Dynaudio Esotec System 242 - Perfecting the Art of Audio

by CAE, Jul 01, 2007

Soul/BluesToni Braxton "Shadowless""Shadowless," off Toni Braxton's Libra, is a simple piece. The composition is restrained most of the way through with intermittent strong points toward the latter half of the song. It's also very intimate, with Braxton's vocals dead center and a soundstage structured to provide limited overall depth. The serenade style of the song has only a single guitar accompanying the vocals closely and breaks to a nice width as additional guitarists join in the more dynamic sections.

After listening to this track, I tried to think of a subtle way to describe its reproduction though the Esotec 242's, but I don't think "subtle" will do them justice. So I'll give it to you short and sweet - the Esotec 242's were damn near perfect! Aside from some trivial bold notes apparent in her lower range, Braxton's vocals sounded stunning. The transition from her deep, boxy lows to the airiness in her upper range was smooth and natural - extraordinarily lifelike. Even the short versed backup vocals complementing Braxton were easily defined. And the instruments - every string pluck of the main guitar was quick and detailed with dazzling, resonant character. The hand slapping of the guitar body while the strings are kept from resonating was sensational, and each of the additional guitars was easy to place throughout the entire song. Outstanding!Score: 9.5/10

Jazz (InstrumentalMonte Alexander "Sweet Georgia Brown"Monte Alexander's instrumental version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" is a powerful session, thanks to two percussionists, a full horn section, two bassists and Alexander on the piano. With such an array of instruments, the soundstage, transient response and system dynamics can easily be compromised. That wasn't the case through the Esotec System 242. Every snare, tom and cymbal and each of the horns were precisely placed and easily discerned. The tonal characteristics of the horns were perfectly balanced, revealing the elemental rasp of the reed. Even the mechanical noises of the keys in the far left horn were present - details I find missing in many other systems. Monte's piano work came through in a passionate way, with boxy character and imagery that moved with the scale of the keys, just as it should.

Dynamically speaking, the System 242 was ready for any sudden changes. They were quick and accurate, never exhibiting any false overhang. The transient response was really good, as I noted with praise in the littlest instrument details. If there is one negative to speak of, it was again the lowest notes of the string bass. These instruments were soft, almost transparent, which resulted in a lack of realism. Fortunately for the Dynaudios, this track isn't heavily dependent on these instruments.Score: 8.5/10

AlternativeScore: 9.5/10

The gentle plucks of Sara K.'s guitar were palpably real, with resonant details sounding so good it was if she were actually playing a private session for me. Each tap and stroke of the jazz brush across the cymbals and drum set were terrific. The piano and standup bass were well-balanced, though the individuality of the bass strings was a bit muddled. These instruments are layered upon the soundstage and the placement of each was accomplished in a praiseworthy way through the Dynaudios.

Sara K.'s vocals sounded warm and natural, but there was some bite in her midrange. I'm not sure the exact cause of this sharpness - possibly a small spike in the frequency response or maybe cone breakup - but it reared its head more prominently as the volume was increased.Score: 8/10

ConclusionDetailed, dynamic and accurate, these Dyanaudios are surely one of the finest performing 2-way systems I've evaluated. That, in a nutshell, is how I'd describe the Dynaudio Esotec System 242's. It's a shame, but with a formidable retail price of $830, they're certainly not going to fit into everyone's budget. But, considering the sound reproduction capabilities and the overall level of performance they achieve, I still deem the System 242 an absolute bargain, especially since they better most components costing two or three times their price. If you have pockets deep enough to afford them, I'd encourage you to take a listen. They're certainly lustworthy.

With the baffles bolted to my well-damped, 2.25ft3 test enclosures, I finalized my setup with some brief listening to determine the best position for the speaker cabinets, verify phase and adjust the passive crossovers accordingly. I ended up with the enclosures positioned on-axis to my listening location, exactly 4' from each cabinet. I started with the tweeters connected to the "0" level lugs on the crossovers, where they remained for the test. However, at first listen I noticed a lull in the response between the tweeter and midrange. To correct this, I swapped the phase of the tweeters, which yielded a synergistic response between the drivers and stabilized the overall image. My guess is that either something is mislabeled in the set or that Dynaudio is expecting the user to place the speakers in typical factory locations with the tweeters up high and the woofers in the lower door. Doing this could possibly result in enough distance to place the speakers back in phase with each other by the time they hit the listener.