From Dynaudio to Proac

Hello all

I’ve owned a Dynaudio Focus 260 for a number of years now, but it never really opened up and sang - my system is a Chord Dave/282/HCDR/250DR

it just doesn’t have the dynamics at low volumes I listen to - it was apparent when I sold my Dynaudio X32 excite which was far more engaging to listen to. At the time I thought it needed running in, but it’s been a few years now.

Maybe I need to go further up the Dynaudio range but not willing to do this as these are really expensive speakers in the Confidence range which is really the one which I loved the most out of all of them I auditioned.

I am thinking of Proacs now, DT8, or D20 as my main hi-fi Room is a bedroom and my big rig system cannot be moved to my main living room.

Not sure if proacs are the right direction… but all proacs do seem to have pretty good soundstage capabilities I am looking for, as well as good HF and punchy bass, and seem to be engaging speakers.

so did anyone move from Dynaudio to Proac and what are your experiences.

Maybe my Focus 260 simply needs a bigger room and more volume - but the room cannot change for me.

Interesting question.
Historically, Dynaudio speakers had a reputation for waking up or coming on song when the volume was turned up a bit. I found that to be the case with the Confidence C1 that I auditioned, though I don’t know if this applies to your Focus 260.

re the Proacs, I rate the D30S ribbon very highly indeed at its price point and rate the D20R at least as highly as the equivalent from Kudos.

So D20R is a super speaker but only you can find out if it will work in your room and desired position wrt boundaries. If it doesn’t work, the newish D2R stand mount is also a very fine thing once mounted on the right stands.

Hope this helps, BF

I used to really love dynaudio contour 1.3 special edn many years ago when I auditioned it. AFAIK, the sound signature of dynaudio is quite different from proac. So it is very important to have a listen at the dealer or if possible borrow them home to have a listen and appreciate the differences.

I find Naim & ProAc are an excellent fit. I have ran a pair of D2’s and currently D30RS speakers and love them!

Good luck, hopefully you can get a home demo…

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Dyns don’t usually wake up until you turn up the volume a bit. That said I had Contour 20 and 30. Both of those played great at lower volume. You might be surprised by C20. I really liked those. Have a friend that went from F260 to C20 and he seems pleased as well. I’m currently running X34 and think they’re a great vang for the buck. Not as “sophisticated” as the new Contours but still fun to play music on.

I m not sure about the Focus 260 but read that most Dynaudio speakers require some decent power or current to open up and sound good (although this will apply to most speakers) Perhaps a 300 will bring a difference but that will depend if you want to go up the Naim range.

If a change is required, personally I would look at an alternative speaker such as the Proac or something else which is not too difficult to drive that will sound great at the end of the 282/250DR.

I’m curious about your main system; and these are for a Bedroom system?

Ah- ha I had to re-read your post. So your main system is in a Bedroom. Because you can’t set it up in the living room. I assume this is an unused Bedroom? And you have someone else in the house who wields more power than you and will not allow you to setup hifi in there :smirk:

And yes I just sold off my Dynaudio S40, and ordered ProAc. As you, I found I just didn’t connect to the music as I do with ProAc’s, lastly the D20R or D30RS will out perform DT8. Which model will depend on room size

thanks - when I auditioned my Chord Dave, it was on a 172/250.2 with a Dynaudio Confidence C2 - and the Dave sounded sublime compared to the Hugo1 I had at the time and the C2 speaker really showed the superiority of the Dave’s awesome soundstage capabilities (instruments in 3d Space where this was recorded). The Hugo simply hasn’t got the resolution of the Dave either for transients and clarity.

But the showroom was maybe 4 times the size of my bedroom, the speakers were quite far from the back wall.

So I know it’s not the amplifier.

