15' Raw Subwoofer Sub Woofer with 70oz Magnet, 3” Voice Coil, 1600 Watt/400w RMS. $149.59 $49.95. VIEW DETAILS. Quick view Compare Out of stock. The Dynaudio Core Sub is a fantastic subwoofer with lots of power, control and crispness that make it hard to even begin to criticise. Read review A very worthy heir to the Air legacy. At Dynaudio Support you can find product manuals, model brochures, latest firmware updates and much more. Dynaudio - All there is. Dynaudio Tweeter Replacements. Original parts are available from Dynaudio dealers. Dynaudio Driver Catalog (PDF). D21AF tweeter. We recommend the Eton 19SD-1 tweeter. You need to use new screw holes. D21/2 tweeter. We recommend the Eton 19SD-1 tweeter. You need to use new screw holes. D28AF tweeter. We recommend the Morel MDT32S tweeter.
Product Review - DynaudioContour 1.1 Mini-Monitor Speakers - June, 2001
Dynaudio Raw Drivers For Sale
Introduction
Working inthe manufacturing sector for several years has taught me some basic lessonsthat apply to all manufactured products, including audio. Lack of attention todetail quickly adds up to a shabby product. If you skimp on enough qualitymaterials and processes, it shows. Conversely, just because you use veryexpensive materials or spend a lot of process or effort, it does not ensure agood product. It is easy to cut corners or throw money at a problem. Eitherway, everyone eventually loses. But, it is a fine art of determining whataspects are most critical and paying attention to miniscule detail there.These rules apply to audio equipment. Just because expensive finishes areused or exotic materials and designs are employed, it does not mean it willsound good or justify the additional expense. And, using sub-standard materialsor designs that ignore basic principles will result in obviously poor soundingproducts.
If someone has figured this all out, it certainly is the folks at Skanderborg (Dynaudio'shome). Read through their web pages, and you will quickly see how muchdetailed attention is paid to the most basic aspects of speaker design andmanufacture. It actually makes you wonder why is everyone else not doing thesame. My interest in mini-monitors arose from some very simple realities. The needfor high-fidelity while accommodating a limited budget of space and funds.Mini-monitors are much easier to place than floor-standers and costsignificantly less. The cost of additional drivers, crossovers, cabinet, andfreight adds up to more than you think. The big compromises with most smallspeakers are lack of bottom end and inability to play very loud. Generally,they image better due to the smaller size of the front baffle since higherfrequencies can reflect off large baffles, which would theoretically produce asmeared sound. Also, the sound is more coherent, i.e., sounds like coming froma single point, because the drivers are physically closer together. The Manufacturer
Dynaudiowas co-founded in Skanderborg, Denmark in 1976 by Wilfreid Ehrenholz, and twoother partners who have since retired. Skanderborg is still the Manufacturingand R&D center, while the export and marketing office is in Hamburg, Germany.
They started making speakers with drivers sourced from other manufacturers, asis the common practice. But, they quickly concluded that the only way toproduce speakers to their satisfaction would be to build their own drivers,which they started in 1980. They also started tosupply other manufacturers (this is called OEM) and the DIY market. Today, Dynaudio is a very respected name among high-end producers of raw drivers,and their products are used in speakers made by high-end brands such asWilson. Eggeleston, Totem, and Red Rose just to name a few. However, only 8% ofDynaudio's sales come from raw drivers. The majority, 55%, comes from their 3 lines and25 models of finished speakers. Mobile Fidelity, their car audio division, accounts for25% and DynaudioAcoustics, and the pro-audio wing accounts for 12%. They havediscontinued sales to the DIY market as of January 2000. Wilfried Ehernholz is still involved in the design process, and Mark Thorup,who has been with the company for about 17 years, heads the design team at Skanderborg. The design process is a blend of art and science. State-of-the-art tools like anechoic chambers and cabinet resonance measurement devices areused throughout the process. At the end of the design process, each prototype is also put througha critical listening procedure. It can take up to 5 years to design a new model.They obviously do not skimp on spending time and effort where needed. And withthis kind of investment in each new model, you can be assured that they do notintroduce models just to make press. If you make a quality product, it shouldnot need change for a long time. Although they have quite a following in Europe and around the world, theyestablished a formal presence in the USA only about six and a half years ago.But in that short time they have made a huge impact on the audiophile market here, although I feel they are still not as popular as they ought to be. Product Introduction
Currently,Dynaudio offers 3 lines. Each speaker produced in all models is subjected to86 quality tests and have a 5 year warranty. All models also feature'magnesium silicate polymer (MSP) one-piece cone drivers, large diameter voicecoils, large and highly efficient center magnet structures, soft dome tweetersand midrange drivers, 100% in-house manufacturing and component sourcing forall speakers, and cabinets that are hand built by master craftsmen using onlythe highest quality woods and natural veneers'.
