Dynaudio Evoke 30 floorstanding loudspeaker

Inflation, maybe second solely to time, makes fools of us all. Regarding hi-fi, the ‘key value factors’ are a moveable feast that coalesces for a couple of years earlier than being outdated as the worth of cash modifications. When I first grew to become considering audio, the £150 stand-mount bracket was an instance of one among these value factors; certainly, it may muster double-digit group assessments, however it now not exists. One of the closest present equivalents to the sheer density of that historic section – till fiscal inevitability intervenes – is the house of round £3,000 and the vary of floorstanding speaker fashions obtainable. The Dynaudio Evoke 30 enters this hotly contended sector of the loudspeaker world.

If you had been on the lookout for a ‘kind customary’ of the audio system contesting this sector, the Dynaudio Evoke 30 can be a robust candidate. The smaller of two floorstanders within the vary and two stand-mounts and a centre speaker be part of it. The Evoke vary incorporates a major proportion of the important applied sciences that make a Dynaudio a Dynaudio. These applied sciences imply it’s considerably completely different from most different fashions scrapping it out.

Tweeter speak

Take the tweeter. The ‘Cerotar’ 28mm delicate dome unit seems to be regular sufficient however options considerably completely different considering. An evolution of the Esostar tweeter, it possesses a second ‘Hexis’ dome behind the seen one designed to scale back undesirable reflections coming again by the tweeter. Strontium carbonate Ferrite+ ceramic magnets present the mandatory energy to drive the meeting to its upper-frequency roll-off of 23kHz at +/- 3dB.

This fingers over to a pair of 140mm Esotec+ mid-bass drivers that function as an overlapping pair in a 2.5-way configuration. One driver works as much as the tweeter’s decrease frequency roll-off of two.3kHz, whereas the opposite doesn’t start till 1.2kHz. The Esotec+ is the evolution of design concepts that date again to Dynaudio’s founding. Made of Magnesium Silicate Polymer, which has been used for all Dynaudio mid-bass designs, it makes use of aluminium voice coils which might be bigger but lighter than extra conventional copper designs, in addition to providing a extra constant subject for the neodymium magnet that sits inside it.

Dynaudio quotes a decrease frequency roll-off of 40Hz (once more on the extra rigorous +/- 3dB determine), however there’s a level of understatement on this, which we will return to later. To do that, the drivers are marshalled by a crossover, which is a second-order gadget that helps single wiring solely within the nice Dynaudio custom. The mid-bass drivers are assisted of their work by a significant-sized rear port for which Dynaudio provides foam bungs if required, though they often counsel operating them with out in case you can.

Cabinet of delights

The cupboard follows one other Dynaudio custom of adopting a trapezoidal form when seen from above, with the 2 sides of the cupboard tapering to a narrower rear panel. This is helpful by way of decreasing undesirable reflections and minimising standing waves however it additionally serves to scale back the perceived quantity of the cupboard as an entire. The cupboard itself is immensely stable by way of really feel and contributes to the 15kg all-up weight of every speaker. Tap your knuckles on any a part of the speaker, and also you’ll get sore knuckles, not like something approaching a hole noise.

This cupboard sits on a collection of outrigger ft and spikes which might be shrunken variations of the association seen on the bigger fashions. As a nod to home realities, in addition to carpet piercing spikes, extra floor-friendly domes are equipped too, however having lengthy since ruined my flooring reviewing audio system that aren’t so outfitted, I went with the spikes. It is feasible to make use of the spikes to impart a small diploma of rearward lean in case you want to experiment, however this isn’t one thing that Dynaudio categorically recommends doing.

Aesthetically, the Dynaudio alters your notion the extra time you spend with them. The assessment samples arrived in white, which is never my most well-liked color for something, and my preliminary notion of the Evoke 30 is that it’s delicate to the purpose of dullness. Compared to the Focal Aria Evo X No3 (which additionally has the smaller No2 within the vary at nearly the identical value because the Dynaudio), the Evoke lacks a little bit of visible drama. Spend a day or two with the Dynaudio, and your temper in direction of them modifications. For starters, they’re nearly completely proportioned; the measurements of the cupboard itself and the dimensions of the drivers inside all of it have a harmoniousness that you just proceed to understand the extra time you spend with them.

I additionally suspect another finishes would improve visible curiosity, do you have to want. In addition to the white, there’s a black gloss end, however the wooden veneers are by far essentially the most fascinating. Dynaudio has at all times been adept at selecting veneers which might be subtly completely different from the mainstream (the unique birch veneers for the Special Forty, specifically, had been impressed). While the walnut end is fairly conventional, the ‘Blonde’ wooden choice is pleasingly completely different to most different veneers doing the rounds and fits the proportions very nicely. Grilles are equipped and have magnetic trim tabs for a welcome lack of perforations and fixings that enhances the driving force fittings.

On paper calls for

In retaining with a number of Dynaudio fashions through the years, the Evoke 30 presents on-paper measurements which may look considerably extra demanding than many key rivals. It has a quoted impedance of 4 ohms, which is customary fare for Dynaudio designs for a number of years and one thing that has develop into extra widespread with rivals, too, however the acknowledged sensitivity of 88dB/w is a fraction decrease than what you may anticipate from a speaker of those dimensions with that impedance. The actuality is that Dynaudio appears to be fanatically sincere about measurements and rounds down slightly than up. The Evoke 30 may not be my first alternative for single-ended valve amp house owners, however extra mainstream choices shouldn’t wrestle.

