Dynaudio Excite X34 $3290 - Reasons to be cheerful

Eagle-eyed readers will no doubt have spotted that an almost identical looking Dynaudio floorstander graced these pages back in the October 2013 issue and earned itself a prestigious Recommended badge. That speaker was the Xeo 5, an active design with a wireless receiver. Its cheaper passive cousin, the X34, comes minus the Xeo’s internal amplifier, freeing it up to be driven by one of your choosing.

The X34 model shares air-moving hardware with the Xeo 5, so you get a pair of Dynaudio’s 5in MSP (magnesium silicate polymer) long-throw woofers with aluminium voice coils and die-cast aluminium frames. Working in parallel, these drivers cross over to the 27mm soft dome tweeter, which also sports aluminium voice coils.

These are a superb design

When upwardly comparing the X34 to Dynaudio’s other passive ranges, an extra $1810 buys you the equivalent model in the Focus range, the Focus 260. This employs a heavier cabinet construction and uses larger coils within its drive units, with stronger double magnets. With a claimed 4ohm load, it also demands a more capable amp to really drive it. Thanks to its more amp-friendly claimed 8ohm load, matching should be less of an issue with the X34. That said, with a quoted sensitivity of 86dB, I expect the X34 will still lend itself to amplifiers with a bit of muscle, but maybe not the arc welding type that their more costly brethren demand.

Like the Xeo 5, the X34 is constructed from 18mm MDF and each cabinet is internally strengthened by two braces. Unlike the Xeo 5, the X34’s front baffle is without visible mounting holes for its front grille, thanks to hidden magnets that hold each in place.

Also unique to the Excite floor stander models are cast alloy outrigger feet that broaden their footprint and aid stability. These are a superb design, with recessed rubber feet housing hidden spikes that can be wound into action from above (via a supplied hex key) when citing the speakers on carpets. Finally, the bass is reinforced through a tapered rear port tuned to 41Hz, which can be blocked using the supplied bungs.

Each cabinet is internally strengthened by two braces

Sound quality

For such a relatively lean-looking speaker, I’m surprised by how much punch this packs from its slender profile, and my ears are convinced that the size of the Dyn’s mid/bass drivers are larger than specified.

Exploring the X34s with a 16-bit/44.1kHz rip of Elbow’s Asleep In The Back, I’m instantly gripped by the low kick-drum ‘thump’ within the Redtrack, as it sucks the air from my room with surprising authority. This palpable sense of sheer grip beyond what you’d expect from such a small speaker is illustrated further, as the Dynaudios dig deeper into the album. The thick looping piano and bass guitar rhythms of Powder Blueswirl around my ears with an articulate midrange that has all the confidence of a much larger multi-driver three-way speaker. Although there’s plenty of juice on tap via my 260W Musical Fidelity M6PRX amp, they have me winding up the wick more than usual to drive them to realistic levels, so a healthy supply of clean power is needed to make them sing.

Dynaudio describes its range topping X38 as “the mother of all bass” and listening to the X34 suggests that they are indeed a brother to that mother. Thankfully however, the bass isn’t just a case of low-end bravado. The dreamy alt-rock melodies of Mazzy Star aren’t at the top of my low-frequency test tracks, but via the X34s, the deep notes of Fade Into You possess so much presence and finesse I’m left asking myself why I haven’t noticed this dynamic within the track before.

“I’m surprised by how much punch this packs from its slender profile”

The X34s also welcome space to breathe, and in my room the rear port craves little rear-wall reinforcement. If space permits, moving the speakers further into your listening room helps prevent the lower frequencies from conjugating within the soundstage. If space is of a premium, I’d recommend calling on the supplied bungs (in my room, around 12cm between the speaker’s back panel and the rear wall is the tipping point). Thankfully the bungs work well as acoustic tuning devices, by taking away a little bass depth in return for culling boom and keeping the music nicely balanced.

How we compare

If you like Dynaudio’s house sound and lean towards a slightly warmer presentation, consider Dali’s Mentor 5 and 6 models, if you’ve space to let them spread their wings. If you like your music with more bite, check out PMC’s twenty.23, which may not offer the lowend wallop of the Dyns, but has rhythm in spades. ATC’s recently revised SCM40 threeway offers an even greater degree of honestly if you like your music warts ‘n’ all. Lastly, Neat’s Motive SX1 that we tested in January, has excellent tonality and is less fussy about positioning, but the Neats may not offer the same levels of grip as the Dynaudios.