Dynaudio Evidence Temptation loudspeaker Page 2

The Temptation is slightly shorter (78.5" vs 80.7"), narrower (7.9" vs 9.5"), shallower (19.3" vs 22.8"), and lighter (249 vs 297 lbs, with base plinth attached) than the Master. The volume of the Temptation's bass cabinets is smaller (64 vs 106 liters, top and bottom cabinets combined), and the Temptation uses slightly smaller polypropylene woofers (7" diameter vs 8"). Its voltage sensitivity is also lower (90dB vs 92dB (B)/2.83V/m), and the long-term IEC power handling is lower (500W vs 600W). Although both use first-order slopes in their five-way systems, the Temptation's crossover frequencies (300Hz, 500Hz, 2.3kHz, 8kHz) differ slightly from the Evidence Master's (250Hz, 400Hz, 2.5kHz, 7.5kHz). The five-way system is used to make the vertical dispersion uniform across the speaker's frequency range. However, only the Evidence has an impedance-corrected crossover.

But the two models' quality of construction are identical. The Temptation's bird's-eye-maple veneer is every bit as beautiful as the Evidence Master's. There is extraordinary attention to detail, as shown by the precision machining of the center section's front baffle, the slightly asymmetrical cutouts for the woofers, and the adjustable, spike feet. The fit'n'finish represent the state of the cabinetmaker's art. The Temptation's overall visual effect is elegant, but its package is slightly smaller and more suitable to most living rooms.

Setup
My introduction to the Temptations was one sunny Friday afternoon, when two 7' latched aluminum flight cases were slid out of the delivery truck—why delivery companies fail to use vehicles with lift gates is not clear. They were accompanied by a wooden cube holding the steel-and-MDF base plinths, and a cardboard toolkit in the shape of a briefcase.

Wilfried Ehrenholz, Dynaudio's CEO, was already waiting with me at my home for this delivery, along with Dynaudio North America's Mike Manousselis. They mounted the base plinths with hex-head socket screws. Manousselis pointed out that the plinths have a 2.5" raised area that elevates the entire cabinet, so the MTTM center section is raised to optimize the sound for the seated listener. They then pulled the long Temptations to a standing position and positioned them 22" from the back wall and 82" apart. Manousselis then used a spirit level from the toolbox on the sides of the upper bass cabinet, and leveled each column using the adjustment screws—one at each of the base plate's four corners.

Next, to fine-tune the towers' positions, they removed all of the furniture from one end of my listening room. Then, one by one, the pieces of furniture—a marble table, four upholstered chairs, an area rug—were returned to their original positions, after a listening check to make certain that the speakers were still optimized. The rug had to be moved several feet back so that the loudspeakers could sit directly on the wooden floor.

After another hour of listening tests, Manousselis positioned each Temptation 48" from the back wall, 43" from side walls, and 82" apart (measured from the tweeter centers)—toed-in slightly to focus on the farfield listening position, and facing the full length of my narrow listening room. (The room is 26' long, 13' wide, and 12' high, with a semi-cathedral ceiling. The far end adjoins a 25' by 15' kitchen through an 8' by 4' doorway.)

The Temptation, which has a relatively high voltage sensitivity—if lower than the Evidence Master's—produced ample output when powered by a 250Wpc Mark Levinson No.334 or 1200Wpc Krell FPB 600c stereo amplifiers, or by 954W Bryston 7B-ST monoblocks, all rated for a 4 ohm load. Each amplifier added its own sonic fingerprint: the ML No.334 was transparent and sweet; the Krell was solid and dynamic, with sledgehammer bass; and the Brystons had bass with massive heft, but were brighter and harder on the top end than the other amps.

The Temptations, driven by the ML No.334, were left in position to serve as the front two channels for a multichannel SACD-player review. I used the opportunity to compare nearfield (9') and farfield (18') listening positions, phase checks, channel checks, and the orientation of my large blue velvet chair for the best imaging and soundstage depth. I found that moving the four upholstered chairs away from my listening position and covering a nearby table with an afghan throw stabilized the imaging and widened the sweet spot.

Later, I connected the Temptations to the Krell FPB 600c amplifier and ran the low-frequency warble sweeps from Stereophile's Test CD 3 (STPH006-2). In my listening room, the Temptation's deep bass output was flat to 40Hz, then shelved down by 4dB for a plateau that ran from 35Hz to 25Hz, and then fell off smoothly below that, with no doubling. Although at 39" the Temptation's lower tweeter was only 2" higher than my seated ear height, the tone of the pink noise dulled when I stood up during the "sit down, stand up, walk around" portion of the nearfield—but not the farfield—tests. In my room, the Temptation's MTTM assembly—measured from the bottom tweeter to the floor—was 4" lower than the same dimension of the Evidence Master. For setup tests and music sessions, I left the grilles covering the woofers on, as they probably wouldn't affect the sound below 300Hz.

COMPANY INFO
Dynaudio
1144 Tower Lane
Bensenville, IL 60106
(630) 238-4200
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