Emotiva Ultra 12, 1st impressions

[Mr Peabody]

Kex, have you ever heard any Dynaudio? If so, which models? Just curious your opinion. I haven't heard FoCal yet.

[Tarheel_]

On the other hand I've read opinions of Revel fans/owners on the AVScience forum who claim that that you can't even compare the Concerta series to the Performa, much less the Ultima line...

That is a tough one. When i demoed back in the day, the F30 sounded better than the F50. The price difference was huge..like $3500 or so. After tweaking the design the F50a came out with the F32. I wasn't really impressed with either (compared to their predecessors).

However, after my last visit, they had a used pair of F50a and the new F52, and i can say there is a HUGE improvement with the F52. An unbelievable speaker!

The Concerta line are excellent speakers as well, but it was like test driving a Corvette at a Porsche dealer.

[kexodusc]

Kex, have you ever heard any Dynaudio? If so, which models? Just curious your opinion. I haven't heard FoCal yet.

Yep, heard several Dynaudio speakers models over the last few years, and a good friend of mine still owns the Audience 82's so I hear them a fair bit when I visit. I visit Hi-fi shops in some towns I travel in for work in my free time.

I have not heard the Excite speakers yet, I don't think. Or the big Evidence speakers.

I really like the Dynaudio speakers I have heard, I find them a tad more pricy compared to some brands in their cheaper lines and then very competitive as you climb the ladder. I'm not into laid-back so Dyanudio is probably closer to what I like in a speaker.

Their drivers and speakers are top notch and I've even seen inside the 82's. Dynaudio does not cut corners like some other companies I've seen at the price point. Maybe they take it a bit too far if anything. But from what I've seen Dynaudio fans tend to upgrade to more Dynaudio. I like them way more than say B&W, NHT or the Pardigm Sigs as far as more established brands go.

I can't fault them really - other than I don't believe there's any reason why some of their speakers need a bit more current to sound optimal, but that's just me nitpicking cause I've heard them sound good on small receivers too. If I had to criticise them i find some of the protruding baffles on the contour and confidence lines to be a bit of an eyesore but I love the looks of the Excite if I could ever find a set to spend some time with.

I'm mostly familiar with the Audience and Contours models.

Think I even heard BBC uses them as reference monitors - not sure which models though?
Why you shoping again?

[Mr Peabody]

I'm not shopping for anything new. I have the Klipsch to play around with. But in doing so I noticed a bit of a dark character to the Dyn's that wasn't apparent to me before. However, the Dyn's are tough to beat for fidelity. For instance, there's a Pink Floyd song with a chorus I heard it on a Gallo set up and then at home on the Klipsch, it wasn't until hearing it again on my t2.5's that the passage was rendered with all the detail. I guess sometimes you have to wander a bit to get reassurance or make sure what you have is still best for you. The Dyn's are excellent with fine detail and fidelity but it's like instead of openness around instruments there's a bit of darkness if that makes any sense, it's hard to put into words.

I haven't heard many Excite but they are similar sound to the Audience.