System naim nait 1..Bluos node 2i... Replaced mk1 Linn Kans for these and I'm gobsmacked... My first hifi purchase in decades and realised I've been lacking bass... So musical... Detailed... Not sure you could get much better out of a small box

Nothing as yet

You pay through the nose for Dynaudio products, but they certainly justify paying more than the competition.

They have a distinctive house sound which is best described as warm and detailed.

The 42s have a quality whereby a snare or clap stands out from the mix and sounds perfectly accurate in terms of attack and decay. Vocals are similarly perfect, but the speakers are not analytical.

The bass and treble at either extreme are accurate but warm and rich.
In fact, it's very difficult to describe the sound character or cite a similar example.

I compared the Mission 751s favourably to these; the sound character is completely different though; the Missions are analytical yet musical but ultimately cannot belie their cost.

Those come close to the Dyns on their own merit - they are much cheaper and punch above their weight, but in terms of out and out comparison these take it for 'high end' qualities - accuracy and so on.

If the house Dynaudio sound appeals you will be hooked in by these for a long time.

I gave mine up to acquire PMCs for more monitoring purposes, and while the PMCs are excellent, these were better hi fi listening speakers & someday I will return to Dynaudio.

Accurately reproduces music and details of the recording, digs way down into the recording and reveals everything without the hifi treble effect. All reproduced in a wide deep soundstage. They just sound real (like the Vandersteens). The rosewood veneer is awesome (this wouldn't matter a bit if they sounded like crap.)

Don't even go there.

I have owned Thiel , Vandersteen, Paradigm, Alon, Legacy and now Dynaudio. Plus too many mass market makes to name here. Of all these peakers I have owned my favorite is the Vandersteen 2ci or 2ce. The reason is that they are very accurate across the entire frequency range that they produce. Their treble and overall sound is called laid back but this is absolutely not true. I play drums and have listened to countless brands of cymbals and while some have a little more top than others none cut through the music as reproduced by Thiel, B&W, Joseph Audio I could go on and on. Now to the Dynaudios. I ama giving them a 5 star rating because at this price point you may look at them and think real small can't be worth 850.00. Well go listen to any number of speakers you wish and put B&W high on your list because they are getting many accolades from all the the stereo mags right up to the new 685. Then go listen to the Audience 42.Know why the B&W is considered so exciting? because of that treble initial listen grabs you, you react blood pressure goes up same as the reviewers, excitement nothing like it. Then go to a live show, a small club any kind of music even rock.
Then come home and listen to the night and day difference between B&W, Thiel or any number of those "exciting" speakers out there. If you listen to a well broken in pair of Dynaudio Audience 42 speakers you wont stop listening. The excitement is all there without that bacon on a fire treble that so many are passing out as excitement. No everything the Dynaudio like the Vandersteen reproduces is as accurate as your going to get at their respective prices. The one thing you must do with a pair of 42s is let them break in, a good 150-200 hours. I left them paly with an analog tuner between stations for weeks. I sat down the other night and have not gone to bed before midnight since. Everything is there all the tonality the details reproduced as accurately as I have heard from a speaker of this price. Are they worth the 850.00? some people including reviewers say no. You know what take it from a 25 year+ audiophile that has sat in front of dozesns of speakers in dozens of show rooms up and down the east coast they are worth evry penny!

Similar Products Used:

Thiel 1.5, 1.2 Vandersteen 2ci, ce, Alon model 2, Legacy Classic, too many Paradigms to list (I have a greta deal of respect for Paradigm, they're treble regions can be made to sound very realistic)

Neutral, accurate, revealing and fast.

Needs very good (higher priced) equipment to sing

I think these are exceptionally good speakers for a budget price.
So why only 3 stars?

