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Dutch&Dutch 8C in BLACK!

Purité Audio

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Purité Audio

Purité Audio

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Posted a few more photographs, I will measure over the holidays, the 8Cs have built in EQ, As does ROON, I have Dirac here too in a couple of guises, placing both speakers in the same Roon ‘zone’ allows fast switching between the speakers ( thanks Pierre) .
8cs are 30cm from rear wall and 60 cm from side walls, distances set on their ‘app’ speaker output varies depending upon position, you can also adjust, bass,treble etc to taste, sound quality is superb bass in particular is punchy and extremely clearly delineated.
https://www.puriteaudio.co.uk/forum/loudspeakers/dutch-dutch-8c-black

Keith
 

Sal1950

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Do they sound darker? :cool:
 
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Purité Audio

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Really interesting today, our potential customer wanted to hear 8Cs versus Kiis , they really are very similar , as he is a member of this very forum he might post his thoughts.
He bought along an extremely good recording of Stravinsky by Keith Johnson, which I am definite;y going to use to show the bass capabilities of the 8C.
Keith
 

Dialectic

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Really interesting today, our potential customer wanted to hear 8Cs versus Kiis , they really are very similar , as he is a member of this very forum he might post his thoughts.
He bought along an extremely good recording of Stravinsky by Keith Johnson, which I am definite;y going to use to show the bass capabilities of the 8C.
Keith

I'm the prospective customer who heard the Kii 3 and Dutch & Dutch 8C side by side at Purité yesterday. Before discussing the comparison, I just want to thank Keith for hosting me in his carefully configured listening room, which made the A/B test a breeze.

The Kiis were connected to the rather pricey and optional Kii controller; the Dutch & Dutch 8Cs were connected to the RME ADI-2 Pro, which served as a digital volume control, replicating the main function of the Kii controller. (The RME also does a lot of other stuff, but I didn't test any of those functions.) Listening material was a few high-res files I brought on a thumb drive, including the Keith Johnson recording of the Minnesota Orchestra performing The Firebird. I'll explain the reason for my use of that recording in a moment. I didn't take a photo, but I trust Keith can provide one.

We listened to the two speakers for an hour, switching back and forth. As reviewers of the Kiis and the 8Cs have stated, both the 3s and the 8Cs sound like large loudspeakers. Moreover, neither have any hint of bloated bass at certain frequencies, the bane of passive speakers and an artifact that I am sadly accustomed to hearing. The cardioid dispersion pattern produced by both loudspeakers across most of the audible frequency range results in an extraordinarily clean and controlled sound, totally free of some qualities that I used to seek in loudspeakers. Were they especially airy? Nope. Warm? No. Detailed? Not in the conventional sense of that term. Both speakers revealed what was on the recordings and seemed totally balanced and composed.

On most recordings, it was exceedingly difficult to discern differences between the 3s and the 8Cs. The 3s threw a slightly wider soundstage, but that seemed to be a function of placement, as they were further apart and closer to the listening position than the 8Cs were. I seemed to perceive slightly more "extension" in the "air" register of the 8Cs (above 10 kHz), and the 8Cs seemed to have slightly fuller upper bass than the 3s. These differences were extraordinarily subtle and, as Keith pointed out, could perhaps be eliminated with equalization.

After listening to the speakers and discussing the differences, I turned on The Firebird recording, which has unrealistically thunderous bass drum strikes that are useful for testing bass power. It was immediately obvious that these bass drum strikes were beyond the capabilities of the Kii 3; the Dutch & Dutch 8C, however, appropriately shook the room. Subwoofer integration with the Kii 3, particularly when using its optional controller, is far from straightforward, so the lack of loud deep bass from the Kii 3 is problematic. It should be noted, however, that with normal listening, the Kii 3 would not be pushed to its limits.

