GRUNDIG DX MADE IN GERMAN SPEAKER IN INDIA

Grundig, a well-known German manufacturer of radios and other consumer electronic products, has recently entered the North American hi-fi market with the DX-, a compact and inexpensive two-way speaker system. It is distributed by Lextronix and sold by mail order through Willabee & Ward with a thirty-day return option for full refund if you are not satisfied (return shipping charges paid by them). The DX- is based on a 6.5-inch long-throw woofer in a vented enclosure, with a third-order (18-dB-per-octave) crossover at an unspecified frequency to a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter that incorporates magnetic-flu-id cooling and damping. The tweeter is protected by an automatically resetting device. The woofer's buty 1-rubber surround is said to extend the driver's life and to absorb excess energy at the outer edge of the cone. The DX-'s enclosure has beveled front edges and a removable black cloth grille. Gold-plated multiway binding-post input terminals are recessed into the rear of the cabinet. The woofer's vent opening is on the front of the cabinet, allowing the speaker to be placed close to a wall without interfering with its low-bass output. The drivers are magnetically shielded so that the speakers can be placed close to a video monitor or TV set without affecting the picture. They are also mounted flush with the front panel to minimize diffraction at their edges and are installed asymmetrically, with the tweeter located near a side of the panel and the woofer more conventionally in its center. Unlike almost any other speaker in its price range, the DX- is sold in mirror-image pairs. Grundig says that placing the tweeters close to the outside of the stereo pair produces a wider soundstage, whereas putting them at the inside (closer to each other) yields a deeper, more focused image. The company suggests that when the speakers are spaced 6 feet or less from each other, inward-facing placement is preferable. We placed the Grundig DX- speakers on stands about 30 inches off the floor and 9 feet apart. Their room responses were measured separately (with a sweeping warble tone) and then averaged to smooth out room interaction. A close-miked measurement of the woofer response was combined with the averaged room curve to generate a composite frequency-response plot. Although this curve is artificial, it is a reasonable representation of what the speaker can actually do in a real room, as contrasted with an anechoic response measurement. The variation was only +/-3.5 dB from 150 Hz to 20 kHz. At lower frequencies, the measured woofer response was actually better than what we heard, which was itself very good. There was no question that the system lived up to (and surpassed) its specified response of 50 Hz to 20 kHz. - See more at: http://www.hifi-review.com/-grundig-dx-.html#sthas h.qd3hrGrs.dpufThe smoothness of the DX-'s response was further evidenced by quasi-anechoic MLS measurements at 1 and 2 meters from the speaker, which indicated a +/-4-dB variation from 300 Hz to 20 kHz. The speaker's horizontal dispersion was good, exhibiting less than 5 dB change in level over a +/-45-degree angle up to 10 kHz and less than 10 dB at 20 kHz. System impedance never went below 5 ohms, typically measuring between 6 and 15 ohms and justifying the speaker's 8-ohm rating. Sensitivity, specified as 89 dB sound-pressure level (SPL) at 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input, measured somewhat higher at 92 dB. With a 2.25-volt input, corresponding to our reference measurement level of 90 dB SPL, the woofer distortion was between 1 and 3 percent from 50 Hz to 2 kHz, rising rapidly to about 10 percent at 40 Hz. In single-cycle pulse power tests, the DX- absorbed all the power we could pump into it at 1 and 10 kHz, with our amplifier clipping at 800 to watts, respectively, into the impedances at those frequencies. At 100 Hz, the woofer cone bottomed audibly with an input of about 90 watts. Since this is a rather efficient speaker, it can play quite loud without damage to itself or listeners' sensibilities. It is usually difficult to describe the sound of a speaker to someone who has never heard it. The best I can do is to say that the DX- does not, in the slightest, sound like a little black box selling for $300 a pair. I guarantee that anyone hearing it blindfolded would not come close to guessing its price. When I first set the Grundig speakers up, I had on hand another pair of excellent speakers selling for several times their price and correspondingly larger and heavier than they are. In A/B comparisons, I frequently had to look at my comparator switches to be sure which pair I was hearing. The chief exception was when I was playing music with substantial bass content - good as the DX- is, it cannot work miracles! In short, the DX- is one of the most satisfying small speakers I have heard in some time. There are a few really musical small speakers carrying brand names better known in the hi-fi world than that of Grundig (and usually more expensive). This little black box belongs in that group and deserves your serious consideration. - See more at: http://www.hifi-review.com/-grundig-dx-.html#sthas h.qd3hrGrs.dpuf