They really need very good electronics, an amp and cd player at a higher price level than the speakers themselves.
In this respect the Audience 42 seems more picky than its bigger brother, the Audience 52 (which I auditioned while choosing my current amp)

I auditioned these speakers on several occasions (including at my home, partnered with my equipment Marantz PM7200 and Marantz cd5000)

When partnered with my own (relatively) cheap amp and cd player the Audience 42 didn't shine.
The sound is very accurate, fast, uncolored and transparent
Pretty big for a small speaker but not particularly rich and lush.

Play some good recorded classical albums, Gluck's Orfeo et Euridice (Harmonia Mundi) for instance and it sounds gorgeous, weightless (I mean this in a good way) and liquid, but it misses some warmth and ease overall, as if this speaker is focused with an emphasized concentration never to loose his grip.
Which it doesn't, but therefore it never seams to relax, there isn't much air...well there is in the soundstage (which is very wide), but not in the delivery of the notes.

Rock music is played lively but a bit bass heavy and bright in the upper midds.
As said the sound is fast, but unfortunately fatiguing in the long run.
It must be my cd player that's responsible for the bright and forward upper midds and my amp which bass is a tad slow.

But I have had better succes in partnering my amp with other speakers.
The Focal JmLab Chorus 706S for instance: it misses the upmost accuracy, speed and transparancy of the Dynaudio's, but it controlled the bass better and at the same, curiously enough, it performed in a more relaxed way without losing much excitement.

B&W DM602 S3 is another candidate that performed well with my equipment, though a bit bass heavy too and at time a bit harsh treble.
No listening fatique however.

And finally the Quad L12.
Perhaps a bit laid back in comparison with others, but very engaging all the same, without strain, even at high volumes.

It could be the low sensitiviy of the Dynaudios which is a too difficult load for my amp, but I have had similar disappointing results when partnering the Audience 42's to similar priced NAD and Rotel equipment.
And 42's brother, the Audience 52 which is low sensitive as-well wasn't difficult to drive at all.

The only time the little Audience 42's showed a different face was when partnered with a Primare A20 and Rotel RCD 1072 cd player.
Now Primare is known to some for being a bit clinical and Rotel is not synonym for warm and rich.
Well the electronics must be better than that of my Marantz, for it sounded absolutely heavenly! Grainless, weighty...would "very good" be enough to describe the sound? (I'm getting a bt tired of the audio blah blah)

Of course I'm not going to buy these Dynaudios just to replace my amp and cd player at the same time for better equipment.
These speakers are very very good though when partnered with a much more expensive amp and better source.

Similar Products Used:

JMLab Chorus 706S
Quad L12
B&W DM602 S3
B&W 201i

dynamics, punch, driver integration, overall musicality. Easily matched to a wide range of components.

Sweet fk all!

Stunning mid priced standmount speakers. The way to describe the Dynaudio sound would be effortlessly natural. Driver integration is utterly perfect, leaving no part of the frequency spectrum sticking out to distracting effect. The sound is rich and involving but never succumbs to being glossy or overly lush. Bass weight is surprising for a speaker this size, being punchy and fullsome. Midrange vocals are fantastic, wonderfully sweet and clear. Other players in the market pip these for imaging and detail but fall short when it comes to dynamics and overall musical involvement. 4 ohm impedance and 86dB/w/m sensitiviy present a slightly more demanding amplifier load, however I'm using a Rotel RA-971mkII integrated and have no trouble getting these speakers to party hard.

Similar Products Used:

Epos M12 - whilst timing and rythmic ability on these award winning monitors is superb, sound is too dry compared to Dynaudio 42s and bass lacks. Tannoy Eyris - very laid back. Suits classical pieces, solo instruments. Highly detailed, analytical speaker, overall presentation too polite. B&W DM602 - hate these. Bass is wooly, loose and poorly controlled, treble is hard, sharp and too forward and imaging is pathetic.

They excell in all areas.Easy to drive(not difficult like some say)

None

Awesome speakers!!!For a speaker this size they have everything.A meaty bass,very,very open and natural midrange and treble.Never harsh. Everyone should listen to Dynaudio speakers :).The 52's are similar sounding with fuller meatier bass.Not as tight or as funky as the 42's though

Similar Products Used:

Mission 780,Rega Kyte,Castle Richmond 3.

