Challenger M-65 5.0

Ljud & Bild nr 4 2014

Dynamics at a bargain price!
“Do you want a powerful home theater without emptying your wallet? Dynavoice has a potent speaker package that costs half as much as the competitors…”

“The Swedish brand Dynavoice was one of the first loudspeaker manufacturers to pave the way for production in China, which provided previously unheard-of amounts of sound quality for the money. We were simply blown away by the sound from the floorstanding speakers Challenger M-65, which, despite a price of 2500 kronor, played like a full-blooded hi-fi! The bestseller M-65 now exists in its fourth version, with a number of cosmetic and technical improvements. The M-65 is by a good margin the largest front speaker in the test, and with two powerful bass drivers and four (!) bass ports on the back, they are clearly built to move air!”

Ljud & Bild thinks:
+ Here you get large and powerful speakers with substantial weight in the bass and an ability to thunder when movie effects demand it.
- The size and punch come a bit at the expense of precision. The bass is not always equally tight, and the smallest details are missing. On the other hand, this is a system that delivers a lot of sound for the money.

Sound quality
“Our first impression is that the Swedish-Chinese colossi are unusually well-balanced. Dynavoice, much like Tannoy, is very ‘gentle’ and pleasant in tone, but here there’s a completely different dynamic and fullness! The bass reaches deeper in frequency and is powerful enough to make the back of the sofa quiver during the heaviest bass lines. The Challenger speakers can play very loud and clean without intrusive distortion. The stereo perspective is large and wide, bringing us closer to the music than the more restrained Tannoys. In return, there’s a bit less precision compared to the Scots: instruments and voices feel a bit more randomly placed in the soundstage, and the music can seem a little diffuse at times.”

“The impression remains when we switch to the high-resolution Blu-ray music ‘Quiet Winter Night’ in surround. Even the bass reproduction is rich, not particularly tight, and it seems as if the details are slightly toned down—perhaps so as not to reveal weaknesses—but the result is that the sense of depth feels ‘shallower’ than what this recording is otherwise capable of. However, the slightly fuzzy musical presentation is quickly forgotten when we get to see and hear ‘The Bourne Legacy’ in full action on the screen. The Dynavoice system has a large and powerful movie sound, where the rich tonal character provides great immersion and a high entertainment factor. The soundstage is larger and more massive than with the Tannoys, bringing the movie experience closer to us. It’s clear that these speakers are more comfortable at slightly higher sound levels than what the Tannoys prefer!”

Conclusion
“Even though it’s easy to forget in the heat of the moment, we have compared the Dynavoice system with significantly more expensive competitors. And it must be said that they hold up impressively well. In terms of sound, the M-65 and company are just as accurate and detailed as the best in the test but have a big, powerful sound with plenty of bass that’s very easy to like. Especially for movies, which favor a bit of extra punch and volume, Dynavoice succeeds nicely thanks to the large and potent front speakers.”

- Sound quality: 4 out of 6
- Functionality: 5 out of 6
- Ease of use: 5 out of 6
- Build quality: 4 out of 6

Best buy 04 2014