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Help . . . I’m dumber than my active speakers!

Bought a pair of Dutch & Dutch 8C because I was curious about active speakers. Have read many great reviews and comments, so my expectations were high. Set them up with their app, inputting their distance from the front wall, sidewalls, and listening chair. They are a Roon endpoint, so the source is a Roon Nucleus on my network. They cannot touch my main system and I think I’m doing something wrong. They are not as dynamic as I expected. They have great bass. I’ve read that they have a wide soundstage, but these do not. In fact, they lack dimensionality in my opinion.  I’ve never used REW, but I’m thinking I should get a microphone and give it a try. Any thoughts?
 

The digital side of my main system is:

dCS Bartök Apex

Audio Research Ref 6SE into

Parasound JC1 monoblocks

Wilson Yvette loudspeakers

Transparent Ultra Gen 6 balanced interconnects and speaker cables

Nordost Red Dawn power cords

Carpeted floor over concrete with no other room treatments 

kcpellethead
kcpellethead OP
137 posts
 

Streaming directly into the D&D 8C via a Roon Nucleus. I am the second owner, so I’m pretty sure they have been broken in.

erik_squires
15,805 posts
 

It could very well be placement or your room.  Try this.  Set them up as close as you can to your listening location.  This will remove the room acoustics.  If they suddenly sound fantastic it's your room.

mofojo
2,173 posts
 

I had Dynaudio Focus Actives. The biggest tower ones they had on the last gen. Tons of great reviews. Nah they were not my cuppa tea at all! They were however the most intelligible speaker I’ve ever had for tv. Music they were dull as hell. 

jond's avatar
jond
5,678 posts
 

Well you have a pretty killer system it just may sound better than those Dutch & Dutch 8C's. That said definitely experiment with positioning.

jeffseight's avatar
jeffseight
574 posts
 

The D&Ds have built-in room correction and can be setup all the way against the back wall.  They also have a deal with Bache to give you the surround sound effect. They take a while to set up. I had them done by an expert who did it right but still took 2 hours. On your own you are likely f-ed. Pay a trained D&D man.

They do sound amazing in the low and mid. I preferred by Fritz BE's on the highs.

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