Upper frequency accuracy, no rolloff Very sweet and lush mids Vocals and strings are quite detailed Tight and punchy bass, yet also enough to satisfy Dead on imaging Wide soundstaging Attractive looks and strong build Very transparent sound with tube equipment Best bookshelves for the money!

Very slight bright highs right out of the box Bass is of great quality but could have a tad more quantity.

First of all, let me just say that I absolutely adore these speakers. I received them on Christmas Day as a gift so as of now, they probably have roughly 15 hours of use so far. But comparing these to my set of DM603s2's, I noticed how much more sweet and lush the mids are. They seemed more detailed and maybe a tad more forward with vocals than the B&W's did. Soundstaging is very broad with that airy sense around the instruments. Imaging is dead on when recorded so. The highs are very clean but very accurate and detailed. Moreso than my B&W's. Very slightly bright, but not even enough to be a cause for concern. I expect it to be less noticible with increased burn-in time. The bass is adequate and much better than I expected from speakers of such small size. But what I love about the bass is that its tight and punchy, so I have no complaints. I forgot to mention that the baffle is metal! Not plastic. I chose the rosewood finish with the silver baffle, but I think they are all attractive with great cabinets and build. Overall nice, fairly neutral sound.

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM603s2/602s2/302, Sony garbage

Great bass, midrange(listening to Lionel Rcihie's "Deep River Woman" opening guitar, that soundid so real, I never heard anyting like it, either in my home or at a dealer's store.

You might ask if it does all these things so good, so why only four stars and not five? Well, yes it does all these things, souding so good and real, but I still felt that it is missing that "Spark".For $700.00 U.S for these little boxes is alot of money. After a few months, I felt that it has started to sound kinda boring. So the search continued, and I bought Linn Tukan stand mounting speakers. Review will be posted soon.

I bought a demo pair, the price is in CND $$. The finish is beautiful Maple. They are not bi-wireable, only one set of binding post, no problem. I connected it to a YBA Integre DT, sources were California Audio Labs Aria tube cd player, Project 1.2 turntabel, with Project phono box pre. I fired them up, and boy was I impressed! Tremendous bass, from such a small box, airy highs and the midrange to die for man, these babies sing. If you read the review of YBA Integre DT, you will notice that some of the reviewers calling YBA DT a little light weight sounding, not with these A42s, I heard great bass, this YBA is indeed a very refined amp.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Mite, Energy C2, Paradigm Atom, Linn Tukan

Pleasant coherent sound , which forces you to listen more ,The bass is non boxy and controlled.

Still to judge , but some of you who like 'too much bass' may perhaps find it somewhat lacking. But it is very musical and tonally very good.

Just a day of experience with Dyn 42 , but I could not stop myself from putting my experiences here. I was sceptical about the speakers being driven by NAD C320BEE , but to my surprise at moderate level the combination was very satisfying.Beautiful non fatiguing sound with ample details right out of box.I listened to the new speakers for 4 hours and I was feeling like more to listen. I have placed them about 6-7 inches from wall, so I had to put the supplied foams at the back to control the bass.They will further excell if you give them a brathing space of about one meter at thwe back.I am sure with more quality amp, they can be 'Killer' .

Similar Products Used:

JPW 202, JPW 203, PSB Image 2B,Kef Q1,Quad 11L

natural, open, very clean bass, airy

none

a very satisfying loudspeaker indeed!. auditioned b&w cdm 1nt and sonus faber concerto and concertino, monito, kef. just went back to these little darlings,. very open no hint of boxiness at all. yet not fatiguing, the longer you listen to them the more u love them. They look good too. very understated but very well constructed...just the way I like them.

Similar Products Used:

cdm1 nt, sonus faber concerto/concertino, kef, monitor , b&w 603s2, 602s3