Dynaudio Core 47 Review (Professional Monitor)

[YSC]

Couldn't it be that these speakers are exactly for driving in a straight line? Like a dragster... (I like your directivity/driving in a straight line analogy) They don't have good off-axis properties, but they do have 1.15kW of amplification on board and they cost $2400 or something. I doubt there's many speakers this size out there that have that kind of headroom, at this price point, while maintaining some degree of "studio" quality to the sound, albeit with sub-optimal directivity.

Like others, I'm not trying to defend Dynaudio and/or poor design, it's just that a product like this (or the Core 59, actually) still has appeal to me - up until the point I hear it and go "nope... the internet was right" of course

I do think listening in real life, and most who will opt for this line likely have enough room treatment and knowhow to place them so mostly the direct sound would be heard and this not being a problem, it's kind of like good and "current standard it should be better"

 

[Erizo]

Couldn't it be that these speakers are exactly for driving in a straight line? Like a dragster... (I like your directivity/driving in a straight line analogy) They don't have good off-axis properties, but they do have 1.15kW of amplification on board and they cost $2400 or something. I doubt there's many speakers this size out there that have that kind of headroom, at this price point, while maintaining some degree of "studio" quality to the sound, albeit with sub-optimal directivity.

Like others, I'm not trying to defend Dynaudio and/or poor design, it's just that a product like this (or the Core 59, actually) still has appeal to me - up until the point I hear it and go "nope... the internet was right" of course

It's just like how people don't like the NS10's sound but many producers/engineers love them

 

[q3cpma]

It's just like how people don't like the NS10's sound but many producers/engineers love them

You realize that sound engineers are not immune (at all) to audiophilia?

 

[stunta]

Preference Rating
SCORE: 5.1
SCORE w/ sub: 6.7

JBL 708P:

SCORE: 5.0
SCORE w/ sub: 6.8

Almost the same, but Amir said this about the 708P:

As such, subjectively I had nothing to complain about.

. That was for far-field listening though. Is far-field listening more forgiving or is this rating not aligning with Amir's impressions?

 

[FeddyLost]

I have one more idea about this design.
It looks like designers were not satisfied with midrange quality of 1"+7" combo and added 4" mid. But to avoid phase issues at crossover and delay in DSP they merged 4"+7" with low order slope in a way like passive filter would work.
So, result is what we see. Not so good by measurement, but most probably ok for getting job done.

 

[Exprymer]

It's just like how people don't like the NS10's sound but many producers/engineers love them

From the book "Loudspeakers: For Music Recording and Reproduction." by Philip Newel and Keith Holland

 

[czt]

View attachment 143127

From the book "Loudspeakers: For Music Recording and Reproduction." by Philip Newel and Keith Holland

Yes, one of the properties, why a pity that so few sealed monitors are available.

 

[q3cpma]

View attachment 143127

From the book "Loudspeakers: For Music Recording and Reproduction." by Philip Newel and Keith Holland

The thing is that it's mere conjecture, and that I doubt data we now have on temporal masking really support it. Other reasons such as "no bass == fast bass", availability, similarity to the average consumer small speaker, colouration misinterpreted as "inspecting the midrange through a microscope", sound engineer group think, etc... may be part of its popularity.

 

[q3cpma]

Yes, that is why a pity that so few sealed monitors available.

Porting does not necesarily influence decay beyond the group delay increase (which still stays under a cycle most of the time). Passive radiators may be another story.

 

[Count Arthur]

Send to amir

I'm the wrong side of the pond.

 

[audio2920]

It's just like how people don't like the NS10's sound but many producers/engineers love them

I guess that's it. It's probably better to have a known quantity (good/bad/indifferent) so your brain isn't having to think about the sound of the speaker and you're just instinctively mixing to get a sound you know is "right". I hope this is what the Cores give me. I suppose I hope it sounds like a modernised BM15; just not too modernised

Would be interested to see an original NS10 measured, that's not been done on here yet, right? I would imagine it does have some measurable redeeming feature(s), if not by today's standards, then at least compared with other monitors of that era. Maybe...

 

[dfuller]

I guess that's it. It's probably better to have a known quantity (good/bad/indifferent) so your brain isn't having to think about the sound of the speaker and you're just instinctively mixing to get a sound you know is "right". I hope this is what the Cores give me. I suppose I hope it sounds like a modernised BM15; just not too modernised

Would be interested to see an original NS10 measured, that's not been done on here yet, right? I would imagine it does have some measurable redeeming feature(s), if not by today's standards, then at least compared with other monitors of that era. Maybe...

