I first compared these speakers to a pair of B&W 601's and 602's and found the quality of the Danish speakers superior in terms of their musicality. Considering their bookshelf size the Audience 50's have great bass, which to some people might seem lightweight. Ofcourse this is probably b/c of the tight quality, which isn't boomy AT ALL! I loved the Dynaudio Audience 50's since the first time I heard them. If you are planning on buying B&W 601/602's or even the CDM 1 I strongly recommend saving your money for the pricier Dynaudios. They are worth the extra $400 or so if you have GOOD equipment. I particularly like playing jazz and classical through these good-looking speakers. I give them five stars without hesitation!

Details, clarity. focus, controlled punch, soundstage and somemore details and clarity.

Have not have any so far

When I first hook them up and slot in a good recording CD it was quite an experiance to remember. Given that I have listen to but not own similar price/range speakers, what I heard from the Audience 50 is sill quite stunning. I've got people who are just walking by, and who would be very happy just listening to the radio, telling me how so much better these speakers sound.

When I try them out with the radio tuner, I would say they sounded quite closed to, when listening to a normal recording CD with a good budget level pair of speakers, which was what I was using before the up-grade. I should also state that I do have very good reception.

Despite not having a very good listening environment, when an audiophile recording CD is played, the speakers can almost "disappear", you can nearly get soaked into the music and feel like you're part of that performance.

Enough said.

Set-up are :-

B&K Components Pro-5 and ST202 (Ten-year old pre and power amps), Denon DCD835, Imperials sand filled two feet stands. Kimber 4TC speaker cables and VDH D102 MkIII hybrid I/C and Sonic Silve Pink I/C. System is fully run-in.

Natural, smooth sound.

None at the price

I have been using the Audience 50 speakers for just over a year, with Audiolab 8000A intgrated amplifier and, more recently, the Marantz CD19A player. Overall, I am very happy with my entry-level system. I listen to a fairly wide selection of music ranging from remastered seventies rock (Jethro Tull / The Eagles / Pink Floyd) to classical music (Western and Indian) and Indian film music.

The Audience 50 has the tweeter located above the woofer. A friend who has been an audiophile for 30 + years recently suggested that I should invert the speakers on the stand so that the tweeter is below the woofer. Surprisingly, this seemed, subjectively, to improve the sound quality. Can anyone out there tell me why?

clear midrange, wonderful highs, extended bass

boring look with grilles on

I'm sort of new to the whole audio stuff so this review is really for people like me who are just getting into high end speakers and starting to listen critically. Those veterans out there may smile as they recognize a younger more clueless version of themselves.
Anyway I'm actually writing about the 50's soundstage or rather how toeing them in drastically affected the stage. I'd say the difference was quite huge. I could pick out the positions of the instruments far more clearly than ever before. It was quite amazing.
I'm firing these speakers from around 8 feet away, and I'm not sure if my listening position had anything to do with the imaging.
Listening to Buena Vista Social Club I got the impression that the singer was in front of the speakers and the drums behind the speakers, I've never heard anything like it. These was a sound of tapping coming from a point three feet away and to the back of the speakers! It was actually a little spooky! Now i know what they mean when they say it breaks free from the confines of the box.I had a live recording of Miles Davis and besides the musicians position I noticed for the first time when the crowd clapped that it sounded like the way clapping at a real concert sounds like! Real depth and length across.
Now I know toeing in is recommended for all speakers but I feel given the Dynaudios extra clarity the benefit is even more realized here. I've never toed them in before now because I tried them with other speakers and i never really felt the benefit was worth upsetting the nice visuals of perfectly aligned speakers. Not so with these, i feel the music has another dimension. The music is out there, I'm willing to put up with the Dyns, skewed, upside down and inside out if it sounds this good.
So I'm urging those newbies who have perfectly aligned speakers to toe them in, and play around with it, some of you already know this but for those like me you may be pleasantly surprised.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, Bose( I was young ),Celestion,Old Fostex

Let me start by saying I'm not affiliated with any manufacturers, and I'm not a hard-core audiophile, but I am very picky about my sound. After searching for months for the best bookshelf speaker under $600, I found it at the $7-900 level, and after hearing it, had to spend the extra cash.
I compared the B&W 602, NHT 1.5 and Super 2, PSB Century 400i, Paradigm Mini-Monitor and Studio/20. After hearing all of those (and leaning towards the Studio/20), I went to a PSB dealer and they also carried Dynaudio. After three hours of comparisons, I could not believe my ears. I could not find a better speaker under $2000.

Remarkably neutral, yet forgiving of mid-fi electronics, excellent bass response for their size, and outstanding mids and highs, very clear and crisp but not grating or fatiging. The Dynaudio's were the first speaker I listened to that immediately swept me into the music, rather than the analysis of the sound.

