Perfect in every way - 3D soundstage, undemanding but addictive, build quality (Bird's Eye Maple finish brings many admiring comments)

None

Agree with all the positive comments made on these wonderful speakers - I had used Contour 1.3's for about three years, as well as other Dynaudios - all impressive - but these are just ineffably brilliant. So perfect in every way - they draw you in to the music and become invisible. Exquisite highs and lows, combined with sensational midrange - what more can I say? Such a shame Dynaudio discontinued them for future generations of listeners - makes these a highly desirable classic. Beautiful Danish minimalist design - combines sonically and aesthetically with my Danish Bow Technologies Wizard and Wazoo - the amp drives them easily - though only rated @ 75 watts into 8 ohms.

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Various Dynaudio, PMC, ATC, Accoustic Energy, Mission, B & W, Proac, etc.

Very good bass with the right amp. Soundstage and imaging!

None

Just a top notch speaker that just blew me away when I first heard it. I use a Pass labs amp to drive them and the can fill me room (17x22) with full bass. They soundstage like nothing that I have ever had in my house. The birds eye maple is just amazing to look at. Power thes with a good amp and stands and you will be shocked at how good they can sound.

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Kef Definitive tech Aerial Silverline.

Together wit my Electrokompaniet (NEMO) amps and good cables (Proson top model), the 1.3SE provides a very well balanced and relaxed sound picture. Clarity and neutrality are also terms that spring to mind, to describe what I feel about these speakers. I also think they will funktion well together with a smaller amp. They seem very litle demanding when it comes to power.

It looks (mostly) harmless.

I was looking for a powerful but relatively small speaker, one that would funktion well together with my Electrokompaniet amps and cd player. I was testing a lot of speakers in this class, as well as reading reviews. A time consuming effort, but time well spent! Amongst the ones I tested, Elak, Sonus Faber, JBL, Dynabel and more.., I found the 1.3SE to be the most balanced an honests of them all. So it was not difficult to fall in love with this compact dane, this wonderpiece of a speaker. Luckily I found a pair, almost new, at half the price of new ones, and I concider them the best buy I have done so far, in my everlasting pursuit of perfect sound. If it is perfection you are looking for, this is your speaker. If you prefer to impress your friends with a wrongly colorated sound picture, you better buy a massive and cheap american speaker.

Still discovering new details on my cd-recordings.....so less need to buy new!

makes bad recordings sound like MP3, played on High-end.

When a bass-speaker of my Epos ES11 broke down, I started to look for a set of new speakers. I was interested in the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk2 because of the positive feedback in Audioshops and magazines. I went to an Audioshop and listened to the Contour 1.3Mk2, compared them with the B&W Nautilus 805 and the B&W CDM 1NT. I brought with me my good old Marantz CD80 (see my review) and the Accuphase E305. I was disappointed with the sound of the Contour: not rich enough in details and sounded sometimes too flat. The B&W 805 was impressive in bass, but excessive in midrange. It was as if playing with loudness on (and my Accuphase hasn’t even a loudness button!); too coloured. The CDM 1 couldn’t keep up with some of my music-preferences. The reference cd I use is “The Nits: Henk / Kilo”, playing the tracks from the original Kilo album. I also played Roger Water’s “The pro’s and cons of hitchhiking”, Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and Peter Gabriel’s new “Up”. Very disappointed was the sound of RHCP “Californication” on the Mk2: sometimes they are too honest! Because I wasn’t satisfied with either speakers I mentioned, I started too look for more reviews on this and other sites. So I noticed the Contour 1.3 SE was described as a totally different speaker compared to the Mk2 and may be the one I was searching for……. however at € 2600,- too expensive. Searching for ways to get my hands on a pair of SE’s, (thanks E-Bay!), in Northern Germany, for pair for € 1510. So I went to Germany and listend to this pair on a more modern Accuphase amp and a Marantz CD94 from the German owner........... WAUW: this was where I was searching for: smooth treble, very natural sounding vocals, lots of details, good punching and pretty fast bass (don’t compare this „punching“ with floor speakers, but it’s there) and last but not at least.....very musical!!! The pair of SE’s I bought where just 1 year! For the price the’re sold new, I wouldn’t recommend them, but I can understand people who do: this Dynaudio is a reference in it’s class! Equipment I use: Accuphase E-305 Marantz CD80 Audioquest Type 6

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are there any?

* open sound stage * imaging * bass extension for a stand-mounter * sweet treble and intergration with mid/bass speaker

* arent immediate attention grabbing speakers. * need a LONG break-in period

A wonderfully engineered speaker! I have heard allot of speakers and own some Dynaudio speakers myself(audience 40 and contour 1.8 Mk2), however its this speaker that has won my ears and heart. Its main strengths are its ability to provide a wide open sound stage and with razor sharp imaging. What is so surprising is the bass extension on these beauties. Get the placement right, and you’ll be quite amazed on the low clout it can produce for its size. Anyone looking for a quality stand mounter should put this on their short list. Partner them with quality electronics and give them 30 minutes (they aren’t immediate attention grabbing speakers) and I can assure that you will be taken in by them. These speakers are soo good that Dynaudio used them as the reference when designing the Evidence. Also Eggleston works use these speakers as a reference. Please note these speakers need a HUGE amount of break-in. Out of the box these speakers are okay but no-where near what they can produce. I’m being very serious in saying they need a good 500 hours to be fully broken in. Its was torture going through the process (especially for my electric bill). I thought my contour 1.8mk2 was bad, this speakers definitely takes case.

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all the dynaudio range, b&w nautilus range and many others.

