Dayton Audio MK402BT Bluetooth Speaker Review

There is currently a preponderance of single powered Bluetooth and WiFi speakers on the market like the RBH Soundkick ($129), or the Oppo Sonica ($299), but a simple Google search shows a lack of decent budget powered Bluetooth speaker pairs out there. Sure, you can get a Disco Jam pair of active speakers from Walmart for $99, but like mopeds, they’re fun to ride, but do you really want to have your friends catch you on one.

It doesn’t mean they aren’t available, in fact we reviewed the Edifier S2000 Pro Bluetooth Powered Speakers recently and found them to have fantastically detailed sound with gorgeous cabinetry for $400/pr.  But, my father always says anyone can buy a $50 bottle of wine and say it’s good. The key is to buy a $20 bottle of wine that tastes like a $50 bottle for $10. Enter the Dayton Audio MK402BT.

I recently did a preview article on the Dayton Audio MK402BT Bluetooth speakers with the idea in mind that they certainly would make for an interesting review sample. The end result of the preview is that for $99 a pair you get a high-quality set of Bluetooth speakers with emphasis placed on sound quality and an outstanding feature set. But the question is, as always, “What will be sacrificed to bring the price down to such modest levels”? Be sure to watch our YouTube overview and read this review to find out....

Dayton Audio MK402BT Bluetooth Speaker Overview

Unpacking and Appearance

     

    

The speakers arrived double boxed with air filled cushioning bubble wrap in between each box layer. The inner box contained both speakers which were wrapped in plastic bags and nestled between Styrofoam inserts. Also supplied is a decent gauge 6’ speaker cable to run from the slave speaker to the powered speaker. Definitely above the quality you would expect from a $100 pair of Bluetooth speakers. Also supplied is a 5’ AUX cable in case you need to plug into a 3.5 mm port.

The speakers themselves look just like the passive Dayton Audio MK402 version Audioholics reviewed recently . For the price, these are a good-looking pair of speakers. They use a textured black vinyl finish that, combined with their chamfered front baffle edges, do project some sense of style. The soft front grilles fit snugly onto the speaker cabinet via posts and slots and make the speakers look a bit plain. The glossy black tweeter and beefy surround on the woofer along with its concave dustcap give the MK402BT a better look if that is what you’re going for. With the attached grilles the speakers take on a more sedate appearance.

   

Also, like the passive version, the drivers used in this design play a large role in this small speaker. The 4" high-excursion driver with a treated-paper cone is rated to play down to 60 Hz and still retain vocal clarity. In addition, the 3/4" tweeter is designed to produce the high frequencies with a wide dispersion. These two drivers, paired with Dayton Audio’s simple yet effective crossover, should create a large soundstage with dramatic imaging.

Opening the speaker reveals that the MK402BT does in fact use the Dayton Audio TCP115-4 as the bass driver just like the passive version. Inspecting the interior shows that they are virtually identical in design and structure aside from the amplifier in the master speaker. These speakers have a claimed bass level down to 60Hz, which is quite a feat from a 4” bass driver. The bass driver used in these speakers is rather heavy-duty, considering the cost of the speakers. 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.

The Dayton Audio TD20F 4 ¾” silk-dome tweeter with ferrofluid cooling is the same tweeter used in the passive version of the MK402 as well. 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.

The built-in amplifier on the MK402BT is rated to provide up to 80 watts of max output power, but upon further inspection we see hidden in the specs that it is 40 watts RMS and 80 watts max or 20 wpc, which is a bit misleading to the uninitiated who may think the 40 watts is per channel and not total power for both channels (or 20 watts/ch). Still for less than $100/pair, we aren't complaining and neither should you.

The top of the speaker has buttons that allow you to change tracks, volume, and pause/play songs from the speaker itself.

A reasonably hefty gauge speaker wire is included with the pair and high-quality binding posts are used to connect the speakers which give the option of beefing up the gauge for longer than a 10’ run. I knew from previewing these speakers that these would be a tethered pair, but I checked again and nowhere on the Dayton Audio webpage does it say this. Buyers should be aware (or beware) that the second slave speaker is a wired version of the original that needs to be tethered to the master speaker. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, many wireless stereo pairs of speakers I have reviewed have had difficulties playing true stereo sound from one wireless speaker to another without a physical connection.

