Mini Monitors - Dynaudio and JM Labs

maybe my post comes a bit late but just hope to help anyone who reads this.

i used to own dynaudio speakers. audience 60 and contour 1.3. they are both good at dynamic, open, imaging and bass punch. piano reproduction is always superior. but the tweeter, sorry to say, sounds less smooth to me, to the extend of harsh maybe. so violin and strings always sound a bit sharp and strain. it's very easy to give you a very good first impression but listening at it longer at home you may feel the sound overall is a bit hard and tired. and the tweeter needs big improvement.

was thinking to upgrade to the new dynaudio C1 but only a few minutes of listening at showroom i was surprise to find out the tweeter still sounded more or less the same.

then i got the micro utopia be on smu stands. overall comparing to dynaudio, it sounds light, easy and comfortable. the be tweeter is HEAVEN! it's so smooth and extended which makes the whole presentation airy and transparent. midrange is HEAVEN as well. smooth and so much definitions with a warm touch. violin or anything with strings sounds like a breeze. it helps reproduce piano as well. the top and midrange are steps better than dynaudios and many other brands to my ear. but, it's not perfect. the bass is far inferior than dynaudio. even my $600 audience 60 can produce much better bass punch and extension than the $6000 micro utopia be. most of the time, unless really good recorded audiophile CD, the bass punch for micro utopia simply doesnt exist. you can easily hear that the top is perfect, midrange is perfect but then the bass roll off sharply from maybe 150hz. it's pretty surprised that after you spend $6000 then find out the bass is missing.

imho, a sub for micro is a must just in order to complete the whole picture. now i am considering a REL Stadium III. i would love to have a sub utopia be but that will part me another $6000.

not trying to make any conclusions but just hope to help anyone reading this. bring a few violin CD when you audition c1 to test the tweeter, and bring a few normal recorded cd to test the bass of micro. the answer would be clear.

Liuhao, I have to disagree that the Micros do not have any bass punch at all. Sure, there are other speakers that are much more extended in the bass, but I have actually found them to be quite punchy in the bottom end. Perhaps your room is too big for them or you're underpowering them. I've run them typically with anywhere between 120W per channel up to 600W per channel and have had no compliants about the bass punch with the Micros. Even at a HiFi Show we put on in November, I had them set up in a decent sized hotel room driven by an all Cary system with the 600W per channel Cary A-306 power amp and no one complained about lack of bass at all. Check out the picture of this system at the show if you want:
http://www.everestaudio.com/hifishow/htmls/everest-audio-show_020.html

Note: There is a Velodyne sub in the picture, but most of the time we did not have it turned on and the Micros bottom end filled the room very well.

Washline, wouldn't a semi-colon after 20khz been more appropriate than a comma? While not as clear as breaking it down into 2 sentences; it would have made your sentence, and the point you were trying to make, easier to follow. Don't you think?

What timing here !
I just listened to the Micro Be's and came away quite impressed with tweeter . I had originally gone to audition some Mac stuff and changed my upgrade path !
I did not think that they needed a sub . I even turned up the base , on the Mac pre , and felt that flat was fine .
I have started a thread to find another speaker with this caliber of performance for less money . Does it exist ?

Also , what are you Be owners using for amplification . The Mac stuff , tubed pre & SS amp , sounded pretty good .

Thank You

I've been enjoying a new pair of Micro Be's for about a week now and all I can say is these are AMAZING "little" speakers. It's always a joy when your system takes a big jump towards a deeper more satisfying musical experience. These speakers are in the process (still breaking them in) of doing just that.

A little history...the Micros replaced a pair of B&W N805's that had provided quite a few years of enjoyment during which time I systematically upgraded my entire system from the top on down.

My current system breaks down as follows:
Mark Levinson 390s (fed directly into amp)
McIntosh 501's
Nordost Valkyrja Balanced IC throughout
Revel Ultima Sub30
Audience Au24 Speaker Cable
Focal-JM Labs Micro Utopia Be (on SMU stands)

As musically satisfying speaker the 805's have been over the years I felt that I just wasn't getting everything my components were capable of delivering. Having a few other financial priorities it was going to be a little while longer before making the upgrade as I've been looking at much more expensive options than the Micros.

I've heard a lot of great things about the Micros and was extremely impressed a couple of years back when I heard a pair of Altos. So when a pair of Micros showed up on AG last month at a decent price I thought to myself why not give them a try. At least they could tie me over until I decide on the speakers I really want.

Well, having lived with these babies for just over a week I may have just found what I've been missing. No, they don't have the final word on macrodynamics or overall scale (even with the Sub30), but apart from that that these speakers are truly extraordinary.

The top-end is simply beyond anything I've heard before along with transparency through the mid-band. Soundstaging and imaging are spectacular as well (you'll need to experiment w/ toe-in) and strike a wonderful balance between image focus and spaciousness. Reproduction of instrument placement, timbre and spacial cues on Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" is simply staggering. The speakers disappear completely and what's left is the music suspended in 3D space in front of you. Going through my collection of favorite "diagnostic" cd's (we all have 'em) has revealed a layer of musical detail and texture I've never heard before on my system. Another veil between the music and the listening chair has been lifted.

All in all, these speakers are a magnitude order above my old B&W's in every way. With the Sub30 the experience top to bottom is truly special, but that's another story.

I can't recommend these speakers enough. Happy Listening!!

Al