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Few recordings illustrate this bass prowess better than Brian Bromberg's Wood. Brian's rendition of The Beatles' "Come Together" features an epic bass solo that has Brian plucking, pulling and stretching the limits of the instrument. The little DSM-15s managed to do justice to the depth, detail and sock-it-to-me punch of the track while managing to convey the instrument's tonality with surprising accuracy. Ditto for the Pepper's "Suck My Kiss" where Flea's live-in-the-studio bass pyrotechnics come through with immediacy and excitement. I've got to say it again: this is remarkable low-end performance from the 5-inch driver. The "eyes closed" test would fool many an audiophile into believing this speaker to be twice its size and in possession of an additional 5-inch driver.

Moving up the spectrum again shows this little driver's consummate capabilities. The mid band abounds with textures and is rich in the palette of colors. Acoustic instruments in particular were real-sounding in timbral qualities and when reaching a crescendo in unison, said instruments never melded into a solid stream, the strands trickled in easy to discern entities. This is a resolute speaker. The same qualities apply to the frequencies that are handled by that superb tweeter, as delicate and finessed a driver as I've heard anywhere. The Madonna Bra tweeter has the ability to render fine detail and dynamic shading while dissecting musical strands and climbing the heights of upper treble air without ever a hint of brashness or brightness.


When it comes to dynamics, can the DSM-15s slam it and dunk it too? Well, for a speaker its size - hell yes! This little speaker is one aggressive mother. And I mean that in a good way. It is way powerful throughout its bandwidth and perhaps only just raises a sweat when pushed to very loud levels; the mid/bass driver just starts to reach its limit when asked to play content rich in simultaneous and demanding midrange and bass information.
The soundscape the DSM-15s create is wide, deep and layered. And I'm talking substantial three-dimensionality in all axes while at the same time totally disappearing. This Houdini act however doesn't create a distant and laid-back perspective as can sometimes be the case. The central vocal images are upfront and slightly forward of the speaker plane while backing instruments
are layered in a spatially faithful way that also provides them with a solidity and sense of what I call 'body presence'. There is a roundness and fullness to images that almost turns them into entities. This was perfectly exemplified by the horn section on Fanfare for the Common Man which was rendered as a distant forlorn hero soon to be joined in song by the wallop and power of the percussion's almost undiminished attack (remarkable for a 5-inch driver, remember).
A sign of things to come
After a hiatus from true high-end designs, the Duntech name has once again risen. In this new Duntech design, Kiat Low, James Galloway and the rest of the Duntech team have managed to create a small speaker that belies the capabilities that are normally imposed upon, and associated with, a speaker of the DSM-15's design. What's more, this is a speaker that is tonally correct and retains a smooth and balanced presentation while being capable of exemplary transparency and resolution to the source material and upstream equipment. And the power, soundscape size and bass heft on offer are really the province of much larger and driver-richer designs.


And to think that this is only a stand-mount two-way with a 5-inch midbass driver; what awaits us with the new Sovereign one may wonder?

Quality of packing: Delivered in manufacturer’s custom travel cases.
Reusability of packing: Not known.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Not known.
Condition of component received: As new.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Quality of owner's manual: None provided.
Website comments: Well designed and informative.
Warranty: Market variable but 5 years in Australia.
Human or web interactions: Friendly and prompt at answering queries.
Final comments & suggestions: Sand-fillable stand is best put in place prior to filling.

Duntech adds: "The speakers come in a reusable plywood crate and the filling in the stand is not sand but #20 crushed garnet. The garnet is preferred to sand because it is denser and sharp and bites into itself other while sand particles are more rounded and roll around readily. The difference is that garnet presents a tighter and more defined bass and a more defined bass also presents the a more palpable mid and lower midrange. The total weight of the stand and garnet is 50kg and no more, absolute."
Duntech website