Review: Dynaudio Focus 160 bookshelf speakers - King of all-rounders, nearing High End Hi-Fi

I’m not sure why I have postponed this review for as long as I have. Maybe because it felt like it would have been a monstrous behemoth of a review and it seemed all too daunting. But I think that’s the way with most projects. The only way forward is to simply start and build it up piece by piece. In the end this review might not be as comprehensive as these speakers would have deserved but I guess it’s still better than nothing.

source:dynaudio.com

This article is about Dynaudio Focus 160 bookshelf speakers – although it would be foolish to place them on a bookshelf, they deserve proper stands as do most “bookshelf” speakers. The Dynaudio Focus 160 is the successor of Focus 140 but all they have in common is somewhat similar size. They upgraded pretty much all the parts including tweeters and mid/bass woofers – I have experience of the former Focus-line with the floor standing Focus 220s and the difference in clarity was substantial. But more on that later.

The Focus 160s are now out of production and used to retail at around 2000 € a pair. That’s a lot of money for speakers, let alone bookshelf speakers. The next choice in Dynaudio’s bookshelf line would have been some from the Contour line or even the legendary Confidence C1s. Anyway, even at this price point the objective performance of an audio gear is becoming more subjective. The Focus 160s have fairly large cabinets of 202 x 350 x 294 mm (W x H x D) and weigh hefty 7.6 kgs a piece. The black piano lacquer finish looks and feels luxurious, but I don’t understand why the grills aren’t magnetic, especially at this price. Take the grills off (as most of us do) and suddenly the front with all the pin holes and screws doesn’t look as beautiful as it could have. Dynaudio’s later models seem to have addressed this issue with magnets.

Focus 160 & Batman

As with most speakers of this size the sensitivity is rated at lowish 85 dB and impedance at 4 Ohms – pair this with Dynaudio’s reputation of building power-hungry speakers and you start to realize that these are not meant to be paired with simple multichannel A/V amps found at a local supermarket. Indeed, Dynaudio rates the power handling of these babes up to 200 quality watts. And they can be played loud, very loud.

I have placed the speakers on Dynaudio Stand 1s, not the most robust stands money can buy, but still Dynaudio here as well.

The first thing that stands out is the bass, as it usually is with Dynaudio speakers. There’s plenty of it, incredibly plenty. The fullness and scale of the sound is mind boggling. And it’s not just the volume of bass but also how deep it goes. For music listening purposes I really doubt that anyone would feel an initial urge for a subwoofer, no matter what you genre you play. It is still however a pair or 17cm woofers doing the job, so don’t expect them to deliver any miracles if you are used to quality floor standing speakers or subwoofers. After you gather yourself, the focus (pun intended) shifts to that sweet tweeter. All while this massive bass is taxing the speaker, the tweeter sings without any hint of strain and all the clarity and resolution is there up to the finest detail – this is what I noticed immediately after switching the older Focus 220s to 160s, the latter just paints so much clearer image and I imagine the upgraded tweeter is to thank for. The sound stage is large and places instruments in their places when needed.

Initially I had the speakers paired with my Dayens Ampino monoblocks, but at 50 watts per channel, albeit high quality watts, I felt like the Focus 160s could use more power and perhaps a bit drier or sibilant amplifier. And so, I made a second-hand deal for Emotiva BasX A-300 power amp, this budget “giant-killer” delivers 150 watts per channel and is equipped with huge toroidal transformer for that steady current. (Oh boy, I think I need to write about the Emotiva A-300 at some point.) After switching the amplifiers, it was clear that the Emotiva was more suitable for Focus 160s. The upper range became even more vibrant, drier and the bass felt more controlled.

I enjoyed the Focus 160s for a few good years, thinking that they might be an end game solution until I had a larger listening room. But the nature of a Hi-Fi hobbyist is to always look for an improvement. And so while I had very little to complain of 160s as they seemed to perform everything very well, and in a balanced manner, in the end I felt that something else was needed; magic, sparkle, excitement – maybe the amplifiers were not the ideal match and could not bring these traits out of the speakers.
And so I ended up selling them. But given the chance I’d love to try them out again in my current upgraded setup as it is clear, that Dynaudios of this caliber require, or rather, scale nicely with high quality system with plenty of power headroom - this is to be expected from a true high end Hi-Fi speakers.

