An introduction to Dynaudio’s LYD series of Studio Monitors

The Dynaudio LYD series merges the acclaimed sound reproduction of the BM Classic range with new digital signal processing at a cost-effective price-point.

Since 1977, Dynaudio have been designing and building loudspeakers in Denmark.

The company’s vision has been clear from day one – to bring the purest sound possible, to as many people as possible, with the world’s most innovative premium loudspeakers. And for the last 40 years, they’ve worked tirelessly making that vision a reality.

As part of their mission to bring the purest sound to the masses, their products are found in a wide range of sectors. As well as home audio, hi-fi and installation, they have also designed speakers for the automotive world, with Dynaudio products found in vehicles made by the likes of Volvo and Volkswagen.

Dynaudio have also designed and built studio monitors for the pro audio world for more than 30 years, with award-winning producers and musicians trusting Dynaudio monitors with their mixes, and have been used on countless hit records, as well as film soundtracks, TV Series and live broadcast events.

For the LYD series of monitors, Dynaudio have taken their years of research, development and innovation and produced a personal reference monitor that merges pure, accurate sound reproduction with digital signal processing to seamlessly fit into any recording space. Read on for an introduction to Dynaudio’s LYD range of studio monitors or watch our overview video below.

 

 

An introduction to Dynaudio Studio Monitors

After over a decade of developing successful speakers for the home and hi-fi sector, in 1989, Dynaudio also entered the Pro Audio world. Their first studio monitor, Crafft, was designed in collaboration with renowned acoustics expert and engineer Andy Munro and sparked the beginning of a long-standing relationship that would become Dynaudio Acoustics.

Since then, Dynaudio studio monitors have found their way into world renowned studios like AIR and Abbey Road, along with thousands of others worldwide.

In 2016, Dynaudio took their dedication to research and development another step forward with the opening of Dynaudio Labs – a brand new R&D space at the company’s headquarters in Skanderborg, Denmark.

Dynaudio Labs is also home to the Jupiter testing facility. Jupiter’s robotic arc of microphones is capable of producing highly accurate, 360-degree measurements at the design stage of every Dynaudio speaker, and provides a fantastic resource for Dynaudio’s engineering team as they continue to push the boundaries of advanced studio monitor design.

 

LYD Series

Dynaudio’s concept for the LYD series is simple – take the acclaimed classic BM studio monitors, push the technology forward whilst creating a nearfield monitor that is suitable for every budget.

LYD combines Dynaudio’s experience in producing no-compromise reference systems for major studios all over the world, with their expertise in home and car audio, to create personal studio monitors that are just as at home in the studios and recording setups of professional composers, producers, songwriters and engineers as they are in home studios.

The LYD series is made up of four speakers – the LYD 5, LYD 7, LYD 8, and LYD 48. This wide range of sizes and configurations means that there is an LYD speaker for any production space. As well as designing a speaker in a wide range of sizes, the LYD series also come in two colour options – black and white.

Whichever speaker you choose in the range, their construction remains the same. The woofer is constructed from Dynaudio’s Magnesium Silicate Polymer or MSP. This proprietary material is the result of extensive research and development and was found to give the perfect amount of damping and stiffness required.

It’s not just their size and material that makes LYD monitors a capable performer in any situation. All of the LYD monitors still offer the pure and accurate sound reproduction that Dynaudio have strived to achieve for so many years. What’s more, the LYD series features digital signal processing that allows every monitor to be tweaked to better fit its acoustic environment.

The LYD series have connections for both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA, as well as switches for selecting automatic standby and a three-position switch for the input sensitivity.

Dynaudio’s LYD monitors also feature on-board DSP, allowing you to make a few simple tweaks, and tailor the sound to the acoustic environment.

 

LYD Series Two-Way Monitors – LYD 5, LYD 7 & LYD 8

The main bulk of the LYD series is taken up by two-way monitors offered in a range of driver sizes that suit a wide range of recording spaces and applications.

The LYD 5 is the smallest of the range with its 5” woofer. It’s the most compact monitor that Dynaudio currently offers, making it the ideal speaker for smaller home studios and recording spaces where space is at a premium. Despite its smaller footprint, the LYD 5 is loaded with two 50W class-D amplifiers – one for the woofer and one for the tweeter.

The next size up from the LYD 5 is the LYD 7. As the name might suggest, the LYD 7 replaces the 5” woofer of the LYD 5 with a larger 7” woofer. The LYD 7 also benefits from a pair of class-D amplifiers driving both the woofer and tweeter, making the LYD 7 a great choice if you’re looking for a touch more low-end from your monitor.

The last of the two-way options is the LYD 8. Again, this takes a step up in low frequency speaker size to 8”. Alongside the larger woofer, the LYD 8 also pairs the 50W high frequency amplifier used across the LYD series with a more powerful 80W amp driving the woofer.

 

LYD 48 – 8″ Three-Way Studio Monitor

The LYD 48 is the biggest monitor in the series and stands proudly as the flagship model of the range. With a three-way driver configuration built around the same 8” woofer of the LYD 8, the LYD 48 adds a specially designed 4″ midrange driver to handle the all-important vocal range of a mix.