The Audience line has 11 models and is intended as the entry-level line. Theystart at $699 USD. At Dynaudio's top end is the Reference line with 4 models,including their flagship model Evidence that is available for a mere $85,000USD per pair! In the middle lies the Contour series with 10 models consisting of 3mini-monitors, 4 floor-standers, 2 center channels, and 1 subwoofer. This is a wideenough assortment to accommodate a variety of budgets and setups, includinghome theater. At the start of this line is the Contour 1.1 reviewed here, withan MSRP of $1,699 USD. The line tops out at the floor stander model 3.3 at$7,299 USD. The Contour 1.1 was intended as a successor to the 1.0 model and wasintroduced in 1995. There was not much of a difference between the 1.0 and the1.3 mini-monitors, so the 1.1 was conceived to provide a significantalternative to the other Contour mini-monitors. The most significant changesin the 1.1 model were a much higher quality tweeter, smaller woofer, andsmaller cabinet. The 1.1 was also designed to be an easier load to drive withlower current requirements throughout most of its operating range. Setup
Mylistening room is 16' by 16' by 8'. For casual listening, the 1.1 speakers wereplaced so that there were 70' between the tweeters, and 128' from the tweetersto the listening position. For critical listening sessions, all three pointswere about 70' from each other, and well away from room boundaries.
The sample units were placed on 26' stands, positioning the tweeters right atear-level. Dynaudio supplies a set of foam plugs for the ports, and this allowsfor closer placements to the rear walls without the frequencies at the portgetting too much of a boost. Dynaudio America burned the samples in for at least 120 hours before they were shipped to me. Talk about paying attention to detail. I hadnot even plugged the speakers in and I was already impressed. The Outside
The reviewsamples were in a Beech finish; other available finishes are Rosewood, Rustic Cherry,Black Ash, Cherry. For an additional 10%, you can get them in Bird's Eye Maple, Walnut, Black MatteLacquer, and White Matte Lacquer. The finishes are very smart looking. The aestheticimpression is of simple classic lines and solid build, very Danish, and veryattractive. If you rap your knuckles on the top, you might end up withbruises. They are as hard as concrete. The sides werenot as dull as the top when rapped, which is expected from a larger surfacearea. However, it is as inert as I have ever heard a cabinet sound.
The insides of the cabinet are coated with a sound absorbentmaterial. This allows the cabinet to absorb the back waves. The use ofnon-toxic materials prevents expelling particles of fiberglass (commonly usedin many brands) or other unhealthy materials into your room via the port. All their cabinets are hand-built with woods sourced from non-endangeredspecies, and not from rainforests. The quality of the cabinets is extraordinary.If I didnot know better, I would swear that they were fashioned out of a solid block ofwood. Seams are nowhere to be seen, unless you look point blank. The glue usedin all cabinets is non-toxic, and made in-house of natural materials. Realwood veneers are applied to MDF frames that are extensively braced within.Each pair of speakers are built from the same sheet of veneer to ensurematching, and it takes about a 10 days to build a pair of Contour 1.1 cabinets.Again, the attention to detail leaves them with few peers. A standard cloth grille is provided, but I liked the look better without thecover. I could not perceive a significant sonic difference either way. Now,here is where I actually did find something to fault the samples with. Thename badge applied to one grille was slightly crooked . There I did it, I finallyfound something to pick at, so now I could relax having proven my keen powers ofobservation as a critic. A single set of 5 way binding posts are on the back of each speaker, notallowing for bi-wiring or bi-amping configurations. This is a thorny topicwith many audiophiles, but Dynaudio is convinced that it does not make adifference, and so, does not provide the extra set of connectors just to keepwithin popular opinion. Even if you don't agree with them, you have to admiretheir fortitude to not pander just to make a buck, not to mention what youwill save in cables and amplification. Al Filipelli further explained thatbeing able to design from the driver up allows the designer to not have tofuss over complicated crossovers or the need for bi-wiring. The Inside ![]() Dynaudio Raw Drivers
AllDynaudio tweeters are made of chemically treated fabrics. In their experience,soft domes have faster decay times and less ringing. This means the tweeterhas less of a tendency to keep creating sound after the audio signal hasstopped. The Contour 1.1 tweeter is a 28mm soft dome unit with a 4mm voicecoil, mounted to the front baffle by a large metal plate. The heat from thetweeter is passed on to the magnet structure via their Mangnaflux liquid. Themagnet is firmly connected to the front plate that in turn acts as a giantheat sink for the tweeter assembly. In the Contour line, the chamber behind thetweeter is sealed and acoustically dampened to prevent resonance anddistortion from the back wave of the tweeter. If you were to move up in priceto the Confidence line you would have a larger and longer magnet assembly,more intricate damping in the rear chamber. Again, note the attention todetail.
