Dayton Audio MK402 Bookshelf and MK442 Center Speaker Review

Dayton Audio recently announced two budget speakers in their product line up, the MK402 and the MK442. The MK402 is a 2-way ported design with a 4" midbass driver and .75" soft dome tweeter and sells for a meager $69/pair. The MK442 steps it up with an additional 4" driver in an MTM driver topology along with a more sophisticated crossover network and again sells for only $100/pair. In this review, we take a look at both speakers to better understand what type of performance to expect for what amounts to a cost less than most audiophiles spend on speaker cable.

 

The MK402 is a small speaker designed for systems where space is at a premium and a subwoofer might not be in use thanks to its 60 Hz extension, which is unusually low for such a small speaker. Scenarios for such a product would be a desktop stereo system, a small system for a shelftop in an office or bedroom, or a bedside system. It is intended for setups in close proximity to the listener, and it looks like it would be a good fit for a system with simple electronics, i.e., a small amplifier and no bass management. Dayton Audio is positing the MK402 as an affordable yet still high-fidelity speaker by stressing its heavy-duty woofer, chamfered edge baffle, a crossover that is more than just the barebones high-pass filter (“more than just a Capacitor” says Dayton Audio's literature), and ¾” soft dome tweeter. The MK442 is its corresponding center channel speaker. So how well do the MK402 and MK442 accomplish their mission of being small speakers with meaningful bass extension and high sound quality for their low cost? With the pair of MK402s and a MK442 that Dayton Audio has sent us for review, let’s now try to answer that question.

Unpacking and Appearance

The MK402s and MK442 came packed in a cardboard box with two thick foam pieces sandwiching the speakers which protects them from shock and gives them space from the sides of the box. They were wrapped in plastic for protection against moisture and scuffs. The packing was reasonably good considering the cost.

     

    

These are not bad looking speakers. They use a textured black vinyl finish that, combined with their chamfered front baffle edges, do project some sense of style. The grilles do hide the drivers, but that makes the speakers look a bit more plain. The glossy black tweeter and beefy surround on the woofer along with its concave dustcap give the MK402 and MK442 speakers a somewhat brawny look for small speakers. With the grilles off, they are just begging to blast some tunes; the grilles give them a more sedate appearance.

Design Overview

The MK402 and MK442 speakers are a nearly textbook case of getting a full sound out of a small size. The key component in this goal is the woofer and its bass extension ability; it will need some specific qualities towards achieving this end. But before we get into the woofer, let’s talk about the MK402’s diminutive size. At 9.5” high, and about 6” wide and 7” deep, it is on the small size for bookshelf speakers. It isn’t enormously heavy either, at 5 lbs. It’s a bookshelf speaker that could fit on many people’s desktop setup. That small size does have a penalty; it doesn’t get as loud for the same amount of electrical current as a larger speaker would, all other things being equal. The MK442 should be a bit more capable since it has two woofers.

Dayton Audio claims the MK402 and MK442 has usable bass down to 60 Hz, which is quite a feat from a 4” bass driver. However, the bass driver used in these speakers is rather heavy-duty, considering the cost of the speakers. It is the Dayton Audio TCP115-4. It has a relatively low resonant frequency for such a small cone with a stated Fs of 53.8 Hz. Its beefy motor uses a ¾” tall, 3” diameter magnet with a vented pole piece. The voice coil is a 1”, four-layer CCAW (copper-clad aluminum wire) wound around an aluminum former for better thermal dissipation. Its suspension system uses a 3” diameter spider along with a ½” wide surround; a very brawny surround for a 4” woofer! The cone is made from treated paper with an inverted dustcap. It looks to me like the bass driver forms the heart of this particular speaker; it has the sort of build quality that I would expect to find in a speaker at twice this price.

Editorial Note: Hoffman Law for Speakers

Small speakers don’t usually produce much bass as a consequence of their size and the laws of physics. The large wavelengths of air pressure waves in low frequencies require a lot more air displacement than higher frequencies to maintain the same loudness level. This is why tweeters are small and bass drivers are large. A driver with a small woofer diameter would have to compensate for its small size with an ability to move large distances in order to reproduce significant bass; breadth is replaced by depth in order to achieve the same displacement of air. The drawback of that is the moving components of long-throw, small diameter woofers must necessarily be relatively heavy, and that weight penalty means it takes a lot more energy to move the driver to achieve the same loudness levels. 

