Dynaudio Excite X32 Review September 2010 TAS

jumpupcalypso -- Tue, 08/24/2010 - 13:43

I felt compelled to write after reading the review of the Dynaudio Excite X32 Loudspeakers (TAS September 2010). I read it 3 times before I realized what was causing the uneasy feeling. Baggies of sand placed on top of the speakers – really? Do I buy that directly from Dynaudio or is that an aftermarket purchase?
Am I being too snarky about this?
I can get behind a lot of tweaks that may alter and/or improve the sound of my equipment; but baggies of sand on the tops of my speakers isn’t one of them; I showed the review to my wife and she burst out laughing, then stated that I’d best be advised not to attempt that trick in our family room.
It seems the speaker has a cabinet resonance issue; the review should have been written clearly stating that. As far as I can tell, the entire review is based on the baggies being on the speakers. I cannot ever remember reading another speaker review where the reviewer did this – it seems to me that the fact that the speaker has a cabinet resonance issue is an important fact and the review should have been based on that, with a quick blurb at the end stating that “I tried putting baggies of sand on the tops and it helped”.
I am generally an enthusiastic reader of your mag and have no issues with your editorial policy, cost of equipment you review, occasional political barbs, etc. In fact, I kind of wish your writers didn’t apologize so much to people who write in to complain. That said, I feel that this particular review was done somewhat dishonestly and really doesn’t describe the speakers characteristics accurately.
My 2 cents, and keep up the generally outstanding work!

JLeeMD -- Tue, 08/24/2010 - 17:53

John Atkinson did exactly the same in his review of the Totem Forest speakers! This is wrong. If a speaker has cabinet resonance issues then the review should reflect that. There's no way I am going to buy speakers knowing ahead of time I need to put sandbags on top of them to achieve the performance noted in the review!

Kirk Midtskog -- Wed, 01/19/2011 - 02:29

Actually, I am glad you wrote in. I could have easily listened to the X32 without the baggies of sand on their tops. I just happened to prefer them a bit more with the sand in place and mentioned it in my piece. BTW, its not as odd as I think you are taking it. The three baggies were wrapped in a nice cloth so as not to leave any plastic-y residue on the cabinets and to make the appearance better. I have used sand on several speakers over the years and know a few others who do exactly the same. The idea of adding a bit more mass to speakers is as old as the hills.
As a consumer, if a reviewer mentioned something that was very cheap and easy to do that I could also try out on a speaker, I would appreciate that. I think you read too much into the whole thing. I just noted a bit more vibration on the top panel than on the sides. That is all. I would not call this matter a "cabinet resonance issue' that affected the performance of the product to such an extent as to constitute dishonesty. In my opinion, the difference with or without the sand on top could easily be more influenced by an associated cable choice or some other setup variable.

Kirk Midtskog, Contributing Writer - The Absolute Sound