The woofer is a 150mm (6') unit with a 38mm voice coil housed in a die cast basket.Woofers for all models are made of a Magnesium Silicate Polymer but withvarying thickness. The woofer is mounted overlapping the sidewalls, and thisincreases the rigidity, which reduces the cabinet from resonating to thewoofer's back wave. The magnet assembly for the Contour 1.1 varies from mostother Dynaudio models, in that it does not have the wider double magnetassembly, but instead it has a longer motor. This design allowed for the smallerwoofer size and lower current requirements. Moving up to the Reference seriesyou would find the magnets made of Neodymium, which provides more magneticpower for the same mass. The voice coils are made of pure aluminum for lightness and conductivity. Yes,I said conductivity. While aluminum is less conductive than copper at roomtemperature, according to Al Filipelli of Dynaudio North America, copper losesits conductivity dramatically as it gets warmer. The engineers at Dynaudiofelt that at operating temperatures, aluminum was the better choice with theadded benefit of lightness. The coils are hand-wound, coated in athermoplastic, and then subjected to expansions and contractions until a singlemass is formed. This is done to prevent the coil from warping. Dynaudio Speakers For Sale![]()
The crossovers are built with hand wound air-core inductors. Capacitors forthe Contour and Reference lines are sourced from Solen with custom specs, and allcapacitors are made from polypropelene only.
I think it would be negligent of me if I did not tell you a little aboutDynaudio driver production. Each driver goes through 85 quality checks at eachstage of production. Actually, after the first operation, each stage rechecksthe work of the previous operation as well as their own, so 84 of the 85checks are done twice. Then there is a final check on the assembled cabinet,for a grand total of 86 checks. Because the tolerances are so tight, there isno need to search for matched drivers in the Audience and Contour lines. Drivers for theAudience and Contour lines have to be within 1 dB tolerance and 0.25 dB for theReference line. The Reference line drivers are actually built by engineersrather thanproduction staff. It takes from 30 to 45 minutes to make a single driver,compared to the assembly lines that take a fraction of that time at thecompetition. The readings for all drivers are logged into the database at Dynaudio, and in the very unlikely event of having to replace a driver,Dynaudio would reference the readings of the original driver to find amatching replacement.
Attention to detail, yes. Do you pay for it, yes. Is it worth the cost, youtell me. Would you want your speakers to be made with anything less? Actually,considering the effort from design to shipping, I am surprised it does not costa lot more. Make no mistake, this is world class manufacturing, with very fewpeers in any industry.
The Sound
Obviously, thisis the heart of an audio review. A manufacturer may cut corners or expend mountainsof effort. 'But does it make a difference in the sound?' is the question areview needs to attempt to answer. Of course, it can never fully be answereddue to all the variables that are out of our control, but here is my attempt.
Imaging on the 1.1s is uncanny. 'Track 10' (Test CD 3, Stereophile, STPH006-2) is a great recording for this purpose. It has several takes of a person walking across a 45' stage ringing a cow bell. I nearly fell out ofmy chair when I first listened to this track. The sound was not even in the sameroom, it sounded like he was down the hallway of my house that is adjacent tothe right channel. 'Diamonds on the soles of her shoes' (Paul Simon, Graceland, Warner Bros.,946430-2) is another good track. The backup vocals of Ladysmith Black Mambazowere spread evenly across the stage and place behind Paul Simon.
'Zapateado' (Pepe Romero, Flamenco, Phillips, 422069-2) is a great track tojudge depth of soundstage. The footwork of the dancer on the wooden stageshould give you a clear impression as he moves forward, back, and sideways.With the sense of depth being projected, it seemed the dancer, Paco Romero,was in my kitchen. I suppose the builder should not have bothered with all thewalls in my house if the 1.1s were going to disregard them so casually.
'Acoustic drum solo' ( Russ Henry, Test CD 2, Stereophile, STPH 004-2) is anexcellent minimalist recording in stereo of a drum kit. The image was soprecise, that most of the time I could place each piece of the drum kit inboth dimensions (wide and deep). This is also a great track for speakerplacement, as I was able to tweak placement until I had an image roughly the sizeof an actual drum kit about 8' in front of me. This ended up being with thetweeters aimed at a point just behind my head.
