Focus - new active Dynaudio speakers

[jonfitch]

What's odd?

No waveguide between lower directivity / wider dispersion. Waveguide means directivity matching at the crossover frequency at the expense of narrow dispersion.

eg. Two speakers with the same midwoofer.

Exhibit A: speaker with a waveguide-

relatively smooth around the crossover region. However, dispersion at high frequencies it relatively low- at 10Khz between the on axis at 70 degrees off axis the difference is 17dB.

View attachment 288431

Exhibit B: speaker with no waveguide: some directivity mismatch around the crossover region, but dispersion in high frequencies remains high- the difference between the on axis and 70 degrees off axis at 10Khz is 10dB better!

View attachment 288432


Design trade-offs.

I find it odd that Dynaudio decided the Confidence 30 needed a waveguide despite their tweeter mating with a smaller 5.9" woofer, but the Confidence 20, mating with a 7.1" woofer didn't need one. That just seems like counterintuitive design. But your mileage may vary, perhaps you would be comfortable to buy a surround system with different design philosophy between speakers.

I mean, it would be hard to imagine a 5.9" woofer has worse directivity than a 7.1" driver, but who knows, maybe they just chose a really badly performing 5.9" woofer for some reason.

 

[tktran303]

Apologies, I misunderstood you.

In the Confidence series; the diameter of the mid-woofer isn’t what determines whether they decided to the use what they call their DDC Lens.

All the vertically symmetric WMTMW models eg. Confidence 30/40/50 use a MTM driver layout with a carefully shaped baffle around the tweeter, which is concave in the vertical plane, but convex in the horizontal plane.

The aim of this is that the vertical dispersion will be reduced, to reduce floor and ceiling bounce.
Simultaneously the horizontal dispersion will be increased.

The WT design on the Confidence 20 is an outlier in that regard, and doesn’t use that type of baffle geometry for directivity control

 

[jonfitch]

Sounds like just restating the question, but I guess that's what every internet discussion ends up devolving into, an argument over semantics.

 

[tktran303]

The size of the midwoofer is a red herring.

MTM driver placement and bidirectional directivity control is what is determining Dynaudio’s decision to shape the tweeter baffle.

 

[thewas]

No waveguide between lower directivity / wider dispersion. Waveguide means directivity matching at the crossover frequency at the expense of narrow dispersion.

While this is often the case, it should be added that a good waveguide can even widen the dispersion on the upper end to give a kind of constant directivity.

 

[metasharp]

Dutch an Dutch 8C don't have the same freq response as Focus 50.

8C
active or passive... it's a little unclear
30Hz-20KHz
connectivity: wires

Focus 50
active
20Hz-22KHz
connectivity: wires + wireless (airplay2, chromecast, wifi, wisa, bluetooth, ...)

8C better than Focus 50... not on a user perspective from what i can tell

 

[DSJR]

Mostly great, with excellent bass extension. There's no secret. Good speakers measure good.

DYNAUDIO Focus 50

Aktywne zespoły głośnikowe nowej serii Focus nie są pionierskim, ale już kolejnym krokiem Dynaudio w tym kierunku. Są znacznie nowocześniejsze ...

audio.com.pl

View attachment 288427View attachment 288428
I also auditioned the Focus 50 several months back and really, really liked them.
View attachment 288430
Not sur I would pick a pair for 10k, tho (I would rather spend a bit more for 8Cs at this point).

For 5k€, I found the Focus 10 to be somewhat overpriced against my Buchardt A500 Signature, costing the same. Certainly good lifestyle bookshelves for the size, tho.

At the presentation, the 30's were there but not used (the pic above makes the 50 look huge, but in fact the 10 is like an LS3/5A on steriods in terms of size, the 30 is tiny and not much more than waist high and the 50 a good size 'tower' type..

It'd be great if Amir or Erin could get some to measure the way 'we' know, accepting that Dynaudio have an extremely advanced test facility of their own and if any others of you get the chance to hear some, please report back.

Sorry to the totally objective crowd, but D&D's, Kii's and so on wouldn't fit into many domestic scenes where these Focus models could if the wood or colour was right. Tell you summat thoygh, they're in a different subjective league to the Naim with Focal or Kudos alternatives at far higher prices the now 'trad' 80's derived UK dealers here are offering!!!




P.S. The Confidence models are passive with all the compromises that entails. I suspect the styling is important too in these and the moulded waveguides and so on are a styling feature as much as a perhaps necessary one to make them work properly at all, especially as regards driver layout and so on? I believe the Focus tweeter is a good one from their driver portfolio but not sure if it's the same as the Confidence type.

 

[DSJR]

As you can see in my signature I have a pair of Focus 50.... I don't know how they measure but they blast you with a wall of sound.
And believe me no need for any subwoofer. It's already able to make my whole building vibrate upon the blasts.
Got them new for a little less than 10000euros (dynaudio refuses most discount requests) after searching a lot.

