Speakers for MF A3.2

Hello everyone,

Looking to upgrade my speakers. Listen to mainly classical
and acoustic, and some Indie/trip-pop (but to a lesser extent).
I use vinyl as my primary source.

Should I go for the Dyns Contour 1.3 mkII or the SF Signum?

I'm assuming the amp can drive either of them, am I wrong?
(I read about the flapping and driver damage to the signums
in a different thread so i am a bit worried... )

Thank you!

Jack

 

Hi Jack,

I auditioned the 1.3MkIIs with my X/A2 and to me it sounded great. I also tried SF Grand Pianos on the same day in the same setup and found the bass was rather lose and ill defined. I think the amp was struggling to control the floorstanders. Your amp has higher current output so should have no problems driving the 1.3s or the SF Signums. As to which is better, I'd say only you can answer that by auditioning both of them.

If you manage to find the dealer that stocks MF, Dynaudios and SF such as Music Matters where I went, you won't need to take your amp in. Once you've decided which speakers you like, insist on home audition.

 

How near are you to Audio T in Portsmouth ?

I brought my Dynaudio Contors 1.3 MkII's from them (the Swindon branch), B grade for list price minus £400, damm nice speakers and for the life of me I couldn't see why they were B grade.

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

Dynaudio Contour 1.3 MkII (Bird's Eye maple)
B Grade
list £1318
sale £899

They sound rather good too

 

hi guys,

thank you for your replies. as usual, very helpful!

from Music Matters' website they don't seem to stock
SF... i live in London, so it is a bit of a hike to get there, but
it may very well turn out to be a good idea.

it's good to know that you believe my amp will have what
it takes to drive either of them. i've been a bit worried about
it.

i definitely have to go and audition the dynaudios. my main
concern was whether they had enough bass (for a monitor -
my room is too small for floorstanders anyway), and more
importantly, if their midrange is detailed and musical enough
(i know the Signums are legendary for their midrange).

it will be hard to choose between them without being able
to listen to the Signums, but finding a pair for audition might
be very difficult... so if i like the Dyns i might just go for them.

so far i found dyns for around 700+ (second hand) and the
signums for about 850+ with the Ironwood stands... i wonder
if these are good prices but they seem to be from your comments.

what about ATC SCM12s? do you rate them at all? any ideas
how they'd do with my amp?

thanks again!
:beer:

Jack

 

Jack

I seriously doubt you'll find the dyn's lacking in bass! They are rear ported so it allows for some control too.

But, yes, certainly demo which ever speakers you buy.

sanj
ps. you have pm, check in 'user cp'

 

Jack,

As Sanj mentioned, the Dyns do not lack anything in the bass department. Quite the opposite in fact, it may seem rather overwhelming in a small room.

Music Matters in Hatch End used to stock SF, perhaps they've stopped now. Still, there are other dealers around. I personally wouldn't rush into it but enjoy auditioning

 

OK, no evangelising, no "zeal of the converted" but if you can run to £850 give the Von Schweikert VR-1s a listen. They are also designed for smallish rooms and work well close to walls (apparently) and are easy to drive. I've just aquired a pair. They should have the qualities you're looking for. Give Keith at Angelsound Audio at Hunton Bridge a call. He's got some.

Someone mentioned Music Matters in Hatch End? I'm now not far from there so if you're in that area, want drop me a PM and when my sytem's set up maybe pop round and have a listen.

Cheers
Jeff

 

ART skibo's?

 

Hello,

I am new to the forum.

For what it's worth I have an MF A3.2 with Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk. II that I bought in Sept 03. I was originally thinking of an Arcam A85 but it was too dry and polite sounding.

The dealer suggested the A3.2 and I thought the combination made great music. My room is 4.5 x 4 x 4 m high and has a thick carpet, soft furnishings and heavy drapes. (Well sound absorbent)

With the output from my Arcam CD82T volume control is set to 9pm and this is far too loud for my wife to stay in the room. Much past 11pm and the neighbours start complaining. So the amp will drive the Dyn's no problem.

It does it with ease and sounds clean and lively.

This combination exposes differences in recording quality. Harsh and poorly recorded stuff like some '80's CD's can sound appalling. Conversely well recorded stuff sounds superb. (James Taylor October Road is particularly good).

Bass can be a bit prominent and speakers need to be away from the back wall (Mine are 0.6m - probably a little close). Foam bungs can tame things down a little. Speakers are also a bit height sensitive so stands need to match your seating position

I also auditioned SF Grand Piano and enjoyed them but found them less controlled than the Dyn's (just personal taste)

Good luck

 

hello everyone,

you've all been of tremendous help. it never ceases to amaze
me how helpful and knowledgeable the people in these forums
are. i hope i'll get a chance to retribute. :notworthy

i will be considering the other suggestions made in this forum,
but i am not very keen on floorstanders. my room is small for
that, and i tend to find better tactile sound with monitor
speakers (in my experience, i might be completely wrong!
exception goes to the SF Amati - every time i hear them
my jaw drops :mana: ; and i haven't heard the maggies -
if you can class them as floorstanders anyway... )

however i will have to focus my effort and i reckon it will
be difficult to find some of the speakers mentioned around
here (i am thinking in particular about the VR-1s and the Art
Skibos). but if i come across them, i'll hear them for sure.

now in relation to the Signum vs Dynaudio, thank you very
much for all the input i got. as far as i understand both these
speaker have:
- very unforgiving tweeters (which means they are ruthless
with low quality equipment and recordings, especially on the
high frequencies)
- a very detailed, musical midrange (and one could say that is
the best feature of the signums from what i heard)
- are a moderately hard load to drive.

