The New Excite Series – Dynaudio X34

The New Excite Series – Dynaudio X34

Despite its range name, the Excite X34 is intended to be ‘particularly discreet’. It’s the smallest speaker in this group and the only one without any curves in its cabinet, which is finished in an unassertive Satin Black, rather than a showy gloss lacquer. But it’s also available in Satin White and Rosewood or Walnut veneers. As the smaller of two floorstanders in the Excite range, the X34 looks like a grown-up version of the standmount X14, which has a 30m soft-dome tweeter plus a single 130mm Magnesium Silicate Polymer [MSP] bass/mid driver. For the X34, Dynaudio has added a second 130mm MSP unit, and the speaker is bass-reflex-loaded with a slightly flared port in the back of the cabinet. Foam bungs are supplied, which can be fitted to the ports if room conditions make it desirable to attenuate the low bass output. The strong metal base with outrigger feet at the corners is equipped with adjustable spikes.

All drive units feature Dynaudio’s usual aluminium voice coils and large, powerful magnet systems. There is no provision for bi-wiring, because, as the company firmly puts it, ‘Dividing the frequency sections through bi-wiring or bi-amping is neither beneficial nor optional.’

Dynaudio Excite X34

Neutral Territory

From the start, the Dynaudio offered an attractively neutral presentation, restrained by comparison with any of the other speakers. It had most in common with the Tannoy, though without the latter’s overtly ear-catching treble detail. It had a deeper bass the Tannoy, and although this was light compared with the other two models, it made up for this with poise and accuracy. With Marta Gomez, there was an attractive, velvety quality to the voice, and a sense of air around it. Treble sounds were free of exaggerated sibilants or spottiness and could even seem smoothed-off. Drums and percussion sounds had a natural quality, though without any great sense of attack or zest. Background vocals were clean and free of any muddle. On Warnes’ ‘First We Take Manhattan’ the speaker revealed all the colour and power of Stevie Ray’s masterful lead guitar, and there was a good combination of sweetness and lifelike ambience. With Eric Bibb’s ‘Spirit I Am’ the evocative sounds in that picture-painting mix worked really well too. From the Art Pepper album the speaker extracted a really good piano sound, while the bass here had acceptable weight and wasn’t sluggish. With the Fauré, the choir had a convincing sense of location, clarity in its different sections and a sweetness to the treble sound.

Dynaudio Excite X34

Lab report

As the X34 is the smallest speaker here it’s no surprise that it has the lowest specified sensitivity of 86dB, but our pink noise figure of 83.7dB indicates that even this is optimistic. Payback comes in the form of a very amp-friendly load, the minimum impedance modulus of 6.8ohm justifying the 8ohm nominal figure while the well-controlled phase angles result in a minimum EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) of 4.2ohm at 323Hz–comfortably the highest in this group. The X34 also scored in having the flattest frequency response with commendable error figures of just ±3.2dB and ±3.1dB respectively (200Hz to 20kHz). Pair matching error of ±1.2dB isn’t quite as impressive but still equal-best here. Bass extension was competitive at 55Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz) and the cumulative spectral decay waterfall [see Graph] shows a fast initial energy decay with resonances kept to an impressively low level.

Frequency in Hz