Dynaudio Audience 52se 'bottoming-out' problem

[Bevan]

Reading the Stereophile review of the se's, they mention that the speakers bottomed out at high volumes on bass heavy material.

What exactly is 'bottoming-out' firstly?

And has anyone else experience this with the Audience line. (maybe I should include the Contour line as the 52 se uses their drivers)

I'm trying to decide between these and B&W 705(see other new thread) and dont want a problem if I play loud without a sub.

Are there any other reviews of the se other than Stereophile one?

Many thanks

Bevan

 

[Audioholics]

http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/dynaudio52sep1.php

They do indeed bottom out (an overexcursion problem with the woofer). Read page 2 of our review.

 

[cbraver]

They need to recall those. Dynaudio makes really nice speakers, and to have their SE, at that price, be bottoming out is not like them.

 

[Bevan]

Thanks Clint, and sorry, seems it was this site that I saw the review on.

What I find interesting is that all my searchings on google on the subject came to naught, save your article. I would have though that there would have be some discussion somewhere of other people having the same problem. It doesnt seem that your pair was defective as I would doubt you would likely find two defective speakers shipped together. Though it is curious that the one speaker seemed to exibit the problem to a greater degree than the other.

seems the plain 52 or the B&W 705 might be the go then.

cheers

Bevan

 

[cbraver]

I don't think the bottoming out problem would turn me away from the speaker if I liked the sound unless it was actually going to be used as a full range speaker. I mean, if your gunna pair it with a subwoofer it's never going to see frequencies that would get it near to bottoming out at even high volumes. I still thing Dynaudio's engineers need to get their act together on implimenting something to stop that though.

 

[Lagger]

See my response in your other thread. Essentially the problem is the Drivers AREN'T designed to work in the 52 enclosure. It isnt the engineers fault, they've done all they can with the crossover trying to make this combo work. Problem is they werent designed to work together, and they dont, like they should anyways. I believe the 52's cabinet is the main problem.

Does the Contour 1.3 bottom-out? No.....nuff said.

 

[eradoncic]

See my response in your other thread. Essentially the problem is the Drivers AREN'T designed to work in the 52 enclosure. It isnt the engineers fault, they've done all they can with the crossover trying to make this combo work. Problem is they werent designed to work together, and they dont, like they should anyways. I believe the 52's cabinet is the main problem.

Does the Contour 1.3 bottom-out? No.....nuff said.

Yes, I can confirm that. I have the 1.3mk2's for almost 4 years now, and the driver is bottoming always when the pot is increasing even only moderatelly.
I will try to change the drivers, since I have still 1 year warranty left.
In my opinion, it is not the enclosure which makes the problem but the driver itself, since the mid bass in both models are the same.

 

[audiofox]

I'm pretty sure that the 17W75 mid woofer, which is used in the 52SE (and most likely also in the 52) is designed for a sealed enclosure, but I'll have to check my old Dynaudio specs to be sure. If that is the case, it may be simply a matter of closing up the vent to eliminate the overexcursion problem. Of course, that will also reduce the low bass response, but that may be an acceptable trade for systems with a subwoofer. BTW, it appears that the main differences between the two speakers is the tweeter and the crossover-the 52SE has the D260 Esotec, a VERY nice tweeter (vs the D28/2 in the 52), and probably has a modified crossover to better match the D260. I have some extra D260s, so I may pop them in my 52s and take a listen-the 260s are wider band than the D28s, so I don't think a new crossover is required for them to work. I will probably get a bit more response in the low end of the 260 frequency response, but it will be interesting to see if it is audible.

Clint, did you test the 52SEs with and without the foam port plug? There is a noticeable difference in response with and without the plug, and I wonder if the plug is enough to take care of the problem. My 52s are installed as surrounds, so they don't usually see the level of signal that will overextend the woofers (so far, anyway), but I plan to find out one day next week when my wife and kids are all at work and I can let my system all hang out.

 

[billnchristy]

Who designed the speaker?

 

[eradoncic]

I'm pretty sure that the 17W75 mid woofer, which is used in the 52SE (and most likely also in the 52) is designed for a sealed enclosure, but I'll have to check my old Dynaudio specs to be sure. If that is the case, it may be simply a matter of closing up the vent to eliminate the overexcursion problem.

The mid/bass drivers in standard Audience 50/52 and 52SE's are completelly different, exept the size. I have had the Audience 50 for some years (now they are owned by my close friend, and I regularly have access to them and listen again), and to my experience under no circumstances those drivers are botoming out, even when driven in fairly unsane listening level (e.g feeling the bass by stomach), used by fairly biig amps such is Rotel RB1090, etc. The enclosure is the same, the bass port also identical with 52, with the only obviously thicker fron MDF.

BTW, it appears that the main differences between the two speakers is the tweeter and the crossover-the 52SE has the D260 Esotec, a VERY nice tweeter (vs the D28/2 in the 52), and probably has a modified crossover to better match the D260.

That's correct. The Audience 52SE and Contour 1.3mk2 are the same drivers and in both the mid bass is problematical, again, irrespective of amplification used. The smaller the damping factor of the amp, the worse the bottoming out.

...did you test the 52SEs with and without the foam port plug? There is a noticeable difference in response with and without the plug, and I wonder if the plug is enough to take care of the problem.

I tested the Contours as mentioned, but did not acheive any benefit, exept loosing the wall reinforcement. Both 1.3mk2's and 52SE's sounds best with open bass reflex, and with enough space around them. And, yes, either model needs especially high current/high damping factor amps, and some Krells of KSA or similar series would not be inapropriate, but again, who will spend so much for amplification of relativelly cheap speakers?

 

[atwoodt]

BTW, it appears that the main differences between the two speakers is the tweeter and the crossover-the 52SE has the D260 Esotec, a VERY nice tweeter (vs the D28/2 in the 52), and probably has a modified crossover to better match the D260. I have some extra D260s, so I may pop them in my 52s and take a listen-the 260s are wider band than the D28s, so I don't think a new crossover is required for them to work. I will probably get a bit more response in the low end of the 260 frequency response, but it will be interesting to see if it is audible.

Were you ever able to swap these out and test?