I do not mean to suggest unambiguously that the Kii 3 is not as good as the 8C. I could happily live with either pair of speakers. As an American living in the UK, I have tricky requirements with respect to voltage compatibility. In addition, I intend to use the loudspeakers with BACCH processing in the future. The Kii 3s work with BACCH, but it remains unknown whether the 8Cs do. (The heavy DSP in both loudspeakers is potentially problematic for calibration of BACCH, but the Kiis have been tested and reportedly work well with BACCH.) The choice thus will come down to my quirky requirements.

Thanks again to Keith at Purité, the most honest audio dealer I have yet encountered. I do not know who is selling the 8Cs in the States, but if I bought the Kiis there, someone would try to sell me a few thousand dollars' worth of Kubala Sosna cables to accompany them. I'll thus have to make my purchase from Keith while I'm here in the UK.
 
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Purité Audio

Purité Audio

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It was an absolute pleasure to meet you both and I thouroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I had forgotten how good Keith Johnson’s recordings are and the Stravinsky is certainly a good test!
Keith
 

oivavoi

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Thanks for a great write-up, @soundArgument! Very interesting read.

To me it sounds like the D&D 8C is a much better deal. Cheaper, and most definitely not inferior to the Kii Three. At least for those of us who don't need BACCH.

But I must say that your wife is clearly mistaken in one regard. The 8Cs look MUCH better! ;)
 

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Thanks for a great write-up, @soundArgument! Very interesting read.

To me it sounds like the D&D 8C is a much better deal. Cheaper, and most definitely not inferior to the Kii Three. At least for those of us who don't need BACCH.

But I must say that your wife is clearly mistaken in one regard. The 8Cs look MUCH better! ;)

I put my money where my mouth was and bought a pair of the 8Cs, in white, not black.
 
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Purité Audio

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Another mastering engineer ordered a pair today , he had tried the Kiis and liked them, but enjoyed the 8Cs more in a direct comparison.
Interestingly the first track played didn’t really sound that different but as the session wore on the differences became all too apparent.
Keith
 

Sal1950

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I put my money where my mouth was and bought a pair of the 8Cs, in white, not black.
So you preferred the lighter, brighter white rather than the darker blacks? ;)
Congrats on your purchase, I'm sure you'll be very pleased with them.
Please check back on occasion with some longer term listening impressions, along with any reliability issues, as time goes by.
 

c1ferrari

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If only Purite Audio were in southern California...:)
 
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Purité Audio

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I wish Purité Audio was in Southern California!
Keith
 

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If only Purite Audio were in southern California...:)


If the 20% Value Added Tax could be waived for an export sale it would pay for a weekend UK holiday and visit to Purite Audio to buy a pair of D&D speakers. :D
 
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Purité Audio

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Sales outside the EU are vat exempt!
Keith
 

felbj-htd.

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Thank you very much, Keith!
I am very seriously considering the D&D 8ce's after reading your post.
It looks like a very decent all-in-one option for those who want less clutter and fewer boxes of gear in their living rooms.
Can you please confirm if they are magnetically shielded (as modern speakers should be)?
I wondered if there is audible noise heard when they are idle?
I've read that this is common with some professional active speakers and could be quite loud.
Can you please share as much as you could about the D&D and your experience with them: I am very inexperienced in this. Also: which speakers you think could be their close competitors with features, quality of sound (I was thinking of the newer Genelecs: a pair of the 8351 SAM™ Studio Monitors).
 

Dialectic

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Thank you very much, Keith!
I am very seriously considering the D&D 8ce's after reading your post.
It looks like a very decent all-in-one option for those who want less clutter and fewer boxes of gear in their living rooms.
Can you please confirm if they are magnetically shielded (as modern speakers should be)?
Will you be using them next to a CRT monitor?
 

felbj-htd.

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Will you be using them next to a CRT monitor?
Oh no, of course not the CRT screen! :) It seems that OLED screens are not affected, but I don't know this for sure. I have just purchased the Sony XBR-55A9G, which is an OLED TV. Do you have any thoughts about Genelecs vs. the D&D?
 
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