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DYNAUDIO EMIT M30 REVIEW AND TEST Enter your email address here GO
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Reviewed By: Australian HiFi
Magazine: Australian Hi-Fi Magazine Sep/Oct 2016
Distributor: BusiSoft AV
Who Sells What/Website: Dynaudio Australian Hi-Fi Maga…
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Full expert review and laboratory test of the Dynaudio
Emit M30 loudspeakers by Australian Hi-Fi Magazine.
On Sale Now Subscribe
This equipment review consists of a full subjective
evaluation of the Dynaudio Emit M30 loudspeakers In This Issue
written by Jess Roden together with a complete set of Our full review and bench-
independent laboratory tests conducted by Newport test of the Halcro Eclipse
Test Labs and a test report written by Steve Holding. power amplifier leads this
issue as the great Australian
marque returns - are these
The full review text is below, but readers wishing to see still the best and most
the graphs and lab tests should download the PDFs extraordinary amplifiers on
here of the original pages as they appeared in the planet? See also all
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine, Sep/Oct 2016 issue winners of the world’s most
(Volume 47 Number 5). prestigious consumer
electronics awards, judged
by the Expert Imaging and
Sound Association,
comprised of experts from 62 magazines in 29
Dynaudio has come a long way since it first came into countries. PLUS full reviews of Wilson-Benesch's P1.0
loudspeakers, Dynaudio's Sub 6 subwoofer, and
being in Skandeborg, Denmark in 1976 but despite
headphone gear from AudioQuest, Blue and
improvements in materials and manufacturing Pioneer...
technologies—and that the company is now owned by ON SALE NOW IN NEWSAGENTS &
Chinese giant GoerTek Inc.—Dynaudio products are DIGITAL EDITION HERE
still very much and very uniquely Danish—in fact we’re SUBSCRIPTIONS HERE!
reliably informed that despite GoerTek’s purchase of
Dynaudio, all Dynaudio drivers will continue to be
manufactured in-house—and largely by hand—in
Latest News
Denmark.

Huge Losses at B&O

Peel the front grille from a Dynaudio loudspeaker and Danish design company Bang &
you’ll immediately recognise it’s made by Dynaudio, Olufsen has just reported its
even if there’s no manufacturer’s badge in sight. The third consecutive quarterly loss.
first giveaway is the use of a magnesium silicate In the three months since
polymer (MSP) material for the bass and midrange November, the firm's operating
drop is listed as 77m kroner
cones and the second is the unique manner by which
($16,646,784.00) with poor
the very large dust-cap is attached to those cones, via a sales in November blamed for
series of tabs rather than the usual continuous plastic the disappointing quarter.
weld.
Melbourne International
This ‘tab’ technique was developed by Mark Thorup, of Hi-Fi Show
Dynaudio. It’s not only unique but also very clever, The Melbourne International Hi-
because it means the dust cap and the cone can be Fi Show, held each year since
formed at the same time using just a single piece of 2016, is back again in 2020, but
MSP, and also ensures that the cone is reinforced close with a new name and at a new
venue.
to where it meets the voice-coil former, a technique that
improves both the frequency response and the phase
response of the driver.
Rega Ania Pro
Rega’s new Ania Pro moving-
coil cartridge is one of the
As for that voice coil, Dynaudio uses some of the world’s smallest and, at 6
largest-diameter voice coils in the business (relative to grams, one of the lightest, yet
cone size), with the coil on even the smallest cones measuring 75mm in diameter rather than the 25–30mm diameter thanks to a neodymium magnet
coils used by most other driver manufacturers. This large voice coil diameter means fewer coil turns are required which system said to be unique to
Rega, and low-mass coils hand
improves electrical efficiency and reduces heat build-up in the coil and in the voice coil former. Due to the large diameter wound onto an iron micro cross,
of its coils Dynaudio uses aluminium wire, rather than the usual heavy copper. it can produce an output of
350μV.

Product Reviews

Latest issue of Audio

Esoterica
The latest issue of Audio
Esoterica is in newsagents,
online and available digitally.

Dynaudio Sub 6
subwoofer REVIEW &
TEST
The well-known phrase ‘good
things come in small packages’
perfectly describes Dynaudio’s
Sub 6

The Equipment Dynaudio Evoke 50

The Emit M30 is part of a ‘budget’ series of speakers released by Dynaudio in October 2015. The other speakers in this
loudspeakers REVIEW
range (at least at the time of writing) are the Emit M10 and Emit M20 bookshelf/standmount designs and the Emit M15
centre-channel. As should be evident, Dynaudio is obviously expecting that these speakers will be used in multi-channel
& TEST
Dynaudio’s new Evoke 50
and home theatre applications, either with identical speakers in all channels except the centre, or with the M30s as the loudspeakers sound way bigger
front channels and the smaller speakers as the rear channels. than they have any right to
sound given the relatively small
The Emit M30 is the only floor-stander in the Emit Series (at least at size of the speaker enclosures.
the time of writing) and, as you can see from the photographs
accompanying this review, it’s a three-driver two-way design using
two 170-mm bass/midrange drivers and a single 25-mm soft dome
tweeter. What you can’t see (because the port that would give it
away is at the rear of the speaker cabinet) is that the M30 is a bass
reflex design.