The bottom of the speakers come with translucent rubber pads which do a nice job of sticking the speaker firmly to a hard surface without marring the finish of your furniture.

Setup

The speakers were placed four feet apart on top of my entertainment center to the sides of my flat screen T.V. with a height of 36 inches off the floor and a distance of 9 feet from the listener. As with most Bluetooth speakers, setup was a breeze. Simply connect the power cord to the back of the powered speaker and attach the supplied speaker cable to the slave speaker. When the master speaker turns on, the distinctive sound of a lightsaber powering up can be heard. When the speaker connects to a Bluetooth device R2D2’s whistles and chirps are heard, (at least that's what I hear, considering I'm a Star Wars Nerd).  Pretty cool. My iPhone easily connected to the MK402BT speaker and I was ready to go. 

Dayton Audio MK402BT Bluetooth Speaker Conclusion

Since the main use of the Dayton Audio MK402BT speakers will be streaming audio over Bluetooth through a phone, tablet, or computer I decided to start there as a point of reference.

iPhone Streaming

Lately I’ve been starting off my listening sessions with Marian Hill’s electronic sleeper hit “Down”. Marian Hill is not a person, but a musical Duo consisting of Samantha Gongol’s and Jeremy Lloyd.  The combination of Samantha Gongol’s vocals and Jeremy Lloyd’s engineering of the keyboards and bass beats allows the testing of everything from simple human vocals at the beginning of the song to strong deep bass after the intro. The song started with a simple, soft four tone synthesizer rift. Samantha Gongol’s vocals eased in out of nowhere and sounded clean and crisp. When the bass hits kicked in, I was surprised at the depth these small speakers were able to reproduce.  The 4” driver did an admiral job and sound filled the small room with deep, rich enveloping sound.

I next moved on to Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”. Again, vocals were easily heard through the harmonies of the African men’s Choir. When the guitar, horns, and drums kicked in, the MK402BT effortlessly reproduced this classic song. The high frequency sounds were not quite on par with a separate system with individual components, but we again must remember that this is a sub $100 self powered speaker system.  

The last song I auditioned was Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Tin Pan Alley”.  This classic test song is mainly influenced by the lengthy guitar riffs throughout the song.  The sensual moving bassline and gritty vocals all help this to be one of the best test tracks for any sound system. The MK402BT’s held true even at higher volumes.

Note: Like other Bluetooth speakers I have auditioned, the Dayton Audio MK402BT Speakers vary tremendously in volume depending on the source material being streamed so always keep that in mind before cranking up  the volume when changing sources.

Pandora

There was a slight increase in volume switching from my playlist on my iPhone to Pandora, but nothing that would blow the windows out. I switched through several channels including a U2 station, which brought up “Shout” from tears for Fears, a Porcupine Tree Station, which played “Second Life Syndrome” from Riverside (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and a Maroon 5 station which played their catchy tune “Sugar”. All songs played slightly louder than the songs pushed directly from my iPhone’s playlist, and sounded just as smooth without signs of breakup, muddiness, or interference. Some say the there is a slightly enhanced sound when the speakers are hooked directly up to the source via the 3.5mm cord. I listened to several tracks both plugged and unplugged and could not discern any noticeable difference between the two which speaks volumes for how good the Bluetooth connection is on this system.

Conclusion

After a full review, we still like what we are seeing here with the Dayton Audio MK402BT Bluetooth powered speaker system for such a modest asking price. Of course, we don’t see true Wi-Fi, built in Alexa support or wireless speaker to speaker connectivity, but at a $98/pair price point, this is to be expected.  These speakers performed almost exactly how I envisioned them to: A substantial powered speaker pair at an unusually low price! If you’re looking at a breadbox sized single unit that you won’t be moving around from room to room I would instead consider looking further into the true separation of sound that you get from the MK402BT. These speakers crush the cheap plastic wireless computer speakers you typically find a department stores for this price.

    

We hope Dayton Audio will eventually offer a slightly beefed up version of this powered speaker that has a digital input to better interface with an HDTV display. Throw in a center channel and a sub out and you've got a sound bar killer at a fraction of the price that will do justice to your music collection like no budget soundbar ever could. Highly recommended.

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
Soundstage
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value