That is related to a rule of thumb within the speaker industry called “Hoffman’s Iron Law” (named for Anthony Hoffman- the ‘H’ in KLH speaker company name) that states a speaker can have only two of the following but never all three: low bass extension, high-sensitivity (sensitivity meaning how efficiently does the speaker turn electricity into sound), and small enclosure size. A speaker that has high sensitivity and real bass ability has to be large by necessity. A speaker that is small but has high sensitivity will not have any real ability to reproduce bass. And a speaker that is small but also has significant bass extension will not be very sensitive- and this attribute is the trade-off that Dayton Audio makes with the MK402 bookshelf speaker and MK442 center speaker.

     

MK402 crossover (left), MK442 crossover (right)

The MK402 and MK442 both use a ¾” silk-dome tweeter with ferrofluid cooling (the Dayton Audio TD20F-4). Such a small diameter tweeter should have wide dispersion even at very high frequencies. The MK402 speakers use a four-element crossover network with a 2.5 kHz crossover frequency: an inductor and capacitor are used for a 12dB/octave low-pass filter on the woofer, and a capacitor is used for a 6dB/octave high-pass filter on the tweeter. There is also a resistor intended to pad the tweeter since the tweeter has a higher sensitivity than the woofer. The MK442 uses a more sophisticated 8-element crossover that has four capacitors, two inductors, and two resistors for an 18dB/ octave slope high-pass filter on the tweeter and a 12dB/octave low-pass filter on the woofers.

     

The cabinet is made from ½” thick MDF paneling all around with no internal bracing. Internal bracing in such a small cabinet is probably overkill, so the omission of bracing here isn’t a worrisome matter, especially at this price point. Both the MK402 and MK442 are rear-ported with the MK402 using a 1" diameter port and the MK442 using a 1.5" diameter port. The ports have only slight flaring. As was mentioned previously, there are some chamfered edges on the front baffle, but this appears to be done more for the sake of style than to reduce baffle diffraction because it still leaves quite a bit of surface surrounding the tweeter which is where diffraction would be at its most severe. The interior is stuffed with a good amount of polyfill to damp backwaves and also for isothermal conversion (isothermal conversion turns acoustic energy into heat to make the enclosure seem a bit larger than it actually is).

The grilles use a ½” thick sheet of MDF with cut-outs for the drivers and covers everything in an acoustically transparent fabric. It is attached to the front of the speaker with plastic pegs. A grille like this, which essentially protrudes from the front baffle in front of the tweeter, is bound to cause extra diffraction which isn’t going to do the sound any favors. It is there to protect the drivers and make the speaker look more innocuous. Four small, soft rubber discs serve as feet. The softness of the rubber here is a good idea for damping since this small speaker has a relatively long-throw bass driver that can play to such low frequencies where rigid feet would likely cause audible vibration on a hard surface.

Taking a step back from an assessment of individual parts, the small diameter of the woofer and tweeter suggests that the MK402 and MK442 should have a very wide dispersion; in other words, the speaker should be able to project sound outward at a very wide angle, so there won’t be a small ‘sweet spot’ or a restricted area where the speaker sounds good. If the response of the dispersion is smooth and even, then the speaker should sound good nearly anywhere in front of it. It is also a speaker that attempts to squeeze real bass frequencies out of a small container which is never an easy feat. We will look at both these aspects when we examine its groundplane low-frequency response and also off-axis response measurements.

Listening Sessions

In my approximately 24’ by 13’ listening room, I set up the speakers with stand-off distances between the backwall and sidewall, and equal distance between speakers and listening position, with speakers toed-in toward the listening position. Listening distance from the speakers was about 6 feet. Amplification and processing were handled by a Pioneer Elite SC-55 AV receiver. No room correction equalization was used. At times, subwoofers were used to supplement the bass, mostly using a 100 Hz crossover frequency.

