Rich, full, clear, smooth, detailed & quiet

vinyl box, 4 ohm load

Rich, full, clear, smooth and detailed and oh yeah quiet! I turn it up loud and can still talk without shouting. Needs a fast and punchy amp as this is a 4 ohm speaker, I use a Rotel RA971 Mk II, surprisingly powerful for a 60 watter! I guess not all watts are created equal! As I don’t have much money, I had to choose equipment where the engineers spent the money on the inside rather than on external styling.

At this price all speakers are compromises but Dynaudio cut them at the right places. Subjectively it looks good to me cos they are tiny, so looks cute, the cheery finish is well finished but it is made of vinyl! I don’t get my kicks fondling speakers but listening to them!

It’s the drivers that matter! I don’t like sharp treble and the tweeters are the smoothest I have ever heard. Dynaudio uses over-sized voice coils with hexagon wire.

Normal round wire when wound together has spaces in between where there is air and heat transfer which causes distortion Hexagon wires fits together better but is expensive.

Although small, it has very good midbass (quality and quantity) and should be sufficient for most people but if you listen to pipe organ music, you will need a sub.

I listened to its bigger bro the 52, the 52’s are less involving, more detached, less intimate? so unless you need the 52’s deeper bass, save the money for a good sub!

My other speakers are psb 300 and the 42’s is in a different class. I also heard the Paradigm mini-monitors, a little better than the psb’s but a bit noisy for me.

Highly Recommended – must audition if you are looking for a speaker at this price!


( Bypass this bit if you are just looking for a review! I was introduced to Dynaudio by a friend who buys their drivers and has the boxes made for him. HiFi on the cheap! Don’t tell Dynaudio! But it was the folks who took their time to post a review that convinced me to audition it. To these people I am most grateful!

Lastly I would like to relate a story which I don’t know is true or not! Studio engineers will listen to expensive monitors like B&W 801’s when doing mixing but will also have to listen to cheap 2 way to know what the average home user will hear. They found that the cheap 2 ways gave them a better insight and could hear more details! (not talking about richness, dimension, 3D imaging etc! High-end better for this)

This is supposedly because small speakers have a few things going for them like simplicity. A small box is immensely rigid while the sides of at tall box will bend & flex, adding to distortion, so have to have internal bracing which complicates the design and ultimately the sound. The crossover of a 2 way will be simpler than a 3 way.

Finally the woofer and tweeter can be positioned closer to each other, this is why the Tannoy M1 were so much better than the M2. Simplicity seems to be the key thing about hifi, it gets harder to get a good sound as things become more complicated and then the problem begins as solving these problems complicates things even more.

Dynaudio will not thank me for saying this but I heard their US$ 20,000 Reference model with 10 drivers per speaker and as I was listening to it thought when I go back to my 42’s I will be in for a big letdown cos they are really great speakers! But when I got home, I found the 42’s to be more enjoyable (not better) cos it was more involving!

Be warned, hifi is not a hobby but a disease! Good luck and don’t get conned buying more expensive things that don’t give sound good! unless you really want to!)

Similar Products Used:

psb 300 (non i version), Paradigm mini-monitors, Mission 751 (a great speaker)

Everything!

None for this price range (unless if you compare it to 1.3 Mk II/SE)

These monitor speakers are awesome. I've been a 'big speakers' believer. I used to think that small speakers can't have good bass. These dyna have good bass.

The 'vocal' is unbelievable for this price range (of course do not dream to compare these to their big brothers : Contour 1.3 mk II/SE)

System :

Denon 2560
Proceed DAP
Conrad Johnson PV-10
Pass Labs X-150
Dynaudio Audience 42
Nordost Blue Heavens

Sound relative to size

Vinyl finish

This is a great speaker. The Audience 42 met all of my requirements: they are small enough to lose themselves in my living room while providing the rich detail and imaging normally delivered by larger speakers. I listen mostly to music (classical, jazz, rock), but also enjoy their performance with Dolby Digital movies.

Their sound is rich, with fabulous mid-range and high detail. Vocals are perfect. The bass punch is almost good enough to use them without a sub. Still, I would recommend using one for great sound; I integrated them nicely by lowering the sub's cross-over setting to the minimum at 60hz and a setting a fairly low volume level. This adds just the right bass extension.

I compared these speakers to other small models from Monitor Audio (Silver 3), Boston Acoustics (Micro100x), Sonus Faber (Concertini and Concerto), and some satellites from Canton and Snell.

The best sounding to me were the Sonus Faber speakers. They had the truest sound and imaging. I did not opt for them because their prices start at $1000 and a they are considerably larger in size. Dynaudio was a close second, with Monitor Audio in third. I did not have a chance to audition the Boston Acoustics. The very small Canton and Snell speakers were quite good, but I could hear their "smallness" compared to the others.

An A/B comparison to the Sonus Faber Concerto convinced me to go with Dynaudio. Though the Dynaudios were not quite as good (Sonus Faber had stunning detail in the highs and covered a fuller bass extension), they were close enough to impress me.

A nicer finish would have been nice, but with such sound, it just doesn't matter.

My system:

Receiver: NAD T761
Sub: Phase Technology Octave 10
CD: Onkyo DX C211
No center or surrounds yet.

Similar Products Used:

JBL L20T

Very good integration with other Dynaudio Audience speakers, very dynamic, great build quality.

Kind of pricey, limited distribution channels.

I am using the 42's in a 7.1 setup. The 42's are rear surrounds, a pair of 40's are side surrounds, a pair of Audience 70's are the L+R speakers, and a 122 Center is the center channel. I am driving the LCR and rear surrounds with a Sunfire Cinema Grand, and a Carver TFM-25 to drive the side surrounds. Audio processing is done by a Lexicon DC-1 THX/DD/DTS processor with Version 2 software.

I do not notice any problems integrating the 42's with the older 40's and 70's. The combination of 40 and 42's for surrounds produce a surround effect that can be enveloping, but quite distinct and directional when required. I can verify that they do require lots of power, but reward the effort with loads of sound without audible compression. Please see my corresponding review of the 122 Center.

Great build quality (you really have to look hard to realize they are vinyl, and not veneer), and substantial heft for their size. As surround speakers with other Audience speakers, they work flawelessly.

Similar Products Used:

Audience 40's, 70's, and 122 Center.