Dynaudio Audience 82s
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In a nut shell, I am very pleased with my Dynaudio Audience 82s.
In them are some of the best domes, cones and 3 way crossovers I've heard. My Audience 82s revolutionised the sound of my hifi when they replaced their smaller 2-way Audience 62 sibblings in my largely Musical Fidelity based hifi set up.
The cabinets are large - impressively (/intimidatingly) so. They are well finished and, to my eyes, attractive, although relatively basic in design in the context of more recent releases of similiar price and 3 way design.
On the face of each nessles 2 mid/bass cones 1 midrange and 1 soft dome tweeter.
When the cones and domes start to move it is clear that these are breathtaking speakers. The Audience 82s have that rare balance of power and subtlety that is the neutral hifi experience. They reproduce 'unplugged' instruments e.g. Norah Jones' female vocal, acoustic guitar on Buena Vista Social Club, or Miles Davis' trumpet with outstanding uncoloured accuracy. And this is really the beginning and end of the story - the Audience 82s sound exactly like what they are supposed to sound like - the original studio or stage source of the music.
They sound awesome with electronically produced music. Never have I heard the Propeller Heads 'Take California' sound so huge and persuasive ("OK, I'll take Navada as well!") as it does through the Audience 82s: I'm always fooled into thinking that I've left my AV sub woofer on. Similarly, more atmospheric ambient electra like Speedy J's 'G-Spot' album just flows out of the 82s with a duvet like comfort. Beautiful.
From (very) extended listening to my Audience 82s I've come to the conclusion that for a speaker to be a great speaker, a 2 drivers are insufficient (I can feel the venomous replies coming already). I reckon you need a midrange cone and a 3 way cross over.
Now, I've read that '3 way' speakers can sound 'coloured' and have a 'sonic signature that they impose on recorded music' played through them. If this is generally the case, then nothing could be further from the truth - the Dynaudio Audience 82s sound completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) UNcoloured to my ears. Indeed I would say that the Audience 82s are a great example of how 3 way speakers (with the additional cone bolstering the midrange frequencies) do a grand job of nulifying the problem inherent to 2 ways: That of the cross over frequency falling at exactly that midrange frequency at which our ears and brains are most discerning (for the purpose of hearing consonants in human speech). That was the one shortcoming I heard with my old 2 way Audience 62s - I always felt that vocals, guitars, saxes, percussion weren't quite on the money. No such concerns with their bigger 82 brothers!
Finally the endless enjoyment I glean from my 82s is doubled by the fact that I picked them up second hand for £700. I understand that there original price tag was a grand more than that. Oh the joys of ebay....
Date: 2005/9/22
Section: Loudspeakers
The URL for this article is: https://hififorum.co.uk/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=15
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