Music Listening

I started off with some vocal music since an errant reproduction of the human voice is fairly easy to detect. I borrowed a CD copy of “The Very Best of Diana Krall” for this purpose. Diana’s voice sounded vibrant and rich, and I did not sense anything amiss. Imaging was very good, as good as I have heard on much more expensive speakers. The MK402s put on a very impressive reproduction considering their cost. The MK402s caught all the bass that this album had to offer as well. While the bass wasn’t as powerful as it is with subwoofers, it was clean and was not overly-emphatic on any particular group of notes. This album sounded legitimately good on these $70 speakers! I then threw in Madonna’s “Immaculate Collection,” a CD I have heard many times and was very familiar with. Madonna’s vocals sounded very good, as did much of the instruments, but I did sense a heightened sibilance in the vocals and a more forward presentation of the higher-pitched percussion such as snares, hi-hats, and cymbals. I repositioned the speakers to have a strong toe-in angle, which put me about 30 degrees off-axis with the speakers’ aim crossing well in front of me. I reasoned that a speaker with a small diameter tweeter like the MK402s would have a very wide dispersion, so a more severe toe-in would be needed to make a real difference in the sound. I found this toe-in did soften up the sound a bit and made it less fatiguing, although the treble still seemed somewhat elevated.

    

I turned to orchestral music with more complex instrumentation to see how the MK402s would handle denser passages. One disc I listened to was the deluxe edition of the original soundtrack for “Aliens” by James Horner, a famous score which really needs no introduction. The MK402s proved to be deft with this material. Brass had a vivid shimmer, tympanies had a convincing thud, and the string sections provided an unsettling melody for the more tense passages. Instruments had reasonably good separation. As with the Diana Krall album, imaging was surprisingly good. The MK402s could get adequately loud in my theater room, but I didn’t push them too hard. There is only so much wattage a small bookshelf speaker can take before the woofer is beaten to death or the tweeter starts smoking. So, I did not push these to reference levels. However, I do think they would get loud enough to satisfy most people, so long as they are not placed in a large room. Subwoofers would help out in this respect as well, by greatly reducing the excursion needs for the small 4” woofer. Since I have subs located throughout the room, I was able to set the crossover point higher than 80 Hz without having bass localization issues, and such a high crossover point is undoubtedly beneficial for a small bookshelf speaker like the MK402. 

I decided to go for something that could push the system more with a higher crest factor (ratio of peak value to RMS value in the waveform, i.e., it’s more continuously louder) than orchestral or lounge music, so I brought in Juno Reactor’s “Beyond the Infinite”. This is an energetic techno album with world music influences from 1995 (I bought this not long after it came out, but it doesn’t feel like it was that long ago- am I getting old?) “Beyond the Infinite” has a production quality that exceeds that of typical techno music, but still keeps things boisterous and fast. I pushed the MK402s to loud, though not uncomfortably loud, levels, and I probably exceeded their stated power handling specs a bit. But, they did not lose their composure and sounded clean and strong throughout. I used subwoofers for most of this album, and when I did switch the subs off and ran the speakers full-range, they did struggle by running into some audible port turbulence and distortion. However, while they can stay clean at relatively loud levels, they are most certainly not party speakers. I did not try to push them to club-loud levels, and they wouldn’t have survived long if I did. While they can probably get loud enough for most people, these speakers are not going to satisfy head-bangers.

I should also note here that I tried the MK402 speakers in the near-field as speakers for my desktop PC setup. Some bookshelf speakers do not hold their far-field sound in the near-field and so do not sound good at this close distance. I would have guessed that the small form-factor of the MK402s would be beneficial for listening at this distance, and I was right. The MK402s image very well in the near field. I kept the aggressive toe-in angle that I used in my home-theater system to alleviate the heightened treble and listened to a variety of content, mainly music, computer games, and television shows, and I enjoyed the MK402s as desktop speakers. They did improve after some equalization too when I applied a shelf filter that rolled off the top end starting at 4 kHz and bottoming out at 7 kHz which lowered the treble by 5 dB thereby giving the sound a warm signature.  

Movie and Television Listening

To gauge how well the MK402’s and MK442 deal with dialogue intelligibility, one program that I watched with them was the first two episodes of the second season of HBO’s “True Detective” series. Season two of this very dark noir series was not as well received as the classic first season, but I contend that it is still a terrific watch and, for me, very absorbing and atmospheric. I think it is a good trial for dialogue intelligibility because of how abridged and elliptical the dialogue can be at times even though it is well-recorded. Music is also beautifully recorded and has some folk music performances in a grim and sad style that compliments the show. Of course, the MK442 center will carry the burden of a surround sound mix in “True Detective,” and I can report that it executed the dialogue well. I did have to lower the gain considerably on all of the surrounds and subs since they were set for speakers that were much more sensitive than the Dayton Audio MK speakers, but once that was done, the system sounded very good as a whole. The dialogue was clear as were effects sounds and music. I have been looking forward to re-watching the second season of “True Detective” and am glad that I could do it with speakers that can render it as naturally as these.