Anyone who buys in this class and doesn't audition the Dynaudio's is cheating themselves. List price is $900 but dealer cost is $500. Make 'em deal. :-)

I listened to the same speakers in the previous review and also the krix equinox. All did not compare for different reasons but most because of the 50's neutrality. Some of the others had too boomysloppy a bass (b&w 602) or not enough bass (equinox). The mirage seemed a little bright to me. The 50's had a tight bass (down around 45-50) and the clarityopeness of the midshighs were comparable to the LS35A's.

These speakers are simply fabulous. At $900 there is nothing even close (that I've heard). I have to admit that I have never heard a dynaudio speaker that I didn't like- I think it has mostly to do with the soft-domed tweeter. Anyway these speakers definitely perform well beyond their price tag would suggest. If you don't have the money for the Contour series 1.3 mkII then the 50's will go a long way towards filling your craving (though at less than half price you'll still yearn for the 1.3's). In my opinion the Vandersteens and B&W's are not even close- but again this is a matter of taste. If you are looking for a pleasant warm sounding standmount speaker in the $1000.00 price range you owe it to yourself to audition the Dynaudio's.
associated equip:

EXPOSURE SUPER 15 integrated amp
ARCAM ALPHA 7 cd player
DYNAUDIO AUDIENCE 50 loudspeakers
EXPOSURE cable

These speakers are really great. I used to prefer standing speakers but after the introduction of Dynaudio's new Audience-line, I think it's spending money if you buy standing speakers. Good standing speakers cost a lot more and the only thing that get's better is the bass. These speakers have excellent bass, much better than the Audience 40. Also the tweeter produces great bright and clear sound. Also better than the Audience 40, because of a difference in the filter. If you can afford speakers at this price, buy these. If you can't, the Audience 40 are also great. I've got those myself.
P.s. I don't much about technology of audio, but I certainly do know how sound is supposed to be, that's why I call myself Audiophile.

No doubt by now many have seen the new DynAudio reviews in the Home Theatre magizines. I thought it may help to let people know which speakers in the Audioence line I enjoy most. I have always been a fan of the DynAudio line and have been a dealer for a little over 1 year. If you enjoy a detailed, warm, well imaged sound, these Audience 50's should be on your short list. I have never heard any of my customers say that they did not like the Dyn's and have sold many speakers to people who bought them off of a recommendation w/o hearing them 1st. Many very prominate speakers use the Dynaudio drivers including Wilsom Audio, Eggleston Works (speaker of the year 1998), Girshman Accoustics and others. All of these speakers cost many times more than the Dyn's. If you compare them to the Contour line, little diffence is realized (if any) and you pay 4X more. In fact, most use these highend manufactures use the same drivers as the Audience drivers do. One thing that most bookshelfs cannot due well is midbase. People automatically think that if they use a sub in conjunction with the a bookshelf this will cover the whole frequency spectrum. Although this is technically true, nearly all bookshelves have missing midbase detail. The test is to listen to world class floor speaker and put in some Holly Cole and pay close attention to the plucking of the base. The Audience 50's pass this test but NHT and other brands I carry do not.If you are a Contour owner and have the Contour line for the fronts do not feel bad about using the Audience 50 for the rears. Timber match is exceptional and the Audience 50's are 90% comparible to the 1.3mkII's costing over 2x.
I hear so many talk about the need for the Dyn's to have a lot of power. While this is true they sound better with a high current amp, they still sound exceptional with 75watts per channel especially if is a good quality amp (not a Kenwood etc.) You will pick-up another 5% more having a powerful amp. They are not very difficult to drive as some people say.
I also strongly advise stepping up to the 50's versus the 40's. The 40's are are a little thin. The floor standing speakers are nice but I'd save a little more and go with the Contour 1.3mkII. Base is much tighter and controlled and sound more natural.
I hope this helps.... If you would like technical help of what matches well with these Dyn's or pricing information. Drop me an email or call me at 612-308-7736. You can also email me by hitting reply. I'd be happy to help. If you have a DynAudio dealer nearby it is best to use them.

Awesome sound period.

Some may call it a weakness... I actually like it since I'm in an apartment, but, bass cuts out when you move around the room. You pretty much have to be at/on the same lvl as the speakers. If you move to a different room you probably won't hear the bass. But is that bad? Not in my opinion.

Great bass when you're in the general vacinity. I don't think the bass will disturb neighbors too much even at high volumes. I compared these to the B&W 602 MkII, but said no way. These are superior to the B&Ws in every way. Haven't put too much break-in time yet but these sound great! And for around $800 bucks... these sound like +$1000 speakers. I have these goin' into a Denon AVR3300, center is Dynaudio C120 and rocks as well!