So I was at A&B Sound today, for our 'corporate night' for the company I work for. I was mainly looking for some CD's and DVD's that were supposed to be discounted - ? - and found myself listening to some speakers, as it was very dead in the store when I was there.
Anyways, some guy came up and showed me some Energy, PSB, mostly low end stuff, and was shocked at how bright they were with both the Denon and Marantz they were set up with.
I guess I reeked 'audiophile wanna be' as the guy asked me if he wanted to hear a pair of speakers really sing. Hell yeah, I said, and he took me upstairs to their audiophile room, where some Joseph Audio were playing. He told me the price, but said that wans't what he was going to show me.
He turned me towards this tiny little pair of Dynaudios, which turned out to be the 42's. They were amazing. I couldn't believe how smooth the highs were and was even more suprised at the amount of tight bass that was coming out of these little things.
Now, I didn't have any CD's with me at the time, but the guy had a collection with some suprisingly good dynamics. Bryan McKnight, a Miles Davis SACD, Crash Test Dummies, King Crimson, Los Lobos - a real eclectic set, ans someone I've never heard of but loved the CD. Her name was Michelle N'Dege Ocello - I know I'm butchering that name, but the CD absolutely sent shivers through me on these speaks. Can anyone help with the name of the CD? "Peace and Passion" or something? they didn't have it in stock.
Anyways, these speakers absolutely made me MELT.... then he showed me a pair of Dynaudio towers, the 72's. These were of course everything the 42's were but fuller sounding, not bloated in the bass. He also told me they have a pair in between, basically the top half of the 72's and the # I believe was the 52's. It wasn't in stock. They had sold out completely on the weekend. He finally played the 62's for me which was the baby floorstander of the line which was actually more harsh in the highs, especially on the Los Lobos tracks we heard, and I didn't think it offered much more on the low end than the tiny 42's.
As for the price? the 42's and out of stock 52's were at the very top of my price range, actually, quite a bit past it!
but not too bad at all. The 52's were 1450 CDN list, I believe, and the 42's were 1100 CDN list, I think. He said because I was a corporate customer he would be able to do better than this, but there just wasn't much profit in them so he couldn't move that much.
Now the room and related equipment... it was obviously a high end room, with more high end rooms jutting out from each corner of it. Thick carpeting, room treatments in the corners, area rugs, thick couches, and chairs, powered with rega amps, the 62's were powered by Myriad, I believe. Rega CD players, with the 62's being fed by a Sony ES SACD. Kimber 4tc all around. I didn't catch the interconnects. No subs anywhere in the rooms, just two channel.
Now, I wonder if it was the speakers that actually had this effect on me, or if it was the related equipment and surroundings that played the bigger part. But Dynaudio were far better than any speaker I've heard so far, including PSB image, silver, Energy exl, Paradigm Monitor and Studio line, and some B&W. I'd definitely recommend them. Anyone else hear them, have any comments?
Anyways, some guy came up and showed me some Energy, PSB, mostly low end stuff, and was shocked at how bright they were with both the Denon and Marantz they were set up with.
I guess I reeked 'audiophile wanna be' as the guy asked me if he wanted to hear a pair of speakers really sing. Hell yeah, I said, and he took me upstairs to their audiophile room, where some Joseph Audio were playing. He told me the price, but said that wans't what he was going to show me.
He turned me towards this tiny little pair of Dynaudios, which turned out to be the 42's. They were amazing. I couldn't believe how smooth the highs were and was even more suprised at the amount of tight bass that was coming out of these little things.
Now, I didn't have any CD's with me at the time, but the guy had a collection with some suprisingly good dynamics. Bryan McKnight, a Miles Davis SACD, Crash Test Dummies, King Crimson, Los Lobos - a real eclectic set, ans someone I've never heard of but loved the CD. Her name was Michelle N'Dege Ocello - I know I'm butchering that name, but the CD absolutely sent shivers through me on these speaks. Can anyone help with the name of the CD? "Peace and Passion" or something? they didn't have it in stock.
Anyways, these speakers absolutely made me MELT.... then he showed me a pair of Dynaudio towers, the 72's. These were of course everything the 42's were but fuller sounding, not bloated in the bass. He also told me they have a pair in between, basically the top half of the 72's and the # I believe was the 52's. It wasn't in stock. They had sold out completely on the weekend. He finally played the 62's for me which was the baby floorstander of the line which was actually more harsh in the highs, especially on the Los Lobos tracks we heard, and I didn't think it offered much more on the low end than the tiny 42's.
As for the price? the 42's and out of stock 52's were at the very top of my price range, actually, quite a bit past it!
but not too bad at all. The 52's were 1450 CDN list, I believe, and the 42's were 1100 CDN list, I think. He said because I was a corporate customer he would be able to do better than this, but there just wasn't much profit in them so he couldn't move that much. Now the room and related equipment... it was obviously a high end room, with more high end rooms jutting out from each corner of it. Thick carpeting, room treatments in the corners, area rugs, thick couches, and chairs, powered with rega amps, the 62's were powered by Myriad, I believe. Rega CD players, with the 62's being fed by a Sony ES SACD. Kimber 4tc all around. I didn't catch the interconnects. No subs anywhere in the rooms, just two channel.
Now, I wonder if it was the speakers that actually had this effect on me, or if it was the related equipment and surroundings that played the bigger part. But Dynaudio were far better than any speaker I've heard so far, including PSB image, silver, Energy exl, Paradigm Monitor and Studio line, and some B&W. I'd definitely recommend them. Anyone else hear them, have any comments?