Detail is excellent, but is not as prominent at lower levels. In my opinion,there is only one level to playback at, and that is the actual sound level atthe recording event. At lower levels, the 1.1s are still good at detail, butthey really open up when you play them at louder levels that approximate therecording event. You will have to play them at moderate to high levels to geteverything they have out of them. 'Angel' (Sarah McLachlan, Surfacing, Arista,18970-2) and 'My Skin' (Natalie Merchant, Ophelia, Elektra) have very softpassages, and on lesser speakers, the syllables at the ends of some verses arebarely audible. The 1.1s actually allow you to hear even the last letterwhispered. The sound of the slide on steel strings was more distinct than Ihave ever heard on 'Rollin & Tumblin' (Doug McLeod, Test CD 3, Stereophile,STPH 006-2) Accuracy of instruments is a big aspect of what Ilook for in speakers. 'Acoustic drum solo' (Russ Henry, Test CD 2, Stereophile, STPH 004-2) wasperhaps the best test I could come up with. I could easily identify thevarious drums within the kit, even on the soft drum roll sections. Otherexamples of natural sounding instruments are the Alto Sax on 'O Grande Amor'(Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto, Verve, 314512414-2) and theDouble bass in 'All or nothing at all' (Diana Krall, Love Scenes, Impulse,IMPD233). Female vocals on 'Angel' and 'MySkin' (Natalie Merchant, Ophelia, Elektra) and several others werebreathtaking, actually goosebumping (how's that for poetic license in prose).There was no excessive sibilance at all. On 'Angel' I could notice the reverb that musthave been added to the vocals, because it created a distant, echoey effect that I hadnot heard before. Male vocals were also as clean as I had ever heard. 'Girl from Ipanema' and 'OGrande Amor' have some resonance at passage ends inherent in the recordings. I use thisrecording often to judge male vocals. The 1.1s did the best job of controllingthe resonance without sounding anemic and overdamped. 'Rollin & Tumblin' is an excellent standard to judgebaritone male vocals, and the 1.1s again did an excellent job of soundingnatural and not tipping on the side of boomy or weak. Frequency response is rated as 48 Hz to 22 kHz ± 3 dB. Impedance is ratedas 4 Ohms nominal, with a minimum of 3.6 Ohms at around 200 Hz. Combined with asensitivity of 86 dB/W/M, these are not the easiest speakers in the worldto drive, although they can be driven with low powered amps. My 30 wpc NAD 912 easilydrove these speakers to moderate volumes, beyond which it seemed like the'soft clipping' (read compression) feature of the amp started to kick in. In asmaller room I also tried them with a 50 wpc Audio Analogue Puccini and 150wpc Acurus DIA150 to as loud as I care to go and did not hear any distortionor compression. But the real abilities were revealed with the Bryston 4B withits ample power and tremendous bass control, and this is what I used for all mycritical listening. I think the combination of the Bryston 4B and Contour 1.1 has firmlyestablished my reference point for firm bass. In my opinion, firm bass is avery important aspect of a system since it completely defines the tonality oflower piano notes, double basses, organs, drums, etc. My two referencerecordings for this purpose are 'Acoustic drum solo' and 'All or nothing at all'. I cannot say much more than the drum kit and doublebass sounded more real on the Contour 1.1 than on anything else I have everheard. Overall, I would have to say the 1.1s did not 'sound' like other high end speakers Ihave listened to. There was a complete lack of character, whether it be warmor analytical or any of the other adjectives often used. Actually, I prettymuch never noticed the speakers. They simply disappeared, and I am not justtalking about imaging. They were neutral, so neutral I kept forgetting aboutthem. Some people may expect their high end speaker to have a unique sonicsignature that evokes a sense of luxury. I prefer hearing exactly what isthere, warts and all. That is what the 1.1s do. I can honestly say thatunless I was consciously thinking about it, I ceased to associate the speakerswith the sound in the room because everything sounded so much like it should.I think that is probably the nicest thing I have ever said about any speaker.I found the review particularly difficult to complete, because instead of taking notes,I would get carried away into the music and come out empty handed from many asession. My single greatest impression of all the listening sessions was howmuch I enjoyed myself. Conclusion
What youneed to consider is this: they do cost $1,700, you will need at minimum adecent and moderately powered amp, and a good pair of stands will add to the costtoo. Undistracted 1 76 – turn off everything that distracts you. To really get the best out of the system, you need to play at moderate toloud volumes, and add a good subwoofer if you must have the lowestfrequencies.
In return, they will image like few others out there, sound so natural youwill forget they are in the room, look like a minimalist work of art, beflexible on placement, probably last forever, and get you more excited aboutmusic than equipment again. Well, I think you can safely say I absolutely love these speakers. If I were topay $1,700 for a pair of speakers, I would want them to be made with this muchattention to detail and sound this good. I think they definitely raise the barfor other manufacturers. I would like to thank Mike Manousselis and Al Filipelli of Dynaudio NorthAmerica for the technical and background information for this review. Associated Equipment: Speakers: Monitor Audio Bronze 3 Triangle Electroacoustique Titus xs Amplifiers: Bryston 4B NAD 912 Acurus DIA 150 (integrated) Audio Analogue Puccini SE (integrated) Preamps: PS Audio IV NAD 917 DVD: Panasonic A-320 Pioneer 414 Connectors: Self designed
- Arvind Kohli -
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