Recording - October 2014 - 42

R E V I E W S B Y M I K E M E T L AY

For the purposes of this review, we're looking at the very smallest combination of satellites and subwoofers you can build in the BM
mkIII Series: the BM Compact mkIII and the
BM9S II. This setup will work in a home studio of almost any size and will provide a listening experience that's... well, I'm getting
ahead of myself. Let's dive in and take a closer look at the parts of this system first.
The speakers and the specs
The BM Compact mkIII has a 28 mm
(1.1") soft dome tweeter and a 145 mm
(5.7") Magnesium Silicate Polymer woofer,
both with aluminum voice coils. It's a
biamplified monitor with 50 W of Class D
amplification for each driver and a DSP
crossover set to 2.1 kHz. Each speaker is
built into a rear-ported bass reflex cabinet
whose front face is angled to minimize
problematic reflections; weighing in at just

switch are on the rear panel, along with a
Power Mode switch that lets you put the
speakers in regular On/Off mode or in a
special On/Sleep mode, which "wakes
them up" when audio is received above a
certain threshold. An LED lights green for
On and red for Sleep. This is a handy
setup for studios where it's a pain to constantly reach behind the speakers to turn
them on and off; just walk away and after
a certain period of silence, they take a lowpower nap until you need them again.
Rear-panel audio controls include a 3way Input Level switch (-10/0/+4 dB), a
High Pass filter (Flat/60 Hz/80 Hz) for
use with a subwoofer, and three EQ
switches: LF Shelf (-2/0/+2 dB), Mid
(0/-2/-4 dB), and HF Shelf (-1/0/+1
dB) to adjust the speaker's performance to
your room. You'd use the LF Shelf to tame
reflections from a wall too close to the

Dynaudio Professional BM Compact mkIII Powered Monitors
and BM9S II Subwoofer
A great-sounding satellite/sub system that complements any listening space
For years, Dynaudio Professional's BM
Series of powered monitors has graced studios large and small with finely detailed and
accurate sound. As technology advances, so
does the BM Series, and with the release of
the BM mkIII lineup, there's more convenience, more tweakability, and more highquality audio for listeners in rooms of all sizes.
The BM mkIII Series includes four powered monitors differentiated by their
power ratings, amplifier type (Class D on
smaller models vs. Class AB on larger),
woofer size, and a few other features: the
BM Compact mkIII, BM5 mkIII, BM6 mkIII,
and BM12 mkIII. There are also two new
subwoofers, the BM9S II and BM14S II.
It's important to note that these numbers
do not correspond to woofer sizes! The
BM Compact mkIII has a 5.7" woofer that
stretches the definition of what constitutes
a "compact" desktop audio speaker; the
BM5 mkIII and BM6 mkIII sport a 7"
woofer (the difference between them is in
the amplifier electronics), and the BM12
mkIII has an 8" woofer.
Another potentially confusing bit of
nomenclature is that the two subwoofers
are part of the BM mkIII line despite being
"II" models. The BM9S II has a 10" woofer,
and the BM14S II has a 12" woofer.
42

RECORDING October 2014

under 12 pounds and measuring 6.7 x
10.2 x 8.3 inches, it's just a tad large for
really tiny desktop studios, but that's a
design decision that has definite sonic benefits, as we'll hear.
The speakers are rated to 116 dB maximum SPL and have a frequency response
(no tolerances given) of 49 Hz-24 kHz, a
reasonably conservative number for a
woofer that's just under 6" in diameter.
The rear panel of the BM Compact mkIII
has connections for balanced and unbalanced audio on XLR and RCA. A custom 2conductor power cable socket and power

speakers, the Mid for splash from a console or control surface top, and the HF
Shelf to adjust the highs in the room to
taste. This is more tweaking than many
speakers of this size offer; there's enough
room in here to make mistakes, although
the controls themselves are sensibly limited
to offsets of just a few dB. I recommend
leaving the controls set to 0 or Flat until
you have a good reason to tweak them.
Also on the rear panel is a TRRS minijack connector for the Volume Box, an
optional accessory that lets you remotecontrol two speakers' levels in tandem with
a single smooth knob. I got to play with it
and it works as advertised, but it's not a
complete solution if you have a subwoofer
attached, as it can't control the sub.
One accessory that's not optional is an
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R155 isolation stand;
readers will likely be familiar with the
IsoAcoustics line from many previous
reviews, and Dynaudio is branding the
stands with its own logo and packaging
one with every BM mkIII monitor sold.
Adjustable for height and angle and easily
assembled, the ISO-L8R155 is a perfect
complement to the BM Compact mkIII and
significantly improves its sound by isolating
it from whatever it's resting on. Way to go!

Recording - October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - October 2014