Some elements of the Evoke 30 require you to place in just a little work, although. At a fundamental stage, the pair of audio system will produce an appropriate stereo picture from the second they’re an inexpensive distance aside and pointing in the identical path. However, extracting a really compelling soundstage with just a little depth and presence outdoors the cupboards took extra effort and fettling. After some assessments, the very best ends in the take a look at house had been obtained with the 2 audio system very near the outer fringe of the (admittedly 1.6 metres huge) gear rack and with a comparatively shallow toe-in. Once this had been executed, Dynaudio created an unfailingly convincing presentation. However, this required extra work than I’ve needed to put in with a number of different designs that I’ve not too long ago reviewed.

From right here, although, the Evoke 30 offers greater than it takes. The modesty with printed numbers can also be readily obvious with the bass response on provide. Dynaudio is a grasp at this; I don’t recall testing something from the corporate that didn’t ship a low-end heft that makes rivals really feel considerably anaemic. In the Evoke 30’s case, it doesn’t obliterate the quoted 40Hz determine fairly as emphatically as some fashions I’ve examined. However, it nonetheless delivers a exceptional stage of low-end shove for a cupboard this svelte.

However, this isn’t some unsubtle bludgeon of a speaker however a tool that imparts authority totally convincingly. The built-in drum and synth line in Sheryl Crow’s What I Can Do For You on Tuesday Night Music Club [A&M] is felt as a lot as heard however imparted with an agility and cohesion that implies that this oddly propulsive monitor retains its vitality and drive even because it plumbs depths {that a} slim cupboard lower than a metre tall has no pure proper to be doing.

What is arguably extra spectacular is that this weight is just not wholly depending on percussive power both. The huge orchestral swell of Humility on Kamasi Washington’s Harmony of Difference [Young Turks] is as weighty and convincing. The Evoke 30 may be one of many smaller designs obtainable at this value level, however it offers away nothing to burlier competitors.

Bass grasp

Crucially, this mastery of the world beneath 80Hz is a single attribute of a proficient speaker slightly than its sole cause for present. The Evoke 30 stays totally composed and impressively detailed as you push up into the midrange. There is a degree throughout Jackson Browne’s The Road [Asylum] the place there’s a pause between the top of a part of the recording in a motel room in Baltimore and resuming at a bigger scale on stage. Crickets could be heard outdoors the window on the finish of the primary sequence. They’re audible on nearly each speaker, however right here, they’re particular person bugs slightly than a ‘cricket noise.’ It’s a tiny instance of Evoke 30’s ongoing want at all times to do greater than the naked minimal.

This easy extraction of element is achieved with out there being any correct notion of embellishment or hump at any a part of the midrange; certainly, relying on what audio system preceded the Dynaudio in your system, you may discover the sheer even-handedness of what it does to be barely sterile. In actuality, Evoke 30 will discover each shred of emotional content material in a bit of music; it merely doesn’t want to decorate it additional. It will even reply with appreciable transparency to your partnering gear. The partnering amps used throughout my time with them had been the resident Cambridge Audio Edge A and Naim Supernait 3, each of which provide a considerably completely different presentation from each other. The Dynaudio mirrored these variations whereas working fortunately with each.

In some ways, the higher registers mimic this detailed and clear behaviour, however this easy assertion undersells fairly how good Dynaudio’s driver is within the Cerotar tweeter. The Evoke 30 combines a genuinely spectacular stage of vitality and element with resistance to aggression. This makes the Dynaudio Evoke 30 an incredible companion for less-than-perfectly mastered music collections. It is feasible to play a rip of the unique 90s CD model of Everything Must Go by The Manic Street Preachers [Epic] at considerable ranges and nonetheless derive some satisfaction from the method. You can instantly swap to Craig Armstrong’s immaculately mastered It’s Nearly Tomorrow [BMG] and never really feel you might be being given a smoothed-off tackle proceedings.

All this provides as much as an impressively tractable speaker however one which doesn’t really feel compromised within the stage of engagement it generates whereas seemingly doing its utmost to maintain even decidedly imperfect materials sounding good. One

prolonged session ended up listening to a vinyl copy of Drop by The Shamen [Moksha Recordings], an album from once they had been nonetheless a psychedelic Scottish pub band slightly than their extra broadly identified digital period. The Dynaudio sliced by the restrictions of the urgent and mastering and delivered the quirky however participating songs in a way that, whereas nonetheless unquestionably ‘hi-fi’, was additionally greater than that.

What the Dynaudio Evoke 30 is, then, is one thing that contests this present three grand pinch level in a means that’s superficially by the numbers – as famous, nearly a kind customary – however in actuality, is one thing slightly extra fascinating. It possesses virtues that can win many buddies: smart dimensions, immaculate construct, and enticing proportions, even earlier than they play a notice, which can endear them to many. It does all this whereas displaying each sonic advantage that Dynaudio holds pricey with no perceivable compromise. When you might be at a value level the place everybody needs a bit of the motion, your providing should certainly be superb. Dynaudio has completed this with bells on, and the Evoke 30 ought to be on the prime of any audition record.