The LYD 48 also benefits from the same 80W low frequency amplifier and 50W tweeter amp as the LYD 8, whilst also adding a further 50W amplifier to the midrange speaker and is capable of operating as either a near- or mid-field monitor.

Learn more about the Dynaudio LYD series

 

Active Crossovers

Any loudspeaker that has multiple drivers requires a crossover, a type of circuit that filters or splits the audio signal into two or more frequency ranges.

This allows the audio signal to in turn be split between each of the speaker’s drivers, with each driver dedicated to handling a specific range of frequencies – low frequencies are sent to the woofer, whilst high frequencies are sent to the tweeter for example.

In a passive crossover design this is controlled via a filter network – i.e. a series of resistors, coils and capacitors, which receives the full-range signal, then splits it between each of the drivers.

Active crossovers on the other hand split the frequencies before amplification, with each driver using its own dedicated amplifier. In the case of the LYD 48 that’s one for the tweeter, one for the mids, and one for the woofer.

This allows each amplifier to be chosen specifically to match the corresponding drive unit, and is one of the benefits of using an active crossover, with the amplifier and driver tuned to work perfectly together in sync. Dynaudio famously designs and builds all of its own drivers in-house, so they know exactly which amplifier to use, and how to get the best out of each driver.

The LYD Series also have relatively high crossover frequencies between the tweeter and mid, or low-mid drivers, with the LYD 5’s crossover set to 5.2 kHz for example, and the LYD 48’s set to 3.9 kHz. Dynaudio says this allows for better accuracy in the mid-range – particularly useful when mixing vocals and speech for example.

 

Digital Signal Processing

As part of their drive to create an accurate and revealing studio monitor for every studio space and budget, Dynaudio added on-board DSP to every speaker in the LYD range.  This allows for additional control over variances in the acoustic environment with switches for Sound Balance and Position found on the back panel.  This also ensures greater accuracy and consistency between each speaker, with no analogue components to worry about in terms of wear and tear – it’s all 1s and 0s, so each speaker will sound exactly the same.

Bass Extension

The Bass Extension setting presents a few options for affecting the overall low frequency range. At the lowest setting, -10 Hz, the low frequency is extended by 10 Hz. This reduces the maximum output of the speaker by around 5 dB to prevent any damage to the monitor when the volume is turned up too loud.

The +10Hz option adds 5 dB of output whilst offering the least low frequency extension – so if you’re looking to really crank the LYD monitors, this is the setting for you.

It’s worth noting that most professional mixers tend to work at relatively low volumes – somewhere between 70 and 85 dB SPL. This means that in most situations, you can use the greatest low frequency extension without needing to worry about reduced output.

Sound Balance

The Sound Balance switch offers a refined way of affecting the speaker’s overall sound characteristics. Whilst many monitors use shelf EQs to adjust the high and low frequencies, Dynaudio designed a brand new Tilt Filter, which tilts the entire frequency spectrum by 1.5 dB in both directions. So in Bright, there’s a 1.5 dB decrease at 20 Hz and a 1.5 dB increase at 20kHz. Likewise in Dark, there’s a 1.5 dB increase in the low end at 20 Hz, whilst the high end at 20kHz is dropped by 1.5dB. This alters the tone of the speaker without creating any of the audible phase issues that sometimes come about with shelf-type EQs, and is useful when mixing or monitoring in an overly dark or bright room.

Position

Whether you’re working in a large, professional studio or from the spare room in your house, positioning your monitors is incredibly important. Monitors placed too close to a wall will create reflections, so ideally you want to place your speakers at least 50cm from a back wall.

In a lot of cases though this just isn’t possible, especially for home studios, which is where the Position switch comes in. If your speakers are positioned further than 50cm away from the wall, the Free setting is the go-to option. If it’s not possible to give the monitors that amount of room, then the Wall setting will help tame the anomalies caused by back wall reflections.

 

Dynaudio PRO Studio Monitors – A monitoring solution for every setup

The LYD series is one of three PRO ranges from Dynaudio, whose persistent drive to bring the purest sound possible to the widest audience they can has led them to create a monitoring solution for every pro audio application and budget.

Dynaudio’s “BM Classic” range comprises a selection of speakers that have continued to stand the test of time and remain popular for their classic, analogue sound reproduction. The range includes the latest generation of the incredibly popular BM5 MK III, as well as the BM6A and BM15A, both of which were created early on in the Dynaudio Acoustic days and remain a cornerstone of the Dynaudio PRO ranges.

The Core series is Dynaudio’s flagship studio monitor range and is the culmination of the pursuit of advanced technology breakthroughs at Dynaudio Labs. Picking up where the acclaimed AIR series left off in the early 2000s, Core brings the latest in powerful but simple-to-use DSP and AES3 digital connectivity, giving you all the refinements that come from the AIR experience found in so many studios.

No matter which monitor you pick from across Dynaudio’s range of PRO studio monitors, every single model has been designed, tested and built in Denmark to perform flawlessly and faithfully reproducing your sound as you create it.

Learn more about Dynaudio’s PRO range of studio monitors

To find out where to buy Dynaudio studio monitors in the UK, visit our Dynaudio UK Dealers page.