Wharfedale Evo2-10 monitors or Dynaudio Audience 62 floorstanders

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Lots of upgrades lately, I'm just finalizing speakers now. Had a Denon UD-M50 (Cd player/amp/tuner in one). Upgraded that to an Arcam DV135 player and a YBA YA201 amp. No tuner yet, eventually eyeing a Rega tuner.

Speakers now. It'll either be the Wharfedale Evo2-10 or the Dynaudio Audience 62. I won't really have a chance to listen to the Dynaudios. Wharfedale I've heard and I like them a lot. But I'm wondering if a floorstander is the better option, thus the 62's are in consideration and they are being sold at a good price due to them being replaced by the Excite line.

Eventually I'd like to upgrade the speakers, probably to PMCs. If I have the Dyns then they'd move to home theatre use. I'm thinking a floorstander would be better in that capacity. But the 62's would be my stereo speaker for the time being, and they'd have to go into a fairly smallish room, 10.5 feet x 11.5 feet. My concern is that this might be too much speaker for the room.

One plus I see in a floorstander is deeper bass. The Dyn's go to 38Hz. I like that. Subwoofer integration is always a concern, but I wonder if a really nice sub that hits 25Hz (Martin Logan, REL) might work better with bookshelf speakers versus a floorstander without a sub. Right now I've got a Mission MS-8 and suspect that I could definitely improve upon it.

If I keep the Evo2's I can always buy a set of floorstanders (Dynaudio Excite perhaps) when I am ready to do home theatre a few years down the line.

Any insights? If the Dyn's are just too big a speaker then I'll move on and forget about them. I don't want to have a bad sounding system for the next two or three years.

 

[seasiders rock]

I had a pair of evo 30,s mk1, sorry thought they were complete rubbish and outed them asap...tweeter in my opion is carp...

bright and belongs to the tizz brigade, i believe the same unit (upgraded) is fitted to the evo 10.

the dyns are far the better speaker...BUT are a 4 ohm load,and need a decent amp with a quality power supply that is happy driving a 4ohm load.

well known for needing some serious welly to get them going....

 

[Anonymous]

The move to the Evo2 was in part to get a more well behaved tweeter and just to upgrade to something nicer along with the rest of the system. I have a pair of Tannoy Mercury F2 speakers and they are great for the price, but the tweeter can ring a bit. Haven't listened to the Evo2 much though, maybe for five minutes and it wasn't serious listening. They struck me as having better balance than the Tannoy, then again they probably should as usually retail for 3x the price. Everything is relative though I guess.

I may look at the Dyn 52. I'm kind of leaning towards moving to a nice pair of bookshelf speakers along with an excellent sub that goes down to 20Hz. The sub upgrade would have to come later though.

 

[Craig M.]

i've owned dynaudio audience 42 and focus 110, they really do need a powerful amp to sound anything like their best, don't give them enough power and you'll get a slow, boomy bass that dominates the sound. i think the 62's will be far too big to sound good in that size room, especially given the way dyn's deliver bass. with dynaudio you should also bear in mind they will need a lot of space behind them, usually around 50-60cm. the 52's will be better for the size of room but will still need a lot of power (both watts and current) and space behind, you can block the rear ports to enable close to wall placement but i've always found this robs too much "life" from the music.

 

[rtweed]

I'd go straight to PMCs if it was me.

 

[Anonymous]

The PMC TB2i is amazing. I was able to listen to it for a few days, however it's a bit too much for me to spend right now. One could argue I shouldn't have even upgraded my amp and speakers at all!

Craig, I would think the YBA is up to the task of powering a pair of Dynaudio's. I can't find much in the way of reviews for the amp but what there is seems very positive, it is rated at 100w, and YBA definitely has a good reputation as a high end brand. It's not a cheap amp, but I did get it at a great price as one dealer here had them on clearout. Regular price is about $1,800 (approx 990GBP) and I got it for $985 (about 545GBP).

 

[Anonymous]

Now I am considering, along with the Dynaudio Audience 52, a pair of Tannoy Eyris 1. If someone might have some feedback on how they compare I'd love to hear. Both speakers are being sold used and the Tannoy's are about $200 less. I don't think I'll be able to really test each pair out as they are private sales and it's tougher to arrange. There doesn't seem to be much info on the Eyris 1 on the web.

 

[Anonymous]

Here's an update.

To make a long story short, the Evo2's haven't worked out. Not only do I suspect a problem with the speaker (when I knock on one I can hear a metallic like echo inside) but the speakers are way to bright sounding. I thought it might be a break in thing, but I've played them 20 hours and just couldn't take it anymore. I've heard bright speakers before, it's not my preferred sound but they don't bother me either. These are way too bright and music isn't enjoyable.

Tried calling Wharfedale through IAG America's site, a California number. Out of service (hello IAG! Update your web page!!). Tried getting a number from the Evo2 manual, a number in Massachusetts. Wrong number?! Tried emailing them through the Wharfedale UK site. Sent the email on Monday, today is Thursday. No reply.

I'm not impressed, to say the least, with IAG. Do people here have experience with IAG customer service?

But no matter. I've given up on these speakers. Will take them to a local shop to get checked (and possibly repaired) before I sell them. I'm back to my Tannoy's, which sound a lot better, but I'm still on my upgrade mission.

Later this year I will audition the B&W 685. I suspect the B&W sound might be for me. I will do an in-home trial of the Aperion Intimus 6B. I know you guys probably aren't familiar with Aperion. They are Internet direct and allow for a 30 day in home trial. If you don't like the speakers you send them back, and they pay for shipping both ways (in the U.S. at least). At the very least they seem extremely well built and have a reputation for amazing customer service.
http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-6B-Bookshelf-Speaker,111,20,257.aspx
Whichever speaker I prefer is the one I'm going with, assuming I don't hate both of them! The Dynaudio, by the way, is not in consideration anymore.

I had a pair of evo 30,s mk1, sorry thought they were complete rubbish and outed them asap...tweeter in my opion is carp...


bright and belongs to the tizz brigade, i believe the same unit (upgraded) is fitted to the evo 10.

Funny you say that seasiders, it's exactly the experience I've had with the Evo2's.