[Review] Dynaudio Contour 1.3 vs. s1.4

Dynaudio Contour 1.3 vs. s1.4

Currently looking to upgrade my Audience 42's, I managed to demo a pair of 1.3mk2's against a pair of 1.4s down my dealers the other day.

Well, the 1.3's stunned me! Great detail, depth, dynamics of the music! They certainly need a powerful amp to drive them. My single smartpower was red hot after about 20 mins. We switched to mono-x's and that sorted that! Zero 7 & Faithless were enhanced hugely, particularly in the midrange.

Then switched to the 1.4's. Trully great speakers after about 10 mins. of running. They had everything of the 1.3's as you'd expect but a little more of everything. They are about £1k more though so that kind of puts them out of my budget for now!

Think the 1.3's will drive some serious high end electronics with ease. I was going to try the B&W 805's but didn't get the time. Heard they aren't quite as good. I did have a go with the WB Arcs which were really nice but a bit lighter on the bass & felt the Dyn's warmth suited the cyrus a bit more!

I'd recommend both Dyn's very highly on anyone's shortlist in the 1-2k price bracket for sure!!!!

Cheers...

Iain

 

Iain,

Dynaudio have stopped making the 1.3 MKII's, I brought a birds eye maple pair B grade for £900, I have a Cyrus Smartpower on the end of mine and I've never noticed the Smartpower getting that hot.

Autio T have another B grade pair in Swindon if that's of any interest :-

http://www.audio-t.co.uk/html/offers/dem/dem_speakers.html

 

Those "B grades" were just Dynaudio's way of making some money when the new Contour S series met some market resistance initially, I believe. They made a few hundred of the old model and sold them at reduced prices, a stratagem much used by car companies. A bargain if ever there was one.

I really like the 1.3 Mk II myself. It needs to be driven by a fast amp with a good grip on the bottom end. I had great results with a Micromega MicroAmp. Power helps but is not important in itself, it's more about control than about sheer power ( in other words, even if you have 200 valve watts, it probably still won't gel).

I've yet to hear the S 1.4 under meaninfgul conditions, but someone whose ears I trust tells me that they are indeed very good. But if you can still find a cheap pair of 1.3s ... no contest, vfm-wise.

 

I still have my 1.1's, cant quite let them go yet. The only real drawback for me was the inability to sound good at lower listening levels.

 

Andy, funnily enough they ar £900 from Audio T in High Wycombe. Just out of interest I take it when you say "B"grade, that they aren't poor versions and just extra stock? I wouldn't want to go and splash nearly a grand on something inferior. Quite taken with them i must say! Really want some 1.4's but these would do a fantastic job for the money I think.

Cheers!

 

Iain, I was told that B grade meant there was a slight mark on the cabinet, I couldn't for the life of me see a mark, which could make the comment from Markus Sauer true.

I highly doubt that Dynaudio would sell them if there was an issue with the drivers.

I have to say I'm well pleased with them.

 

Oh no!!!!.....upgradeitis coming up. I'll check and see if they have a mark on them. Very tempting indeed!!

 

?

 

Try it and you will see/hear what I'm on about. BTW I like valves, but not with the 1.3.

 

The 1.3MkIIs are an excellent speaker...I managed to get mine s/h for just £600 (from a friend) . Since I stuck my 200W (into 8ohms, 400 into 4 ) DIY PWM amp on them they've really woken up.

Haven't heard any 1.4s yet but I really don't like the new Dyn styling that much anyway.

Michael.

 

Im sorry Markus,
the statement is too unspecific and vague for me to work with.

Im sure there are valve amps that are a bad match for this speaker. Im sure that you might have tried some valve amps with them - but how many, and which models?

At the extreme end of the valve scale I would point to the 600 watt per channel audio research valve monoblocks that I saw at the emporium last week. The previous owner was using them to drive some Apogee Scintillas. Im very sure that you wouldnt need to go to anything like this kind of extreme to find a valve amplifier that could drive the dynaudios effortlessly.