Be as it may, I can easily recommend the Dynaudio Focus 160s for everyone, as they will work with any type of music with ease, offering plenty of dynamic low notes and true hifi-like details. I usually recommend Dynaudios as the first serious hifi speakers to anyone seeking to venture into the world of hifi because of how versatile and excellent all-rounders they are.      

Review: Dynaudio Focus 220 Floorstanding Speakers - The Dynamic Duo Does It All

Dynaudio is no foreign brand of speakers to anyone who has ever taken more interest in Hi-Fi than just visiting a local supermarket looking for a stereo set. The Danish company has been selling speakers for almost four decades, from entry level to super high end, for home users and studios alike.

Being as popular and wide spread as it is, the general assumption is that Dynaudio's products are described as "power hungry", "bass monsters" or "the speakers for rock/metal music". To be fair, there are a seed of truth in these statements. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.

For the past eight months or so I've been a Dynaudio owner. I got my hands on a pair of Contour 1.1s and these Focus 220s. The Contours were a slight overkill for my PC system so I soon downgraded them to a pair of Audience 42s. (Don't worry the Contour 1.1s are still in the family.)

Focus 220 & Batman

The Focus 220s standing at 98 cm tall are the first "Mk I" versions since Dynaudio has also released a fine tuned Mk II version. Both are discontinued at this stage and someone might consider them as somewhat aged models. But we all know that in a world of audio reproduction old age doesn't mean much. Heck, they are in their prime! Weighting a hefty ~19 kg per piece and deploying two 17 cm (~6,7") Esotec+ mid/bass drivers they are look like traditional speaker boxes - look closer and you will notice that the rear is actually narrower than the front. This gives them a slightly more elegant feel. The black ash wooden finish simply does its job and does not bring up any strong feelings. Take the grills off (as anyone generally should) and the grill attachment holes dominate the front face making Focus 220s appear cheaper than they are. Also the tweeter and drivers are surrounded by screws. So the Focus 220s may not appeal aesthetically to everyone and most likely are not going to win any beauty pageant prices - but what about the sound? It's the sound that matters, right? RIGHT!? 

The reason I first got my eyes on Dynaudio was because after hearing the Audience 42s a good while back and a pair of mighty Confident C2 at a small exhibition here in Helsinki, I took notice of the slightly warm but very dynamic house sound of Dynaudio and the ability to play any genre with ease - "Could these be the jack of all trades?" I wondered. And because my music taste varies from classical to metal that is just what felt I've been looking for but never really had. So yes, Dynaudio has been top of mind of a while now and now finally I know what I have been missing out.

Compared to my previous floor standers the Amphion Prio 620s, the Focus 220s offer overall much softer sound. In a small room Dynaudio's bass is said to be overwhelming and I can relate to that statement. Luckily at around 15 sq. m. and without a solid wall behind speakers my current listening room doesn't have much of this problem - although it could be a little bigger. The speakers are standing straight with no tilt but to my experience a little tilt may help to focus up the soundstage.

My faithful Dayens Ampino Monoblocks deliver 50 W per channel to 8 Ohms whereas Focus 220s maximum power handling is 250W with a nominal impedance of 4 Ohms and sensitivity around 86 dB. I fear that my Ampinos are not quite up to the job that massive orchestral pieces or bass hungry metal music requires and generally Dynaudio speakers are recommended to be paired with beefier amps.

I choose Matt Darey's See the Sun (Dan Stone Rework), an energetic vocal trance piece - and the Focus 220s leave little to be desired. The bass pounds like in a club in Amsterdam (if you have the guts to turn the volume up). Treble details are fast and overall feeling is just pure fun and very non Hi-Fi. The level of detail or transparency is not the greatest I've ever heard but in the end it's all there - and honestly when speaker delivers music like this, I don't even really care.

Next up Katie Melua's Shy Boy. Well well, the Focus 220s can dance to this as well. Katie's voice jumps out clearly and precisely. Plenty of fast somewhat round but detailed bass keeps the rhythm flowing nicely, really makes your feet moving. But by no means is the bass dry like in some expensive British monitors but in contrast more relaxed and deep.