Now to wind the wall of sound down and play something simply and well recorded in a noce venue acoustic? - can you hear venue and reverb acoustics 'behind' the speakers as well as the musicians or vocalists in front of them? Maybe this is a trick most of the latest better actives can do but it's something passive models as a breed don't seem to do as well, but I was transfixed on the dem I had and wish I had longer to listen to music through them. My local audio salon hasn't ordered any I gather as they're too busy selling the passive Dynaudio's with ever more expensive UK amps in an upgrade ladder

 

[metasharp]

Give me flac to try and i will tell you

 

[VintageFlanker]

Dutch an Dutch 8C don't have the same freq response as Focus 50.
8C
active or passive... it's a little unclear
30Hz-20KHz
connectivity: wires
Focus 50
active
20Hz-22KHz
connectivity: wires + wireless (airplay2, chromecast, wifi, wisa, bluetooth, ...)
8C better than Focus 50... not on a user perspective from what i can tell

Excuse me, but have you been disconnected from any audio news for the last three or four years?

- 8C are active. Like... Obviously. What the heck is "unclear" about it?
- They go down way lower than 30Hz, and that is not a speculation, it has been measured anechoic (will hit 20Hz in-room the same way Focus 50 do, probably with less DSP efforts)

- Are Roon Ready, support Room EQ.
- Are a more accomplished in design anyway. Factually. With stellar directivity control, cardoid and so on.

Give me flac to try and i will tell you

Nope. No need to, really.

 

[metasharp]

Roon is a useless thing.
I see no wireless connectivity in 8C specs or manual. Does that look user friendly to you?

 

[VintageFlanker]

 

[metasharp]

8c

8c. Accurate. Adaptive. All-in-one. Overview. Completely accurate music reproduction requires more than a thoroughly optimized speaker. It requires a speaker that works together with the acoustics of the listening room. The 8c is more than just a loudspeaker. It is a unique acoustic concept...

dutchdutch.com

See? Specs don't say anything about it explicitely. We just guess it's active from the amp included.
Sound inputs seem pretty limited to me.

 

[VintageFlanker]

We just guess it's active from the amp included.

Do you actually know what an active speaker is ? No offense, but it doesn't seem like you do.

 

[metasharp]

Well to me it's an electricity plugged speaker that takes a line out signal and does the DSP + preamp + amp + passive speaker job with the signal.
However I don't know if there aren't on the market "active" speakers that can also work as passive speakers by taking as input a signal already amp-ed.
Since it's the first time I personaly see a speaker that takes as input a XLR wire which could potentially be amp-ed and since it doesn't say explicitely it's active unlike other brands... I left room for doubt/possibility in my mind.

 

[DSJR]

In an active design like the 8C and Focus models, the amp looks DIRECTLY at the speaker drive units giving better direct control over them, the 'crossover' and any dsp tuning in some models being done via a powered 'active' circuit BEFORE the amplifiers which can then be specified purely for the frequencies they need to handle.

In a passive speaker, the amplifier presents a full frequency range to the speakers which use 'passive components' to divide the signal up to the drivers, the amplifier not 'seeing' the drivers as clearly and having to deal with all manner of other secondary loading effects.

In my UK based parlance which is different to Amir's judging by his reviews, a 'powered' speaker is a passive speaker with built-in amplifiers. I'd suggest that almost all speakers tested here with amps built in are fully active as I know the term to be anyway....

The Focus, D&D and some others, now have a digital input as well and if properly designed, these can be better still if fed from the digital outputs of a suitable source.

 

[Flak]

A video:

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[lowkeyoperations]

I’ve been running Dirac Live on my MacBook Pro in my music studio feeding a pair of Amphion One15s with great results.

I’ve also just put a Mac Mini out in the lounge room so I can run Dirac Live into my active Dynaudio XD20S. I also picked up a little Douk U2 and am now feeding the audio out of the Mac Mini via SPDIF to the digital inputs of the Dynaudios. It’s sounding great!

One day I’d love to upgrade all that to an active pair of speakers with all that built in, mainly for my wife’s sake. She hates the complexity of multiple boxes. This Dynaudio Focus range really pushes the ‘all in one’ limits.

I wish there was a pair of Focus 20s in the range that were closer to the XD20 size, rather than just the 10s. Not sure I’d really want to go for a smaller pair of speakers, although I guess my wife would prefer that too!

 

[Novak]

Hi all
Sorry for my personal question but I am hesitating to move on the Dynaudio Focus 50 or toward Buchardt a700. Is there any objective reason to prefer one or the other except the price?
Kind regards

 

[lowkeyoperations]

Dynaudio has Dirac live built in. In my experience Dirac live is a massive improvement to correct the room. Driving my Dynaudio XD20s it has made a huge improvement especially in clarity of the 50-300 hz region.

Can the Buchardt do room correction as well?