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Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE brightness?

Hi. I just auditioned Dyn 1.3 SE speakers. As impressed as I was, I was surprised by their brightness. Not something I associate with Dynaudio, nor do I remember it from the 1.1's I listened to way back when.

What stood out was definite sibilance. For example, on Transcendental Blues (title track from the Steve Earle CD), vocal t's and s's all had an exaggerated tttssss to them. Cymbals on some jazz CDs (ex, Årt Blakey, Night In Tunisia gold disk) had an exaggerated metallic clash. Same for the kick drum on Yello's The race (one of my favorite listening CDs). Overall, fatiguing despite the speakers otherwise brilliance.

Setup was a the Musical Fidelity A3 CD player and A3 integrated amp, and some Tara labs cables (sorry, don't know which).

In the archives I found ONE similar comment, but mostly just praise. Any explanations? Not broken-in speakers? Poor match w/electronics? (When I heard the 1.1s, they were matched with Classe separates). The truth about my CDs, revealed? Dynaudio realitly?

Thanks, I don't want to give up on these ones.... yet....
tkdawacsdcc2
mfish
35 posts
 
please see my Dyn1.3SE review on this site: 1.3SE
rmml's avatar
rmml
204 posts
 
I don't have a 1.3 SE but a 1.3 MK II, I don't know how much power the Musical Fidelity puts out but remember the 1.3 SEs like all Dynaudio speakers needs lots of clean power to sound their best.
If you are hearing sibilance it could either be lack of power or some of your upstream components are inherently bright, and you're finally hearing them from a ruthlessly revealing pair of speakers.
dandreescu
12 posts
 
I have a pair of Dynaudio 1.3 MK II and Musical Fidelity A3 cdp/A300 integrated amp, analysis plus oval 9 cables. The speakers did sound bright when new. Their initial location, in a room with high celing and hardwood floors did not helped either...In about 2 weeks I moved them in a carpeted smaller room and tweaked the placement a little. The problem was gone and now I am a happy camper...
whknopp0713
179 posts
 
Try the Totem Model 1. Head to head with Sim Eclipse and I5, I preferred the Totem. It is a bit richer and fuller, but with all the transparency and immediacy of the 1.3
subaruguru
1,374 posts
 
Try Spendor SP3/1P for 1/2 the price. Equally resolving, but a warmer balance...and more efficient, too!
It uses a VERY nice Spendor 6.5" with a Scanspeak 19mm tweeter with a simple cross, pair-matched to 0.5dB. Doesn't get any better than this for monitors under $3k IMHO.
Or you could stick a 1ohm clean wire-wound resistor on the tweeter. I'm serious. It'd raise the crossover a bit, too, which would be no bad thing on the Contour 1.3
Unfortunately system efficiency would drop about 1/2dB.
You could accomplish the same thing by layering good quality
veils of grillcloth over the tweeter. Each one should be good for 1/3-1/2dB of tweeter suppression. Good Luck.
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