Dynaudio Focus 110 - which amplifier has enough juice?

[Peter Larsen]

I own a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110's. Brilliant speakers. And they work very well with my Cambridge Audio 740A, but since they are pretty hard to drive they lack that extra control in the deep section. I would like some more tight bass.

What best buy have got the juice to control the bass even better than the 740A? The only minus imho with the 740A is that it needs a little tighter bass. Otherwise its really a great amplifier.

Best,

Peter

 

[Anonymous]

Would recommend the Cyrus Prevs2/Xpower combination. This was available until recently from some dealers at £ 1000. Certainly works well with my Dynaudio 52se, which are similar to yours.

jules.

 

[drummerman]

In my limited experience, Dynaudio products, yours included, do not ever have tight bass. It is just not the company sound. Even the active version of yours is not exactly what I'd call delineated in that respect but I quite liked it in other ways.

To be honest, I think you are perhaps chasing the unobtainable. I'd experiment with port blocking etc or choose other speakers if the bass is getting on your nerves. The CA 840 is better than your 740 but again, it will most probably not solve the issue.

 

[Anonymous]

try densen with your speakers

 

[RCduck7]

For that rythmic drive for drums, tight bass, my amp, the Dussun V8i performed very well with Dynaudio.

A quote from 6moons...

"Off the bat, the hi-hat and bass drum engage in a duet by their lonesome - with live atmosphere. I've played percussion for ages. Badly. And that's how a bass drum must sound: Pressurized, articulated and fat. You gotta feel it in your gut, preferably under insane levels. The Classic 6.6 veritably hammers out those kicks. Dussun V8i excepted, this is more impressive than equally priced amps will muster. Include the Accuphase E-212 in that second tier."

http://www.dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=357

And it's not as expensive as it seems at 1600$

So according to 6moons, the Classic 6.6 and Dussun V8i, (propably the cheaper V6i to) perform very well in this regard.

 

[Craig M.]

primare i30 kept the bass tight when i had one on home dem. so will a krell kav400i.

 

[Anonymous]

drummerman:
In my limited experience, Dynaudio products, yours included, do not ever have tight bass. It is just not the company sound. Even the active version of yours is not exactly what I'd call delineated in that respect but I quite liked it in other ways.

To be honest, I think you are perhaps chasing the unobtainable. I'd experiment with port blocking etc or choose other speakers if the bass is getting on your nerves. The CA 840 is better than your 740 but again, it will most probably not solve the issue.

V.good point: Obviously experiment with port bunging first !

 

[plastic penguin]

jules153:drummerman:

In my limited experience, Dynaudio products, yours included, do not ever have tight bass. It is just not the company sound. Even the active version of yours is not exactly what I'd call delineated in that respect but I quite liked it in other ways.

To be honest, I think you are perhaps chasing the unobtainable. I'd experiment with port blocking etc or choose other speakers if the bass is getting on your nerves. The CA 840 is better than your 740 but again, it will most probably not solve the issue.

V.good point: Obviously experiment with port bunging first !

If you think the Dynos aren't driven properly, and you want tight bass (the Dynos can be controlled with the right amp), depending on budget, seriously look at Leema Pulse. A fantastic piece of equipment for the money. If it can make my RS6's sound like top-notch standmouters, it'll do the business with Dynos.

 

[Peter Larsen]

Great. Thanks for all your replies.

I find it hard to believe though that it is impossible to get tight bass from a Dynaudio speaker.

Maybe I should just go for a power amplifier and use my 740A as a pre-amplifier. Bad idea?

 

[Peter Larsen]

I have tried the plugs that came with the speaker, but the sound was awfull with them. Bass dissapeared completely and the mid- and top range felt flat and compressed.

Should I try to make the plugs smaller? I have only tried them in the size they came.

 

[Anonymous]

Try the bungs fully in, half in, 3/4 in etc.etc. Also an option is to put a (clean!) sock in the hole so the aperture is reduced.

Also move the speakers more out into the centre of the room if possible.

jules.

 

[Peter Larsen]

Thanks, I will try that.

And remember to use a clean sock 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Dyna's need lots of watts and current to sound at their best. Otherwise they sound dull and without control.

I'm not a fan of the brand, but I've got a friend who used to own a pair of Focus 220. He used to drive them with Nu Force monoblocks (Class D). Something like 300W at 8 Ohms, and even more at 4 Ohms. It's the only setup where I have liked the Dynaudios. Now he upgraded to the Confidence C2, and using the same amps the result is (according to some friends) amazing, and better than in store, with Mark Levinson.

So just buy the most powerful and cleanest amp you can, with a high damping factor. Those dynaudio woofers are very damped, the surrounds and spider are very tight, and they are not sensitive, so you need to wake them up, and tame them! It doesn't matter if the amp is articulate, has good PRaT, etc. The main thing with Dynaudios is to feed them with lots of clean current and a high DF. If the amp is also musical, that's great; but it's not the main thing. You saw how the CA 740, which is a musical amp, doesn't manage to control the Dynas. The CAs are too polite dinamically, and the Dynas need brute force.

IMHO.