LABORATORY TEST RESULTS

Newport Test Labs measured the frequency response of the Dynaudio Emit M30 as being 50Hz to 22kHz ±3dB which is not only an excellent response, but also one that’s very close to Dynaudio’s own specification of 40Hz–23kHz ±3dB… so close, in fact, that the high-frequency discrepancy could be due to differences in the positioning of the measuring microphone and the low-frequency discrepancy due to the technique used to measure the –3dB down point. It’s worth noting though, that a 10Hz difference is quite small, even at low frequencies, because whereas a 50Hz extension takes the speaker down to G1#, a 40Hz extension would take it down to D1#, just one and a half tones lower on the tempered scale.

The frequency response is not only extended at both ends of the audio spectrum, but also quite linear, so the response is not ‘tilted’ to favour either the bass or the treble. There is a very slight ‘sag’ in the response centred at 2.5kHz, which is presumably where the crossover frequency is, but it’s minor, being well within the ±3dB envelope. In fact, the frequency response remains within a ±2.5dB envelope from 60Hz to 20kHz, which is an outstandingly good result.

The excellent frequency response result is reflected in the in-room response that’s shown in Figure 1, where Newport Test Labs has graphed the response from 20Hz up to 10kHz using a pink noise test stimulus, and you can see that from 70Hz up to 10kHz, it’s within ±2dB and, once again, there is no spectral tilt.

Graph 2 shows the high-frequency response of the Dynaudio Emit M30 in greater detail, using a gating technique that gives the same result that would be obtained if the speaker were to be measured in an anechoic chamber. It shows both the frequency response with the grille fitted (red trace) and the frequency response without the grille (black trace). You can see that the frequency response is clearly flatter, more linear and more

An exceptionally good design that measured extremely well on Newport Test Labs’ test bench.

extended without the grille, but the differences are so minor that I doubt they would be audible, even given a direct A–B comparison of ‘speaker grille-on’ vs. ‘speaker grille-off’.

The low-frequency performance of the Dynaudio Emit M30, as measured by Newport Test Labs using a near-field technique that again simulates the response that would be obtained in an anechoic chamber, shows the bass drivers’ combined response is flat down to 80Hz after which it rolls off very gradually to a minima at 28Hz. The response rolls off so gradually, in fact, that it appears that the cabinet is acting more like a sealed enclosure than a bass reflex one. The bass reflex port’s output is also unusual, peaking at 25Hz and shelving from around 40Hz up to 90Hz before dropping off very sharply above 140Hz. These traces lead me to believe that Dynaudio is tailoring the low-frequency response in a non-standard way in order to gain additional bass extension.

Graph 4, which shows the impedance modulus for both left and right loudspeakers, proves that the quality control procedures in place at Dynaudio are outstandingly good, along with quality of the drivers they manufacture, because the two traces are so close that to all intents and purposes they are identical. I don’t think I have ever seen such good left/right speaker matching, which augurs well for stereo imaging.

The impedance itself is nicely controlled, rising only a little over 10Ω at the resonant frequencies, and climbing nicely above 20kHz which will guarantee ensure that any driving amplifier is comfortably loaded. The impedance dips to about 4.2Ω at 200Hz, so Dynaudio’s specification of it being nominally 4Ω puts our sample comfortably within that spec, while at the same time meaning it will an easy load for any amplifier, not least because its phase angle (blue trace) is relatively benign, swinging no more than ±30 degrees.

Newport Test Labs measured the sensitivity of the Dynaudio Emit M30 as being 85.5dBSPL at one metre for a 2.83Veq input, using its standard, stringent test procedure. This is just 0.5dB less than Dynaudio’s specification and also an excellent result, though slightly lower than the average for similarly-sized floorstanding loudspeakers, which makes me think Dynaudio has sacrificed some efficiency in order to gain bass extension. Given the power-handling capacity of Dynaudio’s drivers, thanks to the use of 75mm-diameter voice coils, three times larger than usual, this would seem to me to be a very sensible tradeoff. The Dynaudio Emit M30 is not only an exceptionally good loudspeaker design, one that measured extremely well on Newport Test Labs’ test bench, it’s also an exceptionally well built loudspeaker and therefore gets my very highest recommendation.

Figure 3. Low frequency response of front-firing bass reflex port (red trace) and woofer. Nearfield acquisition. Port/woofer levels not compensated for differences in radiating areas. [Dynaudio Emit M30 Loudspeaker]

Figure 2. Highfrequency response, expanded view showing grille off (black trace) vs. grille on (red trace). Test stimulus gated sine. Microphone placed at three metres on-axis with dome tweeter. Lower measurement limit 600Hz. [Dynaudio Emit M30 Loudspeaker]

Figure 1. Averaged in-room response using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. Trace is the averaged result of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the tweeter. [Dynaudio Emit M30]

Figure 5. Frequency response. Trace below 1kHz is the averaged result of nine individual frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point onaxis with the tweeter using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. This has been manually spliced (at 1kHz) to the gated highfrequency response, an expanded view of which is shown in Graph 2. [Dynaudio Emit M30 Loudspeaker]

Figure 4. Impedance modulus of left (red trace) and right (yellow trace) speakers plus phase (blue trace). Black trace under is reference x ohm precision calibration resistor. [Dynaudio Emit M30 Loudspeaker]