Speaker change/upgrade - Dynaudio 42s?

[hutchingsp]

Have the following:

Quad 66 CD
NAD T741
Sky + (not that that really counts here)
JMLab Chorus 706

I can't quite put my finger on it but I've had the 706s a little over a year and I'm just not happy with them.. I seem to have gone from too much bass (the B&W 601s I had previously) to too little bass.. hard to explain but they sound a little "thin".

I was thinking this time I may just bite the bullet and buy into something that should last me a good few years.. got to looking at Dynaudio Audience 42s, had a demo on the end of a Cyrus 8 (I think it was an 8) and was blown away by the "size" of the sound coming from something so small.. they seem bloody good!

Now, I'm not sure I have the inclination to listen to half a dozen pairs of speakers to try to work out exactly which I think is best, but is there anything people would consider a "must listen" to at that sort of price point?

Music tastes vary a lot, looking at the top of my rack:

Toto
Foo Fighters
Tracy Chapman
Michael McDonald
Avril Lavigne
AFI
Finch
Metallica
Zebrahead
Madonna

Only stuff I don't tend to listen to at all is classical and jazz.

Room is a bedroom about 15x12 foot, the distance between speakers and listening distance is around 1.6m.

I may consider at some point using the pre-outs on my NAD to feed a decent audio integrated/power amp.. from what I heard in that dem room (it was already setup, the shop was quiet) Cyrus will figure on the list the time comes.

cheers,
Paul

 

[Godfather]

The Dyn 42 are hard to beat at that price point. They're very dynamic and are perfect for the kind of music you like. You can't go wrong with these. If you can stretch to the 52 then they're even better for not much more money.

 

[cameronl]

I hear the Dynaudio Audience 52s are good and I love my Quad 12L's

CaM

 

[gizlaroc]

I listened to loads of speakers last year when looking for somthing for my quad stereo set up and the Dynaudios came a very close second, in the end they were a little too dry for me.
I ended up with quad 11L's, if you have not heard these yet then I would really try and give them a listen, I listened to loads up to £1000 and they really are a little bit special.

I sold them because I couldn't keep a seperate stereo set up as I ran out of room, but I do miss them and when we move in a couple of months I will be getting another pair.

 

[yant]

No, no, no, I'll have to disagree with gizlaroc: I've listened to a lot of speakers last year and the Quad 11L came close second. I ended with some dyns 42s.

I have absolutely no regret. They are a fantastic little speaker. I definitely recommend a listen of both of them and make your own mind. The 52s are quite good too if you have £150 more to spend. If you have an Audio-T near by, they stock both Dyns and Quads.


Yan

 

[gizlaroc]

Haha

If you are going to be using the nad to drive them, or even as a pre, definitely check them both out, I tried them both with a Quad stereo amp and although the Quads seemed to be a truer sound I prefered the way the quads never sounded strained or hard at high levels.

but you must listen to both and take your amp, or even better leave a credit card at teh dealers and try both at home, you cant tell till they are at home anyway.