At the other end of the scale there are low powered valve amplifiers that are so well designed that they can shock with the way in which they can drive difficult speakers with ease.

Im just pointing out for the sake of balance on the forum that there are valve amps out there that will drive any speaker in the world. Whether people like the sound of the individual amp in question is another matter.

As you say though, its not just about power, its about control.

The sound of valve amps varies as hugely as the power rating. I have heard many valve amps that have similar levels of control at every point than any solid state amp I have heard. Of course some of these amps havent been heard by that many people because they are only sold at a small number of dealers in the UK.

Id be happy to point out some of these dealers/amps if you are interested in finding out more.

Cheers
Chris

 

:drool:

 

- does it come with its own electricity substation?

Michael.

 

mike, they are ridiculous.

The transformers in them are literally about the size of a hat box each!

Each monoblock is about the size of two crates of beer.

I believe they have 60 KT66 output valves.

I think you would need a nightclub or something to really need that much power

 

I just so happen to have a list of tubes required for all ARC amps. Looking at the list, the Ref 600 mkII needs 13 x 6922 and 20 x 6550 tubes. Per channel of course!

At idle, each monoblock consumes 800W, increasing to 2200W at maximum output! Not for the faint hearted I feel.

 

66 then? guess I was close ish!

I would cry if I had to replace them all in one go.. can you imagine?! I make that around 700 for a re-valve.

Still if you can afford them in the first place, you should be ok with that..

 

OK guys, so what you are really saying to me is that once I've picked up these stunning monitors, I should start searching for a nightclub powered valve amp?! Interested on your views on amplification on these actually. I think my pre-x & smartpower will have to be enhanced. Thought of getting another smart and mono'ing them but heard the 1.3's aren't fussed with that at all. not sure why? Heard the mono-x's but thought they were a touch harsh actually for my liking. I guess when you are looking at £2k for amplification, other brands come into play as well....maybe a pair of 2nd hand Cyrus APA 7's would do the job?
Michael, does your DIY amp give a particular type of sound? Like something fast & detailed but a bit of warmth. Recommendations would be muchly appreciated!

Cheers...

Iain

 

Iain I wouldnt say get those mate, they are hugely pricey - even second hand.

2k will get you a lot of amp, all I can suggest is do some demo's, and dont rule anything out till youve had it at home

 

Chris,

I believe the 1.3 Mk II needs something with a very low output impedance to sound tonally right and have good timing. I have heard them powered by a 300B amp, which was a pretty terrible combination, and with an integrated using EL 84s (one of my fave tubes) from an Italian manufacturer, Synthesis IIRC. The latter showed some promise in the mids and highs but again sounded wrong in the bass.

Even the 600 W ARC amp you mention probably won't get rid of the bass problems. Like I said, it's not about power, it's about the interaction of the speaker's load with the output impedance of the amp. I find Dynaudios are generally a less than happy match with tube power amps. Having spoken to the designer, he concurs. Dynaudio use solid state exclusively in the design stages. They have pretty "generous" bass reflex alignments, with a relatively high Q; the resonance needs to be tied down by the amp, otherwise the bass all but falls apart on transients.

Of course, I haven't heard a combination with a really high power tube amp and would be happy to be proved wrong. Which is why I said it "probably" still won't gel in my original post.

 

Well, I took the plunge and finally committed to a pair of "A" Grade new 1.3's today! :JPS: From what I heard of them last week I was really impressed . Obvously I am going to keep my 42's for rear surround duty(how could I sell them?!). It's going to be a couple of weeks before I can pick those bad boys up so thought I'd get the deposit down before they are gone. By the sounds of things it's going to be about Christmas before they are properly run in, but I guess that's the fun of it isn't it? Can't wait! I'll let you know my thoughts as soon as I get them hooked upto said system.

Cheers....

Iain