    

A movie that I watched with the MK speakers was the 2011 science-fiction thriller “Source Code,” a very polished and highly-regarded film that has a sound mix with a good balance of dialogue, effects, and music (if you haven’t seen this under-rated movie yet, do so immediately). Much of the movie is set aboard a train with stretches of dialogue and tense music punctuated by bomb explosions. The high production values and frantic pace of “Source Code” make it a fine choice for evaluating a sound system. The MK402 and MK442 speakers reproduced “Source Code” very nicely. If I didn’t know, and someone had told me the sound that I heard during “Source Code” was coming from small bookshelf speakers with 4” woofers, I would have been very surprised. It should be kept in mind that, at a six-foot distance, I did have them placed closer to the listening position than the ten feet distance that I normally give speakers, but that is the kind of concession that has to be given small speakers to retain a good dynamic range. The farther these speakers are away from the listening position, the greater the disadvantage they will be at for reproducing loud sound cleanly. 

Additional Listening With the MK442s as an Upright Pair

After measuring the acoustic behavior of the MK442 in free-air testing, I was quite impressed with its behavior on its vertical axis. From the response I measured on its vertical axis, I reasoned that the MK442s would make for an exceptionally good speaker when used on its side. I asked Dayton Audio to send me another MK442, so I could listen to them as a stereo pair in that orientation. As the measurements suggested, these sound very good when used standing on its side for a vertical alignment of the woofers. They had excellent center imaging and a good spectral balance. While just a tad bright, they were easier on the ears than the MK402s, and I did not feel the need to equalize them or use a hard toe-in to alleviate the treble response. They sounded good right out of the box. From listening and comparing a pair of MK442s to a pair of MK402s for stereo music listening, I think that the extra cost for a pair of MK442s is well worth it. The MK442s sound good without even considering cost and without adding any caveats or conditions. When considering that they only go for $100 a pair...well, I am listening to a pair as I type this, and they are astonishingly good for the price.

Dayton Audio MK402 & MK442 Bookshelf Speaker Review Conclusion

 

The Dayton Audio MK402 and MK442 speakers were measured in free-air at a height of 7.5 feet at a 1-meter distance from the microphone, and the measurements were gated at an 8.5 millisecond delay. In this time window, some resolution is lost below 250 Hz and accuracy is completely lost below 110 Hz. Measurements have been smoothed at a 1/12 octave resolution.

    

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) response curves

One thing that is immediately discernible from our response curves above is the treble region above 5 kHz seems rather elevated with respect to the rest of the frequency band, at least for the MK402, and this explains the hot treble in our listening sessions. The tweeter seems to be a lot more sensitive than the woofer, despite padding from the resistor on the crossover. This is not surprising, since a 4” long-throw bass driver is inevitably going to be insensitive, and the light diaphragm of a ¾” dome tweeter could easily be very sensitive at high frequencies. It can be seen from the “Directivity Index” curve that the MK402 exhibits very little directionality until 9 kHz, meaning it is a very wide dispersion speaker until high treble frequencies. This speaker will have a less bright sound at off-axis angles, although it will still have some brightness since even the first reflections curve has quite a bit of heightened treble. The bass region and midrange region have a relatively neutral response for a speaker at this price point, although there is a slight depression just above the crossover region in the direct axis response, which is likely the result of the lower end of the tweeter’s response not quite matching up perfectly with the upper end of the woofer’s response. We can see from the ‘Listening Window’ curve that this dip is ameliorated at off-axis angles.

The MK442 is more even-keeled in its treble output. There is a dip around the 2 kHz area which is more pronounced in the curves that use more off-axis measurements, and this dip is primarily due to interference of the woofers canceling out each other’s output. This cancellation pattern is called lobing, and Audioholics has published multiple articles about this effect in center speakers such as Pros and Cons of Various Center Channel Designs, Vertical vs Horizontal Center Speaker Designs, and Center Channel Speaker Design Additional Considerations. The additional woofer does bring up the bass and midrange response relative to the tweeter’s output, so the treble is not as hot as with the MK402. The thoroughly different crossover likely has a role to play in this respect as well. The MK442 is more directional than the MK402, and certainly a large part of that will be due to the lobing effects.