Focus 220 & GameCube

Song Unfold from an EP Urban Flora by Alina Baraz/Galmiatias hits like a thunder. A huge soundstage of vocal downtempo electronic music full of juicy details and once again bass that makes you look for that hidden subwoofer. The delicate vocals are displayed right on front of the listener and grab attention while the music in the background fills the room. It would seem the Focus 220s do offer a very good stereo impression when called for.

In the beginning I said Dynaudios are considered to be suitable for metal music. Time to find out. Amaranthes' Leave Everything Behind offers a worthy challenge to Focus 220s' woofers. But the Dynaudio holds. With ease. Double bass and energetic guitars keep pumping music like there is no tomorrow and so do the speakers. Once again fast, round and deep, but not even closely dry bass, is the key for Dynaudio's triumph and at the same time you notice that the details do not get muffled even in this soundwise extremely complex song, they are all there. All the instruments are displayed clearly and it's easy to follow each of them independently. Switch to one of the greatest headbanging songs that is Metallica's Sad But True and our initial question will be answered: Dynaudio and their Focus 220 speakers can rock. Big time.

Oh and movies and games are no exception. The Focus 220s will let you enjoy any form of entertainment without mentionable flaws. Their strength lies once again in delivering a room filling rich sound with sharp details and a convincing bass. But for that theater grade couch shaking experience a subwoofer is required (no matter what front speakers you have).

Even if the Focus 220s are not the most transparent speakers out there nor will they offer the latest word in resolution, they will reveal poor recordings. Or let me put it this way, because they are blessed with trait of being jack of all trades, the Focus 220s will sound fine but maybe little dull with poorer recordings. Feed them with quality songs and they will surprise you every time with their detailed room filling capabilities, dynamic and rich full range reproduction and energetic presentation.

The Dynaudio's Focus line is still in production and as one can see they are not exactly entry level products. The Focus 220s retailed somewhere between 2000 and 3000 euros during their time. Clearly this means that the amplification and source of media should be at an adequate level, and in Dynaudio's case, an amplifier with a little heftier power reserve and driving capability is not a bad idea at all. With my 50 watters the Focus 220s truly open up when that volume knob travels all they way up to 12'o clock and even further towards southeast until the SWAT team storms into my listening room. Brands with components known for their PRaT may deliver nice synergy with Dynaudio, such as Densen or Naim but of course there are many suitable for the job (as you may read below).   

So there you have it. Dynaudio Focus 220s are an interesting pair of transducers capable of delivering any genre of music with great satisfaction. Just don't let their "sleeper" like appearance deceive you. They are indeed bassy (fast, deep, round, rich) and never dry. Maybe not the last word in aesthetic design nor in absolute resolution or transparency. On the other hand never harsh or boring. With quality recordings they will surprise you every time. Most of all they are almost always fun, especially when the volume rises and believe me - you want to keep raising it.

PS.

Out of curiosity I switched the small but widely praised Trends Audio TA 10.1 amplifier set as a poweramp to work together with my Abrahamsen V3.0 preamp. Now the Trends delivers only a measly 6 watts at 8 ohm load, being a small T-amp mostly suitable for desktop systems. And it is paired with floorstanding Dynaudios. Nothing to lose right?

I press random play on my playlist. My jaw drops. WHERE IS THIS SOUND COMING FROM? The sound the Trends TA 10.1 delivers is utterly surprising, shocking even. The bass is fast and bit tighter but still has that quantity that is to be expected from these speakers. The details are sparkling and the music just flows at astonishing rhythm and ease. I have no idea how is the small T-amp capable of doing this. Maybe it has something to do with crossover design? Or maybe this is true synergy where the bass heavy and slightly warm nature of the Focus 220s meets the modern Tripath sound of the TA 10.1?  And the funny thing is that this setup seems to work with every genre of music, leaving only large orchestral and most complex metal pieces little lacking whereas with electronic, hip hop, vocal, acoustic, jazz or pop you really can't tell that there is a small 6 watt amp playing. Of course you can't play very loud with 6 watts but still loud enough the upset the neighbors at night. I still can't get my head around this. I suppose I'll just have to listen more music!