Dynaudio focus 360
I recently acquired a pair of Dynaudio focus 360's and hope there are folks here that have had these or similar Dynaudio's that can shed some light.
My system currently consist's of a Rega p6 and auralic vega1 into a McIntosh mx110,to a adcom gfa5452 out to the focus 360's.
First off I know these speakers like a lot of power and currant,and I have plans to get a amp with 350 watts per channel.
Here is what is going on.
If I listen below 70% of my maximum listing volume,the sound falls flat on its face and sounds like a cheap radio with 4 inch speakers in it.
If I turn up to 80%,things sound much better,at least modern quality recordings.
Tunn up to 90%,things sound real good,until the singer backs off for a softer vocal delivery.Bam.The vocals fall way way back and way to low.
Same thing with electric guitar.As long as its playing lead up front in the mix it sounds good,but the rhythm guitar just melds into mush.No tight loud crunch where it normally is.
The vocals only sound clear and good when it is a sparse mix,with few instruments competing for space.
Then the vocals sound very very good.
One example:Alison Krauss Baby now that I Found You.
Stunning,I mean it sounded like she had walked up to me and was singing 3 feet from my face.
Please assure me these drop outs in mid-range and vocals will go away with big power and currant.
These speakers sound fantastic with acoustic instruments and drums.
They just can't reproduce electric instruments with the required oomph on my classic rock recordings.
They come close when I crank it to 100% of my listening volume,but still the krang of a Marshall stack is missing.
It is strange how when ever the vocals are just a little bit reserved the volume drops a lot and looses all body,even on the intro of a song.
I'am going to wait until I try these with the more powerful amp before I make my final judgement,just hoping I can get some encouragement here that all will be well.
Thanks
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@twangy57 - Over the last couple of weeks and multiple treads on speakers, amps, streamers, etc., with all the recommendations, information, suggestions, etc., that have come them... (whether they are Good, Bad, or Ugly - queue up a picture of Clint Eastwood here LOL I'm now curious as to how do you think you should proceed? Where is your head at? Are there any key, bottom line questions do you still need answered? - Jeff |
To all. I suppose the next thing for twangy57, is to receive his new, to him, power amp, the mighty Conrad Johnson Premier 350 stereo amp, an amp that will easily do the job driving his Dynaudio speakers. Considering he has not listened to the speakers before purchasing them, or the CJ amp, I believe he will have some fun. I do have a few concerns. The MX110....it might be a bit noisy because the amp has a higher than normal input sensitivity, around 1V. The amp takes a long time to break in. If listening to the system daily, I would encourage to leave the amp on 24/7 (as I do with all of my ss gear). This would require a preamp left on all the time as well, something most tube users do not do, and I understand why. I am excited for twangy57. The owners manual is available online to download.....remember, the amp is phase inverting. My best, MrD. |
goodlistening64I’am glad you made that point about the impedance. Yes ,I believe you when you say the impedance mis-match is probably not really the main problem. I do know that when I replaced my Adcom pre with the Mac,I loved what it did to the vocals on most of the music I listen to. And that is with the mis-match of the Mac pre and my Adcom amp. I have found that by moving the speakers closer to the front wall and turning the bass down on the preamp that 90% of the problem I was having with the vocals has gone away. I guess I'am saying I know you are right about not counting on a better impedance match to solve all issue’s,and I’am not. I have been reaching out to owners of these speakers and they say the extra currant should fix that last 10% of the issue with any weakness in the midrange I really like the way it sounds now,and see no reason to change the preamp at this time. If I find I don’t like the sound of it later I already have someone that wants to buy this preamp/tuner. I also will take your advice on exploring a cable upgrade. I was wanting to wait until I got the new amp,but I guess I should at least start looking now. Thanks again for clarifying the impedance issue. |
mrdecibelI can see your point,. I always wondered why on even expensive guitar amp's they never seem to put anything better than a run of the mill IEC power cord.
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ganoI almost forgot to ask you about damping factor. Could you give me a example of what mine is or what it should be? My speakers are 4 ohm and the output impedance of the Adcom is rated down to 4 ohms,as far as the resistance of my cables I don't know.Just figure towards the high end of the spectrum. Thanks |
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