Dynaudio Excite – Features

The Dynaudio Exicte X32 front floorstanders use a two-way design, using dual 14cm mid/bass drivers made from magnesium silicate polymer and a 2.7cm tweeter. The X22 Center steps things up a notch with a three-way design, using dual 11cm mid/bass drivers and a 2.7cm tweeter, while the X12 rears also use a two-way design with a 14cm mid/bass driver and 2.7cm tweeter.

The Sub 250 Compact’s 24cm woofer is fashioned from Dynaudio’s light, rigid Magnesium Silicate Polymer diaphragm, moved by a powerful magnet and 100mm-diameter aluminium voice coil.

On the back of the subwoofer are plenty of tools to get it singing in harmony with the other speakers. You’ll find gain and crossover frequency dials and switches for inverting the phase and selecting slave and LFE modes. A slave in/out is provided for those who want to daisy chain extra subs, alongside a RCA inputs and outputs.

Dynaudio Excite – Performance

Given its price tag and Dynaudio’s heritage, Excite’s scintillating performance is not a massive surprise, although it’s not quite the flawless listening experience we were expecting.

But there’s so much to admire about the system’s sound quality. It lives up to ites “Excite” name with a refined, powerful and dextrous performance. First up, Excite system took us on a thrilling journey through Middle Earth with a run-through of The Fellowship of the Ring on Blu-ray.

Its sense of scale is suitably epic when dealing with mind-blowing action scenes like the Cave Troll battle in the Mines of Moria. The action has huge, room-filling presence thanks to a combination of deep, potent bass and crisp effects being flung around the room.

It does all this without getting too flustered, making clanking swords and roaring beasts sound powerful but not eardrum-piercing. The score is warm and silky, propelling the action along but giving every single effect room to breathe.

The surround speakers do a great job with rear effects, offering sharp detail, accurate placement and timing, plus seamless tonal consistency. That means you get an enveloping background ambience throughout, peppered with fine detail textures. This also applies to the centre, which articulates dialogue with all the authority and detail you’d expect from a £535 speaker.

The subwoofer isn’t the most thunderous we’ve auditioned but does a good job of layering the soundstage with deep bass and reacting quickly to transients and sudden dynamic shifts.

The only small blot on the copybook is that the system lost a little composure and clarity at times when the volume on our Onkyo TX-NR818 receiver was cranked up to over 70dB. The bit where goblins scuttle up the pillars as Balrog approaches is a noisy flurry of shrieking, scratching and clanking metal, which sounds more congested and strained than expected. It’s by no means a major or constant problem – and most of the time you won’t have the volume up that high anyway – but we expected absolute composure at this sort of price.

The Dynaudio Excite system is terrific with music, handling Michael Kiwanuka’s Home Again with a great deal of sensitivity and insight, teasing out little details like his croaky voice and the twang of guitar strings. The whole thing has a gorgeously mellifluous feel, but take it to the dance floor with a bit of house or hip-hop and it grasps the fast rhythms and basslines with wonderful agility and energy.

Verdict

The Dynaudio Excite system marries sumptuous looks and build quality with a sonic performance full of energy and sophistication. It’s detailed, muscular and agile, effortlessly bringing large-scale cinema sound into your home, but it’s not as comfortable at high volumes as some rival high-end systems.

Trusted Score