For more information about the meaning of the curves in these graphs, please refer to our article Objective Loudspeaker Measurements to Predict Subjective Preferences.

 

    

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) Horizontal Responses +/- 100 degrees: 3D view

    

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) Horizontal Responses +/- 100 degrees: 2D view

The above graphs depict the MK402 and MK442’s lateral responses out to 100 degrees in ten-degree increments. In the MK402’s graphs, we get a better look at the tweeter’s heightened treble. If you want to tame the treble on these speakers without equalization, you need to listen to them at a pretty hard angle, and that still will not alleviate a hump at 7 to 8 kHz by a whole lot. It should be said that this all occurs at the tweeter-height. Above this height, things do change for the better, but we will discuss that when we get to the vertical behavior of the MK402.

Regarding the MK442, the effects of the lobing become very stark in these graphs. If you are off the horizontal axis by more than 10 degrees, a big null starts to form centered at 2 kHz from the woofers fighting against each other as their output falls out of phase with each other. Pretty much every horizontal center speaker with this woofer-tweeter-woofer design is going to have this issue, so don’t think this problem is particular to this speaker. Best listening is done within a 20-degree angle of its direct axis, but outside of that angle problems start to occur.

     

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) Horizontal Responses +/- 100 degrees: Polar Map

The above graphs show the same information that the preceding graphs do but depict it in a way that offers new insight regarding these speakers’ behavior. Instead of using individual raised lines to illustrate amplitude, these polar maps use color to portray amplitude and this allows the use of a purely angle/frequency axis perspective. The advantage of these graphs is they can let us see broader trends of the speaker’s behavior more easily. For example, we can see, when looking at the MK402’s polar map, that big blotch of red that resides in the high frequencies; that tells how much of that elevated high-frequency energy inhabits the speaker’s coverage, and it is a lot. We can see hot treble reach out to 70 degrees off axis from 7 to 10 kHz! So, we can see that a strong toe-in is not going to save the sound from high levels of treble, and it will mostly just reduce treble from roughly 13 kHz and above. Below the burst of treble, the energy is spread out relatively evenly, although we do see some waist-banding around 4 kHz. To really tame the MK402s, equalization is going to be needed.

The polar map of the MK442 also tells us a different side of the story of its horizontal dispersion. While there is a similar burst of high-frequency energy, it covers a larger range of treble and is also matched by similar amounts of energy in low frequencies, at least near direct-axis angles and so shouldn’t sound as bright, at least if the listener is sitting directly in front of the speaker. We also get a better look at how the output of the two woofers are colliding out of phase and thereby greatly reducing energy at off-axis angles. We can clearly see when the tweeter kicks in as the off-axis energy splays outward at about 3 kHz. 

    

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) Vertical Responses +/- 100 degrees: 3D view 

The above graphs depict the MK402 and MK442’s frequency response behavior on their vertical axis, where zero degrees is directly in front of the tweeter, negative degree values are below the tweeter, and positive degree values are above the tweeter. The valleys that occur above and below the zero-degree axis on the MK402 are very common in conventional loudspeaker design. They are the result of the tweeter and woofer paying the same frequencies but out of phase, so they are not synchronous. They are usually only fully synchronous directly ahead of the speaker. The only speaker types that would be immune to these artifacts would be speakers that use either full range drivers or coaxial driver configurations. Uniformity (as in nice smooth response lines) in the horizontal dispersion is much more important than uniformity the vertical dispersion, so don’t let the rockiness of this vertical response graph be a troubling matter for you. The lesson here is try to listen to the MK402s with the tweeter level with your ears.

Let’s talk about the vertical dispersion of the MK442 and how much smoother that response is than its rugged horizontal response:

Dayton Audio MK442 Vertical Response +/- 100 degrees: 2D view 

The above graph looks at the vertical dispersion of the MK442 from a profile view to get a better sense of its amplitude response. The vertical response of the MK442 is much better than its horizontal response- but since the horizontal response is so much more important and consequential than the vertical response, what are we going to do? The solution, if possible, is to use it on its side, like so:

 

If possible, use the MK442 like this!

