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Dayton MK402X Review (Bookshelf Speaker)

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run into trouble powering them given the 80dB sensitivity and 4ohm minimum impedance? I suppose they could be fine for nearfield use.
I’m powering them with SMSL’s version of the Topping PA3, which Amir measured at 55w 4ohms. That’s plenty for nearfield and just enough for filling a 12x12ft office loud (with some strain/distortion). But yeah, power hungry little guys.
 
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dorirod

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Thanks for the review Amir!

Would these need for than 40W for near-field listening (even with some headroom), say Loxjie A30 or Aiyima A70? I'm thinking they might be pretty decent for desktop use.
 
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JohnBooty

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Thanks for the review Amir!

Would these need for than 40W for near-field listening (even with some headroom), say Loxjie A30? I'm thinking they might be pretty decent for desktop use.
I've not used these specifically but I've never used a speaker that needed more than 40W for nearfield use, even when I've taken an inefficient speaker and sacrificed a few additional dB to the efficiency gods for EQ's sake.
 
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escape2

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I used these MK402X for a while as front L/R channels in my main TV setup. They sounded fine, although my lowly Denon receiver was getting pretty warm trying to power them, even at fairly low volume levels. I ended up replacing them with similarly sized Energy CB-5 that I got for about the same price as the Daytons. The CB-5 look a bit more classy with grills on. The MK402X grills are very cheap looking. Plus the CB-5 is about 6 dB higher in sensitivity in my setup and is 8 Ohm rated, which means my receiver doesn't get as hot when listening to them.

From what I've read, the CB-5 is a bit on the bright side, but Audyssey must be doing a good job at addressing this since I don't find them fatiguing.
 

ta240

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I've had some custom speakers commissioned before and the builder confided that they were paying less than 60% of what the Madisound/Partsexpress prices were for off the shelf drivers direct from the manufacturer.

Much less if you buy in volume. In our case we placed a 1000+ piece order spread over a year — and, they were customised (magnets were shielded, phase plug was painted silver).

Makes sense and it throws a bit of a monkey wrench in the whole price comparison between DIY kits and mass produced speakers where the DIY side always says they save you so much money by comparison just because they don't do the marketing.
 

JimWeir

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the ultra-budget Dayton MK402X bookshelf speaker. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $70 a pair plus $8 shipping on Amazon. Note that this is the revised version of MK402 (hence the letter "X" after its model number).

From the front, MK402X looks to be a more expensive speaker than it is with chamfered edges and such:

View attachment 128891

The back gives out the budget look though:

View attachment 128892

Still, not too bad at all for what you are paying here.

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of around 1%.

Testing temperature was around 65 degrees F.

Reference axis for measurements was the center of the tweeter (by eye).

Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.

Dayton MK402X Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
View attachment 128893

Apparently the older version had a peaking tweeter and in this revision, it was brought down. That is a good thing given the broad dip proceeding it. This is not a bad response though. Beyond that dip we just have a resonance around 5 and 6 kHz. There is good bit of bass despite the little driver in there. Sensitivity is very low though as noted so you need good bit of amplification.

Good directivity results in similar early window and predicted in-room response:

View attachment 128894

View attachment 128895

Near-field driver measurements shows the reason behind the broad dip:

View attachment 128896

Seems like there is a slow roll off filter on the woofer, or a high order one on tweeter causing the two to not quite meet in the middle as far as level.

Port resonances are kept low which is nice.

I only dared to test the distortion at 86 dB SPL as it required ton of power to just to get to this level:

View attachment 128897


View attachment 128898

Horizontal Beamwidth is constant and broad for the most part which is good:

View attachment 128899

View attachment 128900

You have 10 to 20 degree leeway vertically as far as placement of the tweeter relative to your ears which is good:

View attachment 128901

Impedance drops to 4 ohm around 200 Hz:

View attachment 128902

Dayton MK402X Listening Tests
Other than needing a lot of power to get loud, out of box experience was fine. Really, it was fine which is not what one expects in this price range with so many compromises. I dialed in a broad EQ to fix the dip, pulled down the resonance between 5 and 6 kHz and the sound improved good bit to real hi-fi level:

View attachment 128903

There was enough bass to activate the one room mode in my room at 105 Hz to put in that filter. Half the time it was needed, half the time not. It reduced bass but also some high frequency harshness due to distortion harmonics. So you would want to play with that in your room.

