Dynaudio is one of several boutique European speaker companies that, over recent years, has gained universal recognition in the audiophile community and become more consumer accessible.
The Emit M10 is the smaller of two bookshelf speakers in what they call their entry level lineup, and as of the time of this writing/update is their cheapest compact near/mid-field speaker.
The cabinet looks like fairly standard ~3/4 in MDF. Nothing fancy design wise, just a plain box all around with a sheen finish, so it looks a little older school. The baffle is a separate piece that angles inward, where the woofer basket interestingly sits further out atop the surface. The removable covers actually hover over the front so as to make room for the protruding basket. In the back there’s a nice sized port and five way binding posts below, simple and to the point.
The tweeter is a very nice looking ~1 inch textile soft dome that’s housed in an ever so slight waveguide below the surface of the baffle. The woofer is a ~5.5 in cone with a dust cap, made from their proprietary MSP material, which is basically a fancy plastic blend. They’ve been using this material in all their speaker drivers since their beginning. They definitely believe that if it works right, don’t change it, especially not for a material that might sound better for marketing despite being more expensive or less performant within their designs.
The baffle set up pretty clearly looks like it’s meant to maximize dispersion rather than prioritize a focal sweet spot. This is ideal for near/mid-field listening which is what this speaker is advertised for. Despite that, these speakers have an IEC (comparable to continuous/rms) power handling rating of 150 W per channel, which is quite high. They’re not the most efficient speakers in the world with a rating of 86, but a 6 ohm speaker with that kind of power can still get very loud, surprisingly so for a so called near/mid-field speaker. You’ll probably need a better than average receiver to get the most out of these speakers.
The response range is quite good for a smaller two way bookshelf speaker. The tweeter can get nice and high, which also means it can get nice and low while staying flat. The crossover point is rather low at 1800 Hz, almost 1000 Hz less than its big brother Emit M20 bookshelf speaker. A low crossover means the woofer has more ability to really focus on the mid-range and get as low as it reasonable can without sacrificing overall quality. These might actually do OK without a subwoofer.
Though advertised as a “compact” speaker the Emit M10 runs comparatively on the large side. 12 or so pounds each isn’t too hard to deal with, but they’re almost 10 inches deep and will need room in the back for the big ports to breathe, so use on a desktop might be a bit of a hassle.
Dynaudio has an extended eight year warranty on all its passive speakers which is one of the best in the industry, and interestingly so when a lot of the other European companies don’t actually offer direct warranties and rather defer it to the secondary dealers/distributors. Be aware that you need to register the product’s serial number within 90 days of acquisition.
Our Overall Take, As Compared To The Competition
The M10 still runs pretty expensive for a so called entry level speaker, as is the case with most of the boutique European competitors. Availability and a good deals will also likely be somewhat inconsistent. Even if you could get a lucky snag, a lot of people will find it hard to justify the cost as compared to, say, a Klipsch speaker that’s consistently competitively priced and has an established US or Chinese production. Check out the links below for some less expensive but comparable alternatives.
The drivers on the M10 though are fantastic, and the warranty is nay unbeatable. But it also might be overkill for a desktop. All in all? Worth a listening test for sure, but we feel a significant amount of people won’t find the premium worthwhile.
See the Dynaudio Emit M10 speakers on Amazon (affiliate link)
See our current picks for the overall best budget bookshelf speakers
