MusicTech reviews Core 59

MusicTech's John Andrews were blown away by the detail and clarity of Core 59, concluding: "Your tunes will sound better after mixing with them. It’s as simple as that." He also hands out a Choice Award along with a 9/10 rating. You can read the entire review via the Source button.

"The first thing to say is that the accuracy and detail you get from the monitors is next level. If you’re used to smaller and cheaper 3-way speakers, these deliver just bigger and more balanced helpings of everything. This is obviously, at least in part, down to the driver design and Dynaudio has put in a serious amount of research here. They ultimately help the speakers put across an accurate soundstage that doesn’t wear – a difficult combination with speaker design.

(...) The 59s deliver a response down to 16Hz but without flab and rumble; it’s clearly defined. On our own mixes, this is a godsend – we tend to throw in too many bass lines, and each one needs its own definition, usually helped with an additional subwoofer. But here, they are all laid out on a plate in front of you, allowing precise control so you can lift each one out and give it its own character. 

Compared to our reference monitors – also 3-way speakers costing well into four figures – the 59s deliver an exceptionally flat response, but the feel is just bigger all round. The volume – should you push it, and obviously we don’t recommend listening at the levels that these can go to for any length of time – is simply huge. But the beauty is that the entire mix hangs together without distortion. The power is incredible but so is the detail; we’ve not heard anything like it since listening tests with even bigger (and vastly more expensive) PMC monitors at Metropolis studios.

After trying them out with our own mixes and finding more than enough things to correct – that’s a good thing by the way – we turn our attention to our selection of released track; the standards we use in listening tests. Here the impact is just as large; it’s like that feeling listening to your first set of decent monitors again. The definition across the range, the tightness of the bass, the controlled mids and silky top is something to behold, all working together at whatever level and whatever sweet spot you want.

(...) It’s rare that we’ve tested such accurate monitors and of course that accuracy will then translate into well defined and uncoloured mixes. You can get accuracy for less cash – we’ve reviewed a number of great budget options recently – but if you want impressive physical speakers, with precise results and ones that will tell you the truth without tearing your head off on longer sessions, these are for you.

(...) The ultimate monitors deliver the ultimate truth but hopefully in a way that you can stand for session after session. The Core 59s tell it like it is and in such a way that you want to listen to them, and you want them to reveal everything – even (especially even!) the bad stuff. Yes they cost, and yes they are huge, but your tunes will sound better after mixing with them. It’s as simple as that."