I used Dynaudio Contour 1.1 for about 12 years with a 100w Primare amp.
Dynaudio are obviously a serious company whose 2-channel audio has been based on a fantastic mid/bass driver that they designed in the mid 1980s. I spoke to them when they introduced the new Contour range and they admitted they had trouble improving it. The driver goes through the range from Emit upwards. It is made of Magnesium Silicon Polypropylene, the material is key to the driver.
You guys have me very intetested in the X18’s. May check them out this weekend at a semi local dealer. I’ll let you guys know what I think. Maybe i can even get a home demo.
Thanks for all the replies. Keep them coming guys!
I have the X18s and if one day I had to get rid of everything, those would be the ones I would keep. The S300 will be adequate for them, but do know that I have pushed them with 800 watts before, and they never lost their composure, that’s high end performance.
Thanks, that’s good to know. My Elacs sound surprisingly good at lower to decent volumes, but when i crank them, they get kind of “shouty” in the upper midrange which gets fatiguing fast.
I didn’t mention the X18s before because they take a while to break in and not being very efficient nor 8ohm easy, makes them out of reach for many who may think of getting away with a receiver as amp. The X18s just cuts to the chase and does as it is driven, keyword is driven again. For example, the Sprout, as great as it is, the X18s eat it like a snack. My M700s on the other hand make them sing. You’ll be at a good spot with the s300. It’ll pair oh so sweet. Please know that the best bass is around 120+ hours. Patience.
Hahaha. I have 5 different rooms and 8 systems spread around the house, so some setups get less eartime.
The room and system vary with the mood of the day. I do play the X18 more than the R300, but the R300s deliver when in a laid back mood.
The R300 are also excellent to unhear suboptimal recordings.
I see records. I hear Wharfedale Dentons, and yes, KEF R300. Those two are better suited for vinyl duty a lot better than the Dynaudio, the X18 could end up being too revealing.
I suggest the Dentons 80th Anniversary before plunging for the R300. You may be surprised. I chose the Denton over the UB5. But, if you love the UB5, then the R300 is everything that the Elac can’t be.
Thats funny, I chose the UB5’s over the Dentons because i was able to demo them and was impressed. I still am, they’re an incredible speaker for the money, but I hear their limitations with the Stellar gear.
My turntable/cart/phono stage still sounds better to me than the GCD. Bigger/deeper soundstage and more air around the instruments, but the GCD is making digital actually come close, which is a first for me and very cool.
I can’t imagine the Dynaudio’s making the records sound worse lol. I’ll check out the X18’s and the R300’s if possible
Yes, the Dentons are great with the Sprout I have them hooked to, I never put them in the main room with the bigger amps. Nor did the Elac’s.
The KEF are pretty massive compared to everything that’s been mentioned, but they’re standmounts not Bookshelf. The X18 is more neutral and detailed on the midrange than the KEF. The KEF needs no stinking sub.
That’s fine, they’re not going in a literal bookshelf lol, they’ll be going on 24" sand filled Target stands. I wonder if my stands will be too tall for the R300’s though, maybe the tweeter will be to far above ear level?
Dynaudio reminds me of PS Audio, been in business for a long time, lots of in house R&D and manufacturing. A real manufacturer, not just a assembler of someone else’s parts. But Dynaudio serves home and professional markets. After 50 odd years around this stuff have finally started to value the company behind the gear.
Have been an advocate for active speakers over 15 years, for their inherent design and performance advantages. Had Dynaudio BM5 Mk3’s for a couple of years. They are a step up in bass drivers from the Excite 14’s. Pricing was roughly the same, trading low voltage crossover, built-in amps, and better woofers for high voltage crossover and nice veneer. Then you could sell the power amp.
You can always tilt the monitors downward (aim to please). Or call up timber nation and order custom, sand fillable, solid maple stands. That’s what I did recently for my JBL 708P’s. $350/pair and they hold 50# of sand each, making for 100# per side in total.
Put my Dahlquist DQ20’s in to help me decide if I want to sell them, and man, after fiddling around with placement, they sound really good. Still too big for my small room, but there’s something to be said for big woofers lol
@michael-denmark Those S400 model loudspeakers are intriguing. I read through their website and I must say, I want to hear them! VERY reasonably priced too! Nice to see companies continuing to create products they sell for far less than their performance value.
Thanks bro.
Here you see people’s reactions from the HiFI fair in Copenhagen. For the sake of good order, I will tell you that I am helping Mads at the HIFI fairs. Mads makes a lot of sense that there are no expensive cables, power machines and giant amps, etc.
One of the secrets of the S400 success - is one of the world’s best measuring devices for the development of speaker devices and speakers. Price well over $ 1 million. Here you see a photo from the development phase.
Despite the fact that all speakers are quality tests etc. at the factory. Made after checking each individual speaker sent to the customer. Here you see a photo from the package department. Where they are tested, where they are sent out to customers on a daily basis.
My hunt for standmounts is over! Took me hours last night and all morning, but I finally found the perfect positioning for the Dahlquists. Man, they sound even better than I remember!
Its going to cost me a whopping 46 dollars to replace the grill cloth with black from Dahlquist, which is alot cheaper than 2k or so lol.
I use slightly larger Proac occasionally.