 

When you stand the MK442 on its side, it has fairly good behavior on the horizontal axis for that orientation; in fact, it has an overall much more neutral response on its side than the MK402 does standing upright. To get a better sense of this, take a look at its horizontal response in a polar map when it is standing upright:

 

Dayton Audio MK442 Horizontal Response when used on its side +/- 100 degrees: Polar Map

Aside from some waist-banding around 2 kHz, it has a nicely even dispersion of energy out to a 70 degree angle. It would still be a bit bright without equalization, but not nearly as much so as the MK402. The MK442 vertically oriented has a far more even coverage of sound over a wide area than the MK402 or itself when it is positioned horizontally. Within 30 degrees of its direct axis, we can see fairly strong coverage of acoustic energy, so those who use the MK442s in an upright orientation like this should have a full sound within a 60-degree angle in front of the speaker. That means there isn’t a small “sweet spot” with these speakers used in this orientation, and they should provide reasonably good sound over a large area. A pair of these used in a vertical orientation would make for a very nice two-channel system on a tight budget!

 

Dayton Audio MK402 groundplane bass response 

The above graph shows the MK402’s low-frequency response that I captured using groundplane measurements (where the speaker and microphone are on the ground in a wide open area). The MK402 has a very good bass response when its size and price are considered. These legitimately dig down to 60 Hz and should even be able to provide decent 50 Hz output if used in a placement that gives it some boundary gain such as nearby a wall or on a desktop. The bass is relatively smooth too and doesn’t have a boosted response around port tuning like many budget speakers. This speaker will play bass notes evenly and clearly, and that has to be considered a minor miracle at this size and pricing. However, at higher drive levels, the 1” port of the MK402 do get overloaded and will go into audible turbulence (“chuffing”) on content that has very low frequencies. The same is likely true of the MK442 since it has a similarly-scaled port diameter for its two woofers instead of just one, although I did not hear any audible chuffing from the MK442 during my time with it. A subwoofer would be useful here to take a heavy load off the port and greatly reduce the potential for port chuffing.

     

Dayton Audio MK402 (left) and MK442 (right) Impedance and Phase Response

The above graphs show the electrical behavior of the MK402 and MK442 speakers. They are both spec’d by Dayton Audio to be 4-ohm speakers, and this is a fair rating, even though the impedance of both speakers never actually touches 4 ohms. They do spend much of the critical bandwidth regions around 5 ohms though. The MK402 is not a particularly heavy electrical load for amplifiers; although it does dip to 5 ohms in certain areas, it doesn’t do so at steep phase angles, so it shouldn’t be too hard on even inexpensive amplifiers or AV receivers. The MK442 is largely the same with one exception: it just about hits 4 ohms at a rather steep phase angle at 4 kHz. This might be a problem on cheap amplifiers if you are playing material with strong content in the 4 kHz region at loud volumes for extended periods of time. I think it isn’t likely to turn into a problem, except in cases where someone cranks a movie that is mixed very loudly for its entire duration (a movie like “Transformers” that runs on full blast all the time).

I measured the MK402s sensitivity at 79.75 dB for 2.83v at 1m. That is very low, and wattage does not go as far on these speakers as they do on larger speakers. It doesn’t matter as much when these are placed in the near-field, but, as mentioned before, these are not party speakers. Going back to our discussion in the design overview of these speakers, this is a matter of “Hofmann’s Iron Law” where there will always be a balance of low-frequency extension, sensitivity, and size. I don’t regard this as a bad trade though since the MK402s can still get loud enough for my tastes, and common sense should be used in selecting speakers for really loud applications, for which the MK402s need only a glance to know they are not a good fit. This low sensitivity measurement is not surprising, and I can’t really hold it against them since that bass and size isn’t possible without this compromise. I did not measure the MK442’s sensitivity but it isn’t going to be a whole lot more than the MK402’s.

 

Dayton Audio MK402 Horizontal Responses taken at woofer height +/- 90 degrees: 2D view

There is one more thing I do want to mention before ending discussion of the performance analysis of the MK402 speakers. Users might get a smoother transitioned response to treble if they are listened to at a height just below the tweeter or just above the woofer, which is the response that the above graph shows (note the more gradual ramp-up to high-frequencies instead of the abrupt burst seen in the other measurements). It will still be a somewhat bright speaker without equalization, but that listening height could take some of the edge off, and it will also allow toe-in angles to reduce treble without depressing the midrange frequencies as much.

