New Product Review: Dynaudio LYD 48 Monitors

January 03, 2018 1 Comment

Displayed at this past AES Convention in New York, Dynaudio's LYD 48 is a new series of near-field/mid-field monitors that deliver true 3-way performance at a price far below similar speakers in their class. Dynaudio's engineers worked this magic by taking some of their proven technologies and adding new features such as 24-bit/96KHz audio processing, multiple DSP options, and state of the art Class D amplification.

We were lucky enough to get one of the first available sets of LYD 48 from Dynaudio, so we set them up in our studio demo room and took them for a spin. We were also supplied with an 18 S subwoofer, so we could try them with and without the LF extension.

Technology Development Manager Joel Guilbert took the wheel during this test drive:

"The speakers are probably the most compact 3 way we’ve encountered in the studio, at just 14.5 wide, just over 9” tall and 11 inches deep, with a rear port. Like many modern powered monitors, they use ultra-efficient class D amplifier and doesn’t require a heat sink protruding from the back of the monitor. The closest 3 way -  size wise - would be the Neumann KH310 (which as a point of comparison, this 4-way system with the KH805 sub would cost $6000)"

"In our demo studio the speakers were placed on sturdy Sound Anchors stands, 39” in height, 26” inches from a (treated) rear wall. We kept the speaker in flat, neutral and freestanding settings. We use “flat” settings for all speaker evaluations. Whereas the ability to help massage speakers into your environment is important, we are trying to evaluate the speakers themselves."

But how do they sound?

Joel: "In a word - even. These aren’t a hyped monitor by any means. They don’t impart as much of their own timbre to the sound as some other monitors, even some with similar Nordic heritage."

"You could listen to these for hours without experiencing fatigue; the top end isn’t brittle or bright. The critical 1-2kHz range is unimpeded. Things just sound like they should. When A/Bing with some other speakers, coming back to the Dynaudio combo just felt right; whereas it made some wonder if a pair of more “colorful” speakers was broken, especially in the midrange.

The whole package filled our 20"x16" demo studio very well and got quite loud enough."

Taking It Down Low

Joel: "The subwoofer integration is really impressive. There is some DSP contained within the sub - you set up using a rotary encoder and small screen on the rear/side of the sub. There are presets for a number of Dynaudio monitors, and a number of more generic crossover presets. 3 bands of parametric EQ are available to be dialed in, you can enter the distances from listening position to the L/R and subwoofer and there is some delay compensation factored in."

A Word on the 18 S

Joel: "If you are looking for a sub to shake your room, or make it sound like the club, this is NOT the sub for you. With the sub dialed in, for all intents and purposes, it disappears. It does exactly what it is supposed to - extends the bass response. The most commonly uttered expression regarding bass after hearing it was “tight” James Cammacks upright bass on Ahmad Jamal's recent Marseille recording sounded 3 dimensional, all the low-end extension there without becoming flabby or loose as some subwoofers tend to do to upright bass. A low synth frequency on electronic group Boards of Canada's Jacquard Causeway track was clear, present and accurate."

 

We will have these on display in our demo room for a while longer, so please contact us for a demo and hear them for yourself!

For more info and pricing on the LYD 48, click HERE.

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