Subsequent I took them to a friend’s home and we tested them on a 552/500 and they sounded almost identical to my home which is really not a good sign !

these do sound good when the volume is turned up to 9 o clock and more, but there are other qualities missing…

for example, even though Dynaudio’s as supposed to be neutral speakers, I find everything sounds as if it plays on a Dynaudio speaker (not an issue with Confidence range though)

An audition I had of a Proac studio 140 a few years ago showed some HF sparkle on a bob marley Vinyl - which I still remember today, but I don’t quite get this on a focus level of speaker (I do concede the confidence gave me the best ever reproduction of a female vocal - but simply too expensive for me)

anyway it is a really big speaker for a small room as I mentioned earlier.

I know (me included) that Dynaudio has a lot of fans, but I am beginning to question some of the shortcomings of the F260…

You have a world-class DAC in the DAVE. I know this because even though my QBD76 is inferior to the DAVE, I am getting immense enjoyment from my system

I do not like to comment on something that I do not have first-hand experience, in this case the Dynaudio Focus 260. I have looked at it a little and it’s pretty large floorstander. Similarly I too think that the 282/250DR may not be the problem to the issues that you experience in your system. And you have a world class DAC. The next thing I would focus on is the loudspeaker.

Quality speakers will really bring a huge difference and impact to the system. Only way to find out is to try, no other way. As Opus has suggested, the D20R, the one with the ribbon tweeter if I’m not mistaken has been recommended by many. Depending on the size of the room, this would be the one I would look at if you want quality. Of course there are other alternatives but it is good to just narrow down the choices

I agree Dynaudio Confidence is costly especially if you are looking at the C2 onward. Also, I don’t think you will get the best from the Confidence with a 250DR.

Once you get it right, you would know it. No more finding faults as you start enjoying the tunes and perhaps look at ways to improve the sound even further.

Good luck.

My experience with the D20Rs was they like a bit of room around them. Interestingly they also didn’t seem to like it when my listening sofa was close to the wall behind me. Pulling the settee 18inchs away from the wall really helped tighten up the bass.

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I own the DT8’s and chose them over the D20R’s. I didn’t like the smaller soundstage of the ribbon tweeter and thought the DT8 had more bass due to the extra driver. Also the soundstage was bigger. Not as detailed or as much resolution as the D20R but the other aspects were more important for me. I couldn’t listen to the D20 with silk dome tweeter as most dealers here only have the ribbon version.
I drive them with a SN3/ND5XS2 and they sound big, open, fast with lots of attack/punch. I home demoed them against Spendor A7’s (more expensive) but I returned the Spendor’s and bought the DT8’s. Hell of a speaker for the money IMO.

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After auditioning S40s at a dealer, I had the D20Rs for a home demo and loved them, but they produced too much bass for my small listening room. I settled for the D2Rs which I thought were more agile, had sweet treble & soundstage and not shy on bass either. Factor in the decent stands and the price is pretty much the same. Both the ProAcs needed to be at least 20" from the rear wall BTW.

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I think countless number of people have gone through the same journey including myself. Somehow most like to start from d20r and go from there. :slight_smile:

Davidng, I have ProACs listed as a possible upgrade in the future, should the missus ever allow the Big Black Naim in the living room. Since there’s no dealer here in NL, and a trip to Belgium will get me in a quarantine, is there a way you could describe the differences?

There are several Proac dealers in the Netherlands. I am Dutch as well and own Proac speakers. You can find dealer list on the distributor’s website.

Ooh that would be great, but slightly surprising, since I did check their site. Could you name one, I can’t find an entry on the ProACs (HTML) site.

I bought mine at Studio Zwaard in Rotterdam

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I love my DT8’s and I don’t think you will go wrong with Proac and Naim

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Thanks, Can’t go wrong really on Naim + Dyns too, My EMITs are slightly more forward-sounding than the classic Dynaudio signature. I think when reading the reviews. Which I like btw. I auditioned my Uniti with Evokes, and noticed them being way more ‘civilized’ than the EMITs at lower volumes, not really engaging. At least not to me. Quite interested to read how the ProAc sound signature compares.