but i had no idea if my MF would a) drive them and b) be a
good partner. Reading Crobo's post makes me believe that
not only the amp drives them (and arguably the Signums are
less difficult to drive than the Dyns), it sounds good with them
too. This is great news (means i havent been looking in the
wrong basket ).

so the amp issue (load) is out of the way. of course i will
audition them in my room, and i will have to because my main
source is vinyl. For the time being I have a Project 2 (the one
with the sandwich platter ) with cdh Bay C5 interconnects
and a Denon DL-160 (high output mc) cartridge. I hope the
source is going to hold its own with the setup when i upgrade
the speakers... at least until i upgrade the tt...

all in all, the decision seems to be between the Dyns and
the Signums (unless i hear something that knocks me off
my feet) and to that effect, i have some great testimones
of the dyns synergies proving that the amp can drive these
speakers.

of course the signums have an amazing finish (handmade,
wood and leather, beautiful stands) but this is hardly the
main consideration. i wonder if the shape of the box, being
not cubic (and from what i read, this reduces boxiness) will
make a difference to the way they sound. well, off i go to
find a pair of each to listen. let me know if you know where
i can do it (in addition to the suggestions made).

i will keep you posted as soon as i have my chance to
audition them.

thanks again for all your precious help and keep in touch!

:beer:
Jack

 

oh and thanks NeYank for your help with the ATCs.
very interesting. i have a good friend here in london
with a pair of ATCs so i will take my amp there and give
it a spin to see what i make of it. i don't have the separates
A3.2, mine is the integrated. it will for sure make some difference
(curious to how big this difference is, actually :rds2: ).

will let you know what i heard.

:beer:
Jack

 

Another recommendation for the Dynuadio Contour 1.3MkIIs .

I heard a pair of SF Grand Pianos (being driven by a Krell KAV400xi no less) and I thought they were terrible. The bass was so loose and uncontrolled and if a Krell KAV400xi can't control them then nothing will.

I'd choose the Dyns over the SF Signums. Quite apart from the sound I find the styling of the Signums (well, all SF speakers in fact) to be way too over the top. Really a bit naff. OK if you're living room has marble columns with gold inlay and velvet curtains maybe

Michael.

 

I'd choose the Dyns as well, if I had a reasonably large room and enjoyed playing loud, for smaller rooms the Contour 1.1s were surprisingly good.

For lightweight classical and Jazz, I'd add Proac's and Harbeths to your list. They have quite different characters from the Dyns, and you may well be smitten.

 

:yikes: I also found the bass to be loose and uncontrolled but I blamed my amp for that. I thought it couldn't control the speakers, after hearing all the hype about SF, it never occurred to me that it might be the speakers themselves. As you say if Krell can't control them, what can?

I do like their looks though.

 

from what i've been told before as well, the grand pianos are
not SF's best speaker... everyone i spoke about them with said
pretty much the same: not quite there with the SF tradition,
especially the bass which is loose. Mind you, the new range of
SFs below the Cremona is really not here nor there... and
the Cremona Auditor, really, is out of my league... :student:

i agree that the way the Signums looks is at best unusual, but
i wouldn't say it is that tacky... oh well it's all a matter of taste.
what i was told, however, was that the shape of their boxes
is better than the "traditional" box, used by the dyns, in that
it makes the sound a lot less boxy... of course it could all be
a gimmick... but the LAT-1s for example also have a non-cubic
shape... so i wonder.

anyway, cheers guys!

:beer:
Jack

 

Jack,

Why not give Simon at Audio Replay a call (no's in Hi Fi news) he'll bring a pair of VR-1s for a home demo.

I really think they're worth a go. (but dont mention me cos I got some cheaper from somewhere else!!)

Tight bass, great mids, small rooms, lovely aesthetics. What more could you ask for ???

None of your dfficult to drive Dyns, SF ostentatiousness etc :JOEL:

Cheers
Jeff

 

NeYank, in your earlier post you mentioned you could have
modified the A3.2 integrated to sound like the separates...

if it is not something you want to keep to yourself, could you
give me an idea of the sort of mods you made, and what would
work (that isnt too complicated) that one day i might try?

i heard that using a better power cord, for example, could
tighten the bass, but have no idea of any other mods.

i dont think i know enough to attempt these things but i am
really curious...

:beer:
Jack

 

jackotrades
i got my exdem dyn 62 from music matters hatch end ,but not sure if he had any contour range in stock.

i had a mf 3.2 amp on trial using arcam cd73t it got plenty of power , but found with anything but a good recording the sound was a bit /hard bright at the top end.

audio t and cornflake shop sell dyns ,but not sure if they do the mf range

 

Audio T don't. Also, not all their branches stock Dynaudios. You need to tell them in advance what you want to audition. They may then direct you to another branch if appropriate.

 

Just a quick post to followup...

On Sunday morning I had the pleasure of the company of Ilidio (aka JackOTrades) accompanied by his girlfriend Dorit, they popped over with the MF A3.2 to listen to my Signums. Partnered with my SCD-1 the MF A3.2 dealt with the Signums with a firm hand. I have to say they sounded much better than I had managed to achieve so far at home.

At times they did the disappearing act very well, the bass was very controlled but surprisingly punchy and extended, the general presentation was detailed, musical and very engaging and I could have sat there for a few hours no problem - I have to say near the end I almost changed my mind about selling, but I let them go to their new home nevertheless.

So really just to reiterate my previous thread regards the Signums and "flapping cones" - with appropriate control they went loud, were well controlled and there was no flapping. It was a close call whether they would fit in the SLK boot though - armed with a hammer and chisel we managed to reshape the walnut cabinets

Cheers
Greg