Dynaudio 25th anniversary speakers

Dynaudio Special Forty. Amazing sound, amazing price

I just heard them the other day.
They sounded great until i heard the C-2.
Guess i am going to have to wait,until the next model change!

John Marks gives a brief review in the current Stereophile, but not enough info to really get a handle on things except that he liked them very much.

I saw the 25's ad on Stereophile as well. They look fabulous! Wish I had that kind of $ to own them....

I auditioned the Special 25s a couple of months ago at ProMusica in Chicago (thanks, Ken). At the time, I owned a pair of 1.3SEs, and my audition of the Spec 25s was enough to convince me to sell the 1.3SEs, which I have since done. The 25s were not fully broken in, and were played on lesser electronics than what I use at home, but they had a remarkable rightness that made the entire reproduction chain simply disappear. They use the driver technology from the new Confidence series, and the new Esotar 2 tweeter, and are more sensitive than the 1.3SEs (but then, so was my mother-in-law). The 25s definately DO NOT require a sub in a small to medium sized room - they are extremely articulate in the bass, and sound like they go down strongly to the low 30s in-room. Besides, I doubt there's a subwoofer made that could keep up with them, and I own probably the fastest one in existence - the Talon ROC 2002. The mids are seemless, the highs sweet and detailed. I recently sold my pair to Confidence 5s, and still own the Confidence 3s. The Spec 25 is a superior speaker overall than the C5 (at $10,000), and gives the C3 ($8000) a run for its money. I always considered the C3 a better balanced speaker than the C5, with stronger bass. Obviously, the newer technology in the Spec 25 pays dividends, and saves money (hard to imagine coming from Dynaudio). If anyone is planning to buy used C5s, I strongly recommend they audition the Spec 25s first, or buy a used pair of C3s instead. My 25s are on the way, and who knows, my C3s may be up for sale soon.

While paging through the November Stereophile, I noticed the ad for these speakers.

I must say that in my opinion, they really dropped the ball in the looks department. Of course, they may very well look better in person than in the picture. I sure hope they do. To me, they seem UGLY!

I am not a very big fan of the direction Dynaudio has taken in general over the past few years. While their speakers were never a bargain, I always found them to offer strong performance. The kind of speaker which could serve as a very long term partner. The kind of equipment that you build the rest of your system around.

However, recent models have gone way upscale in price, yet my listening experiences have left me cold. I have gotten not much of a reaction at all from them, which is probably the biggest curse one can commit. Others would argue that the speakers are merely reproducing what is being fed to them. But, what I feel when auditioning newer models is "vanilla". I am not sure people normally spend $10K to $85K for vanilla. Rather, people buy stuff they fall in love with, even if other people feel the equipment sonically bad. At least there is some reaction...

Just one man's opinion. I am still a longtime Dynaudio loyalist, and don't want a great company to lose what they have established.

Sounds like no one has really heard them enough to give detailed comments.

The specs sound like they go lower than I expected