Although the two bass drivers are listed as being ‘17cm’ in diameter
by Dynaudio, the overall diameter of each one is a bit larger than
this, at 175mm, but because of the design of the surround, the
GO
actual cone diameter is considerably less, at 114mm. However, it’s
the Thiele/Small diameter that is the most important dimension to
know about any driver, and for this driver it’s 125mm, which gives
an effective cone area (known as the ‘Sd’, if you want to get
technical), of 123cm2. However, because the two bass/midrange
drivers operate in parallel, the overall Sd for the system is 246cm2.
So if Dynaudio had used just a single driver, it would have needed
to be around 230mm in diameter (overall) to deliver the same level
of bass.

Unlike many three-driver two-way systems, which use a 2.5-way

crossover, so the one of the two bass/midrange drivers is rolled off
early, leaving the upper bass midrange driver to deliver the
midrange on its own, the two bass/midrange drivers in the Emit
M30 operate in parallel, covering exactly the same frequency
range. While this does disadvantage the Emit M30 in some
respects, it does have the advantage that it allows Dynaudio to use
a very simple two-way first-order (6dB/octave) crossover network to
cross the bass/midrange drivers to the tweeter, but despite being
simple, it’s a high-spec design—as you’d expect of Dynaudio—
using air-cored inductors, ceramic resistors and MKP capacitors.
It’s connected to the drivers via very thick Dynaudio-branded
Figure-8 cable.

The bass/midrange drivers (Type 84464/7364370) are made in

Denmark by Dynaudio and have a hefty centre-vented magnet that
attaches to the diecast aluminium chassis via ‘moon-lander’ style
tubular struts, so there’s maximum airflow behind the cone, which is
important in a bass reflex design. As stated earlier, the voice coil is
75mm in diameter and wound with aluminium wire. Fairly unusually
for a speaker at this price-point, the two drivers are flush-mounted
and attached using standard softwood screws.

The tweeter (Type 81702/7369582) in the Emit M30 is also made in

Denmark by Dynaudio and has a 25mm coated fabric dome. Unlike
the bass/midrange drivers, the tweeter’s front plate is recessed into
the front baffle, but like those drivers, it’s fixed in place using
standard softwood screws, rather than bolts with captive locking
threads.

If you’re interested in seeing how these drivers are made—and it is interesting, even if you know nothing about driver
manufacturing—you can watch a seven-minute video factory tour of Dynaudio’s Danish facility here:
www.avhub.com.au/Dynaudio_Factory_Tour which includes sequences showing how the bass drivers and tweeters are
assembled.

The cabinet of the Emit M30 measures 204×275×960mm (WDH), weighs 18kg
and is available in two painted, lacquered finishes: satin white and satin black.
The cabinet itself is made from the ‘soft’ MDF that’s typically used in China and
is 25mm thick over the entire front baffle and 19mm thick elsewhere. All internal
walls are covered with panels of soft foam, while the inner air space is filled with
standard non-allergic speaker fill. The bass reflex port, which is located on the
rear panel immediately above the speaker terminal plate, has a flared exit and
is 215mm long and 65mm in diameter. The speaker terminal plate is circular
and has just two multi-way banana-capable plastic terminals, so bi-wiring and
bi-amping are not options with the M30.

At just under a metre high the Emit M30s are quite tall, yet they have a fairly
small ‘footprint’, so even if you use the provided spikes to mount the speakers,
the cabinets can tip over fairly easily if given a fairly good shove: a
characteristic which should be factored-in if you share your home with small
children or boisterous pets. Careful placement could ameliorate this, but for
maximum security it would be better to fit larger base-plates to the bottoms of
the speakers in order to improve their stability… something anyone with even
average home handyman skills could easily do quite cost-effectively.

