M-Audio's DX4 speakers occupy the low end of their speaker line. These speakers are meant to compete in the market of non professional consumer speakers, but still have features to make them useful in a home studio environment.

Box contents:
-2 speakers
-1 1/8 inch minijack to stereo RCA jacks cable
-1 speaker cable
-1 detachable AC power cord
-manual

The speakers offer 18 watts per channel and have both 1/4 inch TRS and RCA input jacks. The 1/4 inch jacks can accept balanced or unbalanced inputs while the RCA is unbalanced. A nice feature is that both the RCA and TRS inputs can be used simultaneously.

One speaker works as the master and the other is slaved via standard stereo wire. The tweeters are 1" and the woofers are 4". Both speakers have sub frequency ports on the back for discharging frequencies below 60hz.

DX4's feature a volume control on the front of the master speaker as well as a 1/8 stereo headphone jack. The size of the cabinets are on the large side with computer or other consumer speakers that can sit next to your monitor on the desktop.

Setup

Speaker wire is just long enough if the speakers will be sitting on a desktop. If you intend to use these speakers, say as 5.1 satellites, longer speaker cable will be required. Having both 1/4 inch and RCA jacks made the DX4's easy to integrate into both my studio environment and basic interaction with my computer sound card. One feature that was left out is a optical in, probably for cost reasons. The manual is as complete as it gets for speakers. All the standard topics are covered and contains useful information on correct placement to get the maximum sound quality.

How do they sound?

My first test involved listening to a few AAC encoded tracks in iTunes. For this most basic of tasks, the DX4's are more than capable. These speakers have crisp and clear reproduction across highs, mids and lows for any genre of music.

For speakers this small, the DX4's are powerful. On the counterclockwise volume control, the volume was comfortable at about the 9 o'clock position. Anything above the 12 o'clock position was able to blast me from my chair. Needless to say there is plenty of volume headroom.

In comparing the DX4's to my Studiophile SP-5B monitors, I ran A/B tests on both and used the DX4's as satellites in a basic surround system. In A/B testing the DX's they stacked up about as expected with the higher end SP-5B's. In terms of volume and low end output the DX4's perform well up to a limit with the SP-5B's. Comparing the mid and highs was surprising, as the DX4's matched the SP's quite well on nearly everything I threw at it. On several test tracks with a number of synth pads, bell samples and harp loops the DX4's sounded great alone and compared with the SP's. Stereo imaging was also surprisingly good for speakers at this level with plenty of detail, again, in the mids and highs. In fact, the DX's brought out the mix for some tracks better than the SP's. After some checking of the setup and convinced that the playing field was level, I tested again. Sure enough the DX's really sounded great on the mid and highs. Perhaps it's just my ears, but the crispness of the response in those ranges was refreshing after several years mixing with the SP's. Don't let me give you the impression that the lows are lacking though. Usually, speakers of this size and power will break down at some part of the frequency range. However the DX4's are notably sturdy across the field.

A mid-field cut/boost switch is offered which produces a flat mid response when set to the out position, and a boost between 1k and 5k with a peak at 2k.

For surround testing, I used Logic Pro with a few simple mixes. It was very easy to get a quad surround system going with these speakers. The DX4's small size warranted they be used as left and right rear speakers but they would easily work as front speakers with other similarly sized monitors. Anyone with some pre-existing level of surround setup should be able to drop the DX4's in without a problem.

Some of the lesser features are worth mentioning. The headphone jack on the front of the main speaker should appeal mainly to folks who want to use these as computer speakers or to monitor some other consumer device. However they are an occasional benefit to the studio user. The feature is straightforward, just plug in and the output will switch from the speakers to the headphones. The manual claims that the output to the headphone jack will be the same as the speaker output. Of course your headphones will play the biggest part in what that ultimately sounds like, but the headphone jack did come on at a slightly lower volume than the speakers which required a turn of the volume knob. Quality wise, the headphone jack outputs decently enough.

I decided to give the summed input feature a whirl and used my Powerbook as the second input to the RCA jacks. I started up a few loops on the G5 then mixed in a few tracks from the Powerbook. The feature works just fine, but admittedly I couldn't think of a particularly good use of it. Possibly in a live environment it would be useful for monitoring, or in the studio it would be easy to plug in something that needed a quick and dirty connection.

Since M-Audio is targeting these monitors for desktop use, a few tests of the shielding quality seemed to be in order. I used both a CRT and a flat panel display for testing, although the flat panel should produce minimal interference. The results were unsurprising as the monitors took being placed right next to both displays with no discernable interference. Another aspect of interference is vibration. The manual claims that the enclosure is reinforced and is constructed of high density fiberboard. Whatever is going on at a structural level seems to work though. Even at high volumes, the DX4's were able to avoid anything but the lightest buzzing on a variety of surfaces.

Conclusion

The DX4's are a great pair of speakers not only for the consumer, but for home studios and any big studios who need a nice pair of monitors for small tasks. They also work great as satellites for a surround system. Throw the great price point in, and the DX4's are hard to overlook if you are in the market for new speakers.

Check out M-Audio DX4's here.

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