Conclusion

It is unreasonable to expect perfection at the price point of these speakers, so the question is how good are the Dayton Audio MK402 and MK442 with respect to their price? To answer that, let’s take a quick inventory of their strengths and weaknesses. Since I am the kind of guy who always likes to get the bad news first, let’s dive into their weaknesses. My first and foremost complaint is with their elevated treble response; these speakers are bright, the MK402 especially. However, while they are bright with respect to absolute neutrality, how does their particular brightness sound? On their behalf, I would say they don’t sound unnaturally bright right away, but higher frequencies are certainly more present on these speakers than most others, and they can be fatiguing to listen to after a while.

The good news is that the basic tone controls on modern receivers usually control treble at a frequency and slopes that just about matches the rise in treble on the MK402s. For example, on Yamaha receivers, their treble tone controls normally boost or cut treble by 6 dB around 3.5 kHz, and this is almost exactly the kind of slope and trim that would be needed to make the treble balanced with the rest of the frequency spectrum. For my own tastes, I find that a shelf filter starting at 4 kHz with 12 dB/octave slope and ending at 8 kHz makes the MK402s a very easy-going and pleasant speaker to listen to for long stretches. So, while the elevated treble is a problem, it is not an insurmountable problem, and it is not difficult to control at all with tools that are already available on most sound processors. And we have to keep in mind that most other $70/pair speakers are unlikely to have a perfect treble response as well, so while the MK402’s elevated treble is a flaw, it is not an unusual one at this price point.

As mentioned already, their sensitivity is pretty low, but that isn’t a gripe, since low sensitivity is inevitable with this kind of design, so it is more like a cautionary note for those buyers looking for speakers to pair with a low-wattage amplifier. Their low sensitivity combined with their modest power-handling means they aren’t suitable for applications that need wide-dynamic range such as dedicated home theater or concert-level head-banging. However, these are able to get loud enough for most people in small to medium sized rooms or especially for desktop setups.

That about sums up their weaknesses, so let’s talk about their strengths. First is, as has been mentioned, the excellent bass response for a bookshelf speaker of this size. They can get by without the assistance of a subwoofer for most kinds of music. They project a very full sound, which is quite a feat for small bookshelf speakers that cost $70 a pair. Once the highs have been tamed, which is easy enough to do with any equalizer or tone control, the resulting sound can be very good and of a relatively high-fidelity. In fact, they can be made to sound shockingly good with the application of some equalization, when the price is considered, and even more so with the MK442 which sound fairly balanced out of the box (when it is stood on its side).

Other strengths are a relatively nice appearance for the cost, and also a very manageable size, of course. The build quality is good for a speaker of its pricing; the woofer and tweeter are not bottom-of the-barrel parts, and they have actual crossover circuits unlike many sub-$100 speakers that only use a capacitor on the tweeter. This is even more true of the MK442 crossover which has to be the most substantial crossover circuit on any speaker anywhere near the same cost.

MK402 vs MK442

One irony I want to mention is that, in my opinion, the MK442s make a better left and right front speaker than the MK402, and the MK402 makes a better center speaker than the MK442, despite how Dayton Audio intends for either of them to be used. The MK442’s have a better balanced sound character out of the box, and they also have a more uniform dispersion pattern- when used in their side so that they are standing upright. When used in its intended orientation of laying down horizontally, lobing effects severely impact the horizontal dispersion so much so that the MK442 could only sound good when directly in front of it. That is pretty much the opposite of how a center speaker should behave, and I would list it as a weakness except every horizontal woofer-tweeter-woofer center speaker design will have the same problem. The MK402 would serve as a better center since it really does have wide dispersion and no lobing artifacts, and, what’s more, since it is not a very tall speaker, it is a bookshelf speaker that could potentially fit in the “entertainment center” shelf racks that center speakers are normally placed in. Since it is small, it can also be mounted unobtrusively above a television set if needed. Of course, the most optimal setup would be to use three MK442s all in a vertical orientation if possible.

Bringing this all back to the question of how good are the MK402 and MK442 speakers for the cost, I will say very good. If you need inexpensive, small bookshelf speaker that actually have some bass, I don’t know of anything that can challenge these. These also work well for a nice surround sound system or stereo system for a small room. When the treble is toned down a bit with EQ, I will say the MK402s sound pretty good, regardless of their pricing, and the same is even more true of the MK442s when, as I have repeated, they are used on their side in a vertical orientation. In fact, in that type of placement, at $50 each, I think the MK442s are one of the best value for affordable high-fidelity speakers on the market right now. I normally use much more expensive speakers, and I could easily live with a pair of MK442s as my speakers for my bedroom or desktop PC.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value