward, but rather neutral, the sound developing solidly between the speakers and gently pushed forward, backward or side to side as the music required. Instruments are easily defined and complex passages are well rendered, not so much due to superior imaging and focus, though this is quite good, but due to the ruler flat frequency response that doesn't color any frequency at the expense of another. Pace and rhythm are both very good. Underlying bass licks are easily followed with actual pitch definition that is maintained during more complex passages. That is an aspect that very few speakers do well in my experience. While Dynaudio rates the freqency response of the 52SE to be 47hz-24khz, I had no problem getting usable low end down to mid 30s that was both well defined and timbrally satisfying. This was in part due to my rather small 11'x13' room that allowed for some boundary assistance, but given the small size of the 52s, anyone using them in larger listening rooms would likely pair them with a sub anyway. In short, they don't just pay lip service to the lower frequencies...they will likely surprise you with their ability to provide a very satisfying bottom end. Their 4 ohm rating is relatively benign, spending most of their time nearer 8 ohms and presenting no problems what-so-ever with my 60 watt integrated. I noticed only a slight increase in chasis temperature and a corresponding increase of volume, again, very slight, to achieve my usual listening level. I should also mention that the Dynaudios did require a touch more volume to sound their best, though only slightly...perhaps an increase from say 80db to 83db in average listening levels. At lower volumes, the 52s took on a more distant character, losing some lower level dynamics than my reference 8 ohm stand mounts that are rated at 88db. This, is as expected with differences in efficiencies. I am so impressed by the balance of strengths that the Dynaudios exhibit that I have made them a permanent fixture in my system. This, of course, is the true worth of any component. After completing all evaluations and subjective comparisons, how well the component can simply communicate the music when listening for pure enjoyment is the only test that matters. I'm enjoying the music with the Dynaudios like never before.

Strengths:
Completely non fatiguing, bags of detail, punchy, timing, pace and ryhthm...you name it and the Dynaudios do it either very well or superbly.

Weaknesses:
Within their design capabilities, none.

Similar Products Used:
PSB, Totem, Focal, Paradigm, Epos, NHT.

andygood

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.08 of 5, 12.00 votes

Price Paid:  $675.00 from Soundex

Summary:
I bought the 52's at a store closeout. I really was psyched upon the purchase because the dealers I talked to really liked these and I read some outstanding reviews. For the most part, I wasn't really dissapointed. On certain CDs the sound was so good (Alison Krauss, Dianna Krall)that it would bring tears to your eyes, you heard all the nuances, great guitar picks, strings, background vocals, its all there in a bigtime way. I got curious about the SE's and sold the 52's on ebay and bought the SE's for almost full retail. The SE's are just a little better in all areas, your ear adjusts so quickly that the differences are only noticable initially when you are really trying to look for things. All in all, if budget isn't the main consideration and you want to do the best you can and this is a long term kind of thing, than the SE's are worthwhile. For the rest of us, the 52's are nice, especially in comparison to mid level B&Ws and the like. Riddiculous as it may sound, I ended up selling my SE's too after 2 months, partly because I am an upgrade lunatic and partly because I learned a real lesson here. I am at least 70-30 home theater and thought that a higher end musical speaker like Dynaudio would also be satisfying for home theater. I ended up purchasing an M&K speaker arrangement at roughly the same price point. I don't know whether M&K is that good or these speakers are that average, but the M&K totally eclipsed the Dynaudios in home theater. If your preference is music, these are nice little bookshelfs but if you are really into movies, you won't be real impressed. If you are 50-50, 60-40, I would possibly consider something like a B&W 600 series, it may be a better compromise.

Strengths:
Musical as advertised, build.

Weaknesses:
A little soft with home theater as stated.

Similar Products Used:
polk, energy, sonus faber, m&k, boston, b&W.

danlan01

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1250.00 from Montreal

Summary:
Great sound for the price. One of the best speakers at this price. It needs a good and powerful amplifier to drive it correctly.

Strengths:
Smooth and dynamic sound Great stereo imaging

Weaknesses:
None at this price

Similar Products Used:
Mission 780 Monitor audio S6