Its main redeeming factors are that they represent a crappy sounding bass challenged system (much like Auratone 5Cs) and they tell you immediately if something in the midrange is off because of the massive spike.

 

[audio2920]

I guess the crucial difference between this and the KH310 is that the KH is strictly nearfield, whereas this (and it's 59 bigger brother) have, on paper at least, just enough punch to work in a more mid-field setup.

I do know the KH310 doesn't have the headroom I need, I have tried that, so that's off my shortlist. I should really be using something much bigger than any of these things for my LCR setup at 2 - 3m listening position, but I just don't have the space. And maybe what Dynaudio are banking on is that I'm not alone in that.

 

[audio2920]

Its main redeeming factors are that they represent a crappy sounding bass challenged system (much like Auratone 5Cs) and they tell you immediately if something in the midrange is off because of the massive spike.

Yeah, I guess it was similar to a lot of consumer speakers of it's day in that sense!

 

[Spocko]

It's just like how people don't like the NS10's sound but many producers/engineers love them

Exactly - designed for a specific purpose that is independent of hi-fi norms. Like @audio2920 suggested earlier - it's purpose built "like a dragster". The problem is that without measurements, we have NO IDEA what its purpose is other than speculation and guesses. A dragster actually describes itself as a dragster, no guessing there. But speaker companies imply they are everything to everybody which cannot be true - all speakers have compromises, what are yours Dynaudio? Without measurements we cannot know.

 

[Spocko]

I guess the crucial difference between this and the KH310 is that the KH is strictly nearfield, whereas this (and it's 59 bigger brother) have, on paper at least, just enough punch to work in a more mid-field setup.

I do know the KH310 doesn't have the headroom I need, I have tried that, so that's off my shortlist. I should really be using something much bigger than any of these things for my LCR setup at 2 - 3m listening position, but I just don't have the space. And maybe what Dynaudio are banking on is that I'm not alone in that.

But as LCR you'll have subwoofer support so where are you high passing the KH310 that it's not loud enough?

 

[Spocko]

I guess that's it. It's probably better to have a known quantity (good/bad/indifferent) so your brain isn't having to think about the sound of the speaker and you're just instinctively mixing to get a sound you know is "right". I hope this is what the Cores give me. I suppose I hope it sounds like a modernised BM15; just not too modernised

Would be interested to see an original NS10 measured, that's not been done on here yet, right? I would imagine it does have some measurable redeeming feature(s), if not by today's standards, then at least compared with other monitors of that era. Maybe...

Buy the right equipment for the job: you know exactly what you need so it really does make speaker shopping easier! Consumers get in trouble because they assume they need everything which drives costs through the roof.

 

[amirm]

This is also the reason why we do not publish measurements of our loudspeakers: we simply do not believe they reveal much about the actual performance of a loudspeaker. "

Wow, that is an incredible statement on their part. Let's hope their listening tests are controlled....

 

[Spocko]

Wow, that is an incredible statement on their part. Let's hope their listening tests are controlled....

Yeah, hard to believe their ears can hear directivity issues - hard enough to tune frequency response, but directivity too?

 

[audio2920]

But as LCR you'll have subwoofer support so where are you high passing the KH310 that it's not loud enough?

The answer's a bit complicated.... however, to your point, in fairness to the KH I didn't try them in combination with help from any subs (it was a relatively quick demo) but they didn't seem happy with the level, regardless of heavy LF.

Basically I need Dolby theatrical level, so 105dB per channel at the mix position from about 40Hz upwards. For the 3m mix position I make that 114.5dB @ 1m with room gain included. Technically this should be without bass management as that's how cinemas run of course. And I do find I get better translation when I follow this "rule" so as a compromise I actually have a sub for each of the screen channels (directly under each of them) and a 4th for the discreet .1 when working theatrically.

(The 4 subs can be combined for nearfield with bass management, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of improvement in FR - I guess the positioning of all of them is rubbish for multi-sub operation.)

It's mostly the 100-200Hz (ish) area I struggle with. Currently the sub positioning isn't really ideal, and I can't lift the crossover high enough without running in to alignment issues which I've yet to find a way of resolving in DSP. I guess I'm "getting away with it" at a lower (80-100Hz) crossover because the [lower *edit typo*] longer wavelengths are less sensitive..

Anyway, that's all irrelevant waffle from me, and all that really matters here is headroom is a bigger selling point to me than directivity or even FR to some extent. Even if the KH310 could *just* do what I need when combined with a sub, I'd still prefer something more substantial.