DIAPASON Dynamis
Floorstanding loudspeakers
The Dynamis is the not a slick design floorstander like your usual Italian loudspeaker. The Dynamis is a very adult speaker that comes each in a wooden crate of a wardrobe size. The zero series pair that I auditioned was already a seasoned veteran from exhibitions so its copper patina had some scratches, still it was remarkably beautiful for its size. Diapason offers – among others – also gold patina version that looks gorgeous in pictures.
Function and form
The Dynamis is heavy – each speaker weights 100kg – so it includes wheel bearings so that it could be properly positioned in a room without assistance of helpers. The wheels can be replaced by spikes if you trust your floor can handle it. I did not have any issue with finding a sweet spot for them in the room, the Dynamis is not a particularly difficult to position, perhaps due to its size as the cabinets provided a kind of closed environment for drivers and minimized interactions with the rear wall.
The pair of the Dynamis also effectively disappeared visually thanks to its 14 diamond-like facetes that reflected light as well as they suppressed internal standing waves. At the back of the speaker an owner can finetune bass and treble in 3 steps with jumpers which can be very useful to tame some room modes or simply adjust the speaker to your listening preferences.
The set of drivers includes 29mm silk dome tweeter, 180mm lacquered paper midrange driver and 300mm aluminium bass driver. The front baffle is sloped to time-align the drivers. The crossover is set quite low at 150Hz and 1.5kHz, nominal impedance is 4 ohms and sensitivity 89dB in specs. The cabinets are extension of what Diapason with Astera, Adamantes and Karis models, yet they are made from thick MDF (rather than real wood of its siblings) which is laminated like ship hulls and lacquered. It looks like Diapason paid homage to classical loudspeaker craft with the Dynamis – judged by its sound it was a good bet.
Bass management
The Dynamis can excite a big mass of air. I could easily hear 23Hz and feel 20Hz. The bass is supported by a reflex port lined with foam which looks like a gas pipe and fires into the floor – see the attached picture. The music with scale like the The Village score was truly monumental through the Dynamis. When the music shifted to soft violin the soundstage remained composed and natural.
Also the reference double bass in Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish Harlem (Chesky Records) was conveyed with very balanced ratio between body and detail. Again, the sound was three-dimensional and very natural, with a perfect sense of height. Thus I could really track hands on the piano’s keyboard vs shakers moving in the air vs Rebecca’s voice vs hands on double bass strings.
Clarity & delicacy
I am used to analytical nature of my TAD’s beryllium concentric driver so I missed a bit more transparency, however I also know how troublesome can be the transparency with recordings of lesser quality. The Dynamis was closer to a relaxed concert hall sound than to over-equalised stress of modern loudspeakers.
Choosing a right amplifier will be a key for satisfaction. Betting on watts may not be wise as it was proved during my auditioning. The more powerful Perreaux 255i had a better grip on bass at higher volumes, yet it had to capitulate to Pathos Inpol integrated which provided soul to music. The Perreaux was more didactic and Pathos was more enjoyable – whenever I felt inclined towards the Perreaux brute force the Pathos seduced me with its charm.
Tonal accuracy
I loved that the Dynamis did not sound forced at all. The music just flowed with natural authority without boom and sparkled without shrill. My favourite recording, the pink noise, was complete without any coloration artifacts and deep as hell. What I just described has one big advantage – a lack of listening fatigue. It also has a disadvantage – at a show or in a studio the Dynamis may be overlooked as it is too understated for today’s skim-listening. If not convinced yet then listen to how male and female vocals sound through the Dynamis – full fledged, full colours, no coloration.
Spatial resolution
No matter how big the Diapason Dynamis is it can disappear in the room. In the listening room I ended up with them in conventional positioning with just slight toe-in. Then I invited McLaughlin Trio (Live At The Royal Festival Hall, JMT Productions) and the Dynamis recreated the hall ambience in my living-room sized space. The instruments had bodies that were locked firmly within the soundstage and events like the gong in Mother Tongues had scale and weight of a real thing. Trilok Gurtu behind drums was imaged with great accuracy, one of the best imaging I have heard from any speaker.
Is the Diapason Dynamis worth 50k€? Well, it depends on your ears, doesn’t it? The asking price is not too high, measured by today’s high end prices. On top of that the Dynamis offers the sound that has a lasting quality.
Recommended resellers
High-End Audio Studio, Praha, tel. +420 224 256 844
Manufacturer's website: http://www.diapason-italia.com
Associated components
- CD player: C.E.C. TL-5
- Amplifiers: Pathos Inpol, Perreaux 255i
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Van Den Hul The Air, Kubala-Sosna The Emotion
- Power conditioning: VdH The Mainstream
Gallery
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