The rear port makes noises that were audible around 2 feet and closer. So be careful in near-field listening. My tests were in far-field.

Conclusion
The expectation going into a review like this is that speaker is going to be junk unless proven otherwise. Well, it was proven otherwise! Somehow the designer managed to deal with the compromises just right to create a speaker that produces a very good experience with equalization. And not bad without.

Overall, I am going to recommend the Dayton MK402X. If you need a pair of speakers that can excite you with well recorded music most of the time and not cost more than a dinner, you have found it.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150
 

JimWeir

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I remember the Boston A40 doing great things in 1980 for $150/pair. They still sound good. I’ll send them in to Amir for a test if he likes!
 

beagleman

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These are a bargain for what they do right, and what they avoid doing wrong.

Not perfection, and limited sound level wise, but hard to beat. I have heard them, and they are hard to criticize, yet would probably not buy them, based on used speakers of same price are a better value.
 

More Dynamics Please

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Unless one is abjectly poverty stricken and can only afford the cheapest speakers or one can afford better but likes to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers it's probably worth an extra $60 for the Infinity R152 currently on sale at Harman for $130 per pair. For a few dollars more the newer design JBL Stage A120 is on sale at $150 per pair while the much loved A130 is going for $180. Several worthwhile options if willing to move up from <$100 into the $100-200 range.
 

mhardy6647

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Oh, heck this review is very disappointing/discouraging to me! ;) I cannot resist cheap loudspeakers (which is probably a recognized syndrom in DSM-5, https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm ). I even bought a pair of the rather horrid little "Dayton" B652-AIR hyper-cheapies once when they were on sale :rolleyes:. I've managed to resist the MK402x... but as Georg S. Ohm himself might've said it is useless to be a resistor.

;)

EDIT: or was that Dogbert Thor, Dog of Thunder?
1620679656923.png

1620679613700.png
 

escape2

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Unless one is abjectly poverty stricken and can only afford the cheapest speakers or one can afford better but likes to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers.

For me, it was about size constraints - I needed speakers no wider than 5.75". I guess there is NHT SuperZero, but they didn't get a positive review from Amir.
 

Sonny1

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Unless one is abjectly poverty stricken and can only afford the cheapest speakers or one can afford better but likes to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers it's probably worth an extra $60 for the Infinity R152 currently on sale at Harman for $130 per pair. For a few dollars more the newer design JBL Stage A120 is on sale at $150 per pair while the much loved A130 is going for $180. Several worthwhile options if willing to move up from <$100 into the $100-200 range.

Agreed, but someone might be buying this for the garage or workshop where critical listening might not be a priority. Still, I’d kick in a few extra bucks for the R152 or the little JBL.

By the way, I bought a set of R152’s over the weekend and was impressed. They don’t have low bass but the overall sound was much better than I’ve ever experienced for $130. Is the JBL A130 better sounding or are there any advantages to the A130? It wasn’t on sale when I got these. The little Infinity speakers are really nice. Better than many highly regarded budget speakers I’ve owned from well known companies.
 
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dorirod

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Unless one is abjectly poverty stricken and can only afford the cheapest speakers or one can afford better but likes to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers it's probably worth an extra $60 for the Infinity R152 currently on sale at Harman for $130 per pair. For a few dollars more the newer design JBL Stage A120 is on sale at $150 per pair while the much loved A130 is going for $180. Several worthwhile options if willing to move up from <$100 into the $100-200 range.

Edit: another reason (@sweetchaos site https://comparesizes.com/)

1620686129410.png
 
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More Dynamics Please

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Mea culpa. I inadvertently omitted the exception for those who live in teensy spaces or have painted themselves into a corner where they must prioritize miniscule speaker size. I hereby grant you an equal exception along with the abjectly poverty stricken who can only afford the cheapest speakers and those who can afford better but like to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers ;)
 

richard12511

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Unless one is abjectly poverty stricken and can only afford the cheapest speakers or one can afford better but likes to play the game of discovering the world's cheapest acceptable speakers it's probably worth an extra $60 for the Infinity R152 currently on sale at Harman for $130 per pair. For a few dollars more the newer design JBL Stage A120 is on sale at $150 per pair while the much loved A130 is going for $180. Several worthwhile options if willing to move up from <$100 into the $100-200 range.

Thanks. Just bought a pair.
 
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