In Use and Listening Sessions

Since Dynaudio speakers are renowned the world over for their ‘live’ sound quality, I kicked off my listening sessions
with a real rocker, the Seratones’ ‘Get Gone’ album. I not only love this Louisiana quartet’s music, but also its attitude. I
mean, just read the band’s mission statement: ‘We, the Seratones, are four musicians highly skilled in the art of rocking
your socks off, bringing the house down, and blowing your mind. Our goal is to make your musical experience replenish
your faith in the power of rock & roll.’ And trust me, ‘Get Gone’ will certainly replenish your faith in the power of rock and
roll (if, indeed you ever lost it… I know I surely haven’t!). A highlight of the Seratones’ oeuvre is the stunningly powerful
voice of Ms A. J. Haynes. She can rock, she can roll, she can croon and boy, she sure can scream. And sometimes she
has to scream in order to be heard above the bedlam of sound from her band. Sun kicks off with a punk-rock homage to
the power chord opening of The Who’s Tommy before revelling in grunge guitar and machine-gun-like drum attacks. But
the album is nothing if not eclectic because, were it not for the garage-band sound, Don’t Need It could be a take-out
from a Monkees album, and the closer Keep Me is so dreamy it could be… well, listen and decide for yourself who it
could be. But if you really want the Dynaudio Emit M30s to rock, make sure you dial in Chandelier at high volume and
settle back for the ride. What you’ll hear is the Emit M30s delivering fast, stomach-hitting drum sound to die for, chunky
twangy bass lines and a vocal that’s so real-sounding and exciting that you’ll find yourself playing air guitar in the
breaks… or was that only me?

After several sessions of the Seratones I wanted to hear how the Emit M30s would sound with a more pared-back sound
and an album with top-notch production values. So what better album to use than Tinpan Orange’s newest offering,
‘Love is a Dog’ which, for my money, is their best of the five they’ve so far released, and also by far and away the best
album I’ve heard all year. It’s all headlined by Emily Lubitz’s startlingly ethereal voice (here helped along by a wide
variety of tastefully-added FX). The album’s wonderful sonics are down to producer Harry James Angus (The Cat
Empire, Jackson Jackson) and engineer Matthew Neighbour (Missy Higgins, Matt Corby, Courtney Barnett.)

I was not at all surprised to find the Dynaudio Emit M30s sounded even better with ‘Love is a Dog’ than they did with
‘Get Gone’. With Tinpan Orange’s music you can hear the purity of the Dynaudio’s midrange sound, and the superbly-
extended treble response of the M30’s tweeter. You can also hear the ‘space’ around the music. The articulation of the
Emit M30s is also clearly in evidence, and this articulation is most welcome because the lyrics to ‘Love is a Dog’ are
seriously insightful, such as on Rich Man, where Lubitz warns women against the seductive charms of men with money,
or the title track which is her analysis of the end of a love affair, or the melancholy of Light Across the Water. It’s not all
gloom and doom though: you can sing along to Hear From Me, even if it is a song about a controlling woman. If you buy
only one album this year, this is the one to get… and it’s available for download (various formats), on CD, and on vinyl
(of which there’s even a limited-edition version on translucent orange vinyl). If you’re not prepared to buy ‘Love is a Dog’
on my say-so you can get a free feel for the music on Bandcamp… but be warned that the streamed sound is truly
terrible, not a patch on the paid-for FLAC download, which is perfect.)

If you’re one of those audiophiles who likes the ‘close your eyes and you’re there’ experience, the Dynaudio Emit M30s
deliver this in spades, across all genres, but the album that really did it for me was a Mary Chapin Carpenter’s ‘The
Things That We Are Made Of.’ This is an utterly gorgeous album and, if you haven’t heard Carpenter’s voice, ‘gorgeous’
is also a perfect descriptor of that as well. Listen to her smokily sensual delivery of the lines ‘For every time that I’ve
been foolish that I’ve wished that I’d been wise, the power of regret still gets me right between the eyes’ from the track
Something Tamed, Something Wild and you’ll immediately hear what I mean. On this album you can hear not only the
tonality of her voice but also the uncanny accuracy of the Dynaudio Emit M30’s imaging, delivering not only stage width
but also stage height and stage depth.

Conclusion
The Emit M30 is certainly the lowest-priced floor-standing model Dynaudio has ever had in its range but since Dynaudio
speakers always command premium prices, it’s certainly not a ‘budget’ loudspeaker! But you’ll know it’s not a budget
design from the minute you start listening to a pair… and you’ll also hear why it’s always worth spending a little bit more
to invest in a pair of high-quality loudspeakers, rather than settling for something less. Jess Roden

Readers interested in the full technical appraisal of the performance of the Dynaudio Emit M30
Loudspeakers should click on the button to the right to download the full original magazine
pages from the Setpember-October 2016 issue of Australian Hi-Fi.

Brand: Dynaudio
Model: Emit M30
Category: Floorstanding Loudspeakers
RRP: $2,999

+ Superb imaging, Life-like sound, Well-paced bass

- Stability, Spkr terminals

Warranty: Five Years

Distributor: BusiSoft AV Pty Ltd

Address: Suite 4. 792–796 High Street

Kew East VIC 3102

TF: 1300 888 602

T2: (03) 9810 2900

E: [email protected]

W: www.busisoft.com.au

POSTCRIPT: If you intend to use a subwoofer in conjunction with the Dynaudio Emit 30 Loudspeakers you will need to
ensure correct integration of the subwoofer's output with that of the Emit 30s by setting the subwoofer's volume, phase
and crossover frequency controls correctly. You can read an article on a simple, effective method of how to do
that HERE

Who Sells What: Dynaudio

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