I'll just add the equipment I used with the 1.3SEs which I omitted in the review below. Citation 7.0, Pre Citation 7.1, Amp Pioneer PD65, Source Osiris 24.5", Stands Audioquest Slates, Cables Homegrown Silver Lace, ICs Also auditioned with: 1) CJ tube amp & pre with Metronome tube CDP. 2) Stratos with FT Audio LW-1 passive & Sony XA-777ES 3) Stratos with Cary SLP-98, SLP-2002 & XA-777ES 4) Cary V-12 with Cary SLP-98 & XA-777ES. All very musical but the 1) system (CJ amp) could have used a bit more current as we managed to clip the amp with certain recordings.

1) Loads of detail without any harshness or listener fatigue. 2) Liquid and natural midrange presentation. 3) Seamless mid/high integration. 4)Amazing quantity of tight & fast bass for such a small monitor. 5)Build quality. 6)The SEs do wonderfull things with a quality recording.

These little guys have totally destroyed my CD budget. I hate turning them off.

A bunch of folks would think that one should have their head examined for considering a small monitor with an MSRP of $3.5K. Quality stand Extra! Well, I used to think so until I heard the 1.3SE. I actually don't think of them a speakers which is a first for me, but rather musical instruments. The vocal presentation offered by these speakers is simply superb. Spin Elvis, Nat King Cole (DCC gold discs) or Diana Krall and you would swear these artists were performing in your room. You want dynamics, there it is in spades. Take Elton's Rocket Man (DCC recording) and the dynamics of this track just explode in the room and I mean explode. The SEs are also a very versatile monitor. They don't care if one is into jazz, acoustical, classical, pop or rock as they handle all musical preferences with equal talent and emotion. This is not the case with many a high end speaker which seem to prefer jazz, vocals or classical but seem fall apart with fast acoustical or rock/pop music. uThe SEs will extract all the detail from recordings that the upstream components will allow plus always sound smooth and emotional in the process. None of this "rolled off" in the highs business here. The kicker is that with all their detail, there is just no hardness, harshness or listener fatigue whatsoever. The detail communicated by these speakers is amongst the best I've heard. I somtimes sit a good five or so feet outside the right speaker and the musical image is still there to be fully enjoyed. I no longer feel that a person must sit in the so called sweet spot to enjoy music. With the SEs, the sweet pot is on major league steroids! Build quality. Dynaudio truly did a superb job assembling and finishing these speakers. The birds-eye maple is a stunner with the sides of both speakers perfectly grain matched. It becomes obvious real fast that no corners were cut putting these little guys together. One more thing, the Dyns have a very high WAF. My wife just loves them and not just for their great looks.

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Monitor Audio, a/d/s, Dynaudio Audience & Contour and have auditioned many $$$ makes & models.

Neutral,open, deep and wide soundstage,great bass.

Need space to breathe.

My previous speakers were the B&W 602 S2 so the SEs were a big upgrade for me and what an upgrade. These speakers have great neutrality, wide and open soundstage, great bass "non boomy" and are voiced do die for. Having a huge collection of american "new country" music (I live in India), these speakers show what they are capable of. I can listen to Alan Jackson all night and still want more. The B&W805s did come close to the Dines in a lot of respects but they just cant rock or dance. With the SEs you are playing Diana Krall or Dire straits or Enrique Eg. and the speakers stay true to the music. A huge plus for any speaker.However The use of top end electronics is a must. Enjoy. I use them with.. NAD Silverline S100/S200 pre power NAD Silverline S500 CD Player VDH First ultimate,The Second (Balanced), The wind mk2 combo.

Clarity, nuetrality and good bass for its size

Costly - but who pays sticker price anyway

These are great speakers! Neutral, detailed and are excellent with all types of music. They sounded a little cool at first but settled in very well after about 100 hours. Some have said you need lots of power but I am using a 60 watt int amp in a medium size room with good results. Of course system matching does wonders so here is mine which works very well with the SE's Cal Audio Labs Icon MK2 CD Redgum 60w int amp Zu Wax speaker cables Zu Oxyfuel interconnects Zu Mother PC Osiris stands

Neutrality, clarity, detail, soundstaging.

Needs realistic playback volumes to sound its best. Somewhat inefficient (6 ohms) and price

This is by far the best sounding bookshelf speaker I have ever heard. The details, clarity, soundstaging, and neutrality are just a few of the strengths. If you are looking for a bookshelf speaker look no more. The only downsides or faults if you want to call it that is that it is somewhat ineffecient at 6 ohms although I have no problem driving it with my B&K AVR202. The only other downside if there is any is that to sound it's best you really need to play it back at realistic sound levels. Not that it sounds bad at low levels. Just that this speaker really excels when driven at realistic volumes. For examply if you are listening to a piano it sounds best if it is as loud as a real piano would play. There is one more downside it's rather pricey although I don't really consider that a downside. (you get what you pay for) If you want the best look no further. Listening to Diana Krall really shows what this speaker is capable of doing. The biggest problem you will have is that it is so good you will start to find faults in your CD's recordings. For example when I was listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan the CD little wing you can actually pick up just how bad the recording is. At first I though it was a bad connection or a scratch on the CD. But after getting another CD of the same I realized it was just on the recording of the CD. Some people complain that there is not enough bass. However I use mine in a home theatre with a subwoofer which solves any problems of missing bass. What do you expect from a bookshelf speaker? If you do find they are lacking in the bass department I recomment just getting a subwoofer because you will not find a better sounding speaker in my opinion. (unless you want to spend a whole lot more money for only a very slightly better sounding speaker which would probably still be a dynaudio lol) If you are considering this speaker go and give it a listen you owe it to yourself. System: B&K AVR 202 Toshiba SD-9200 Dynaudio 1.3 SE's Dynaudio T2.1 Dynaudio 1.3 MKII M&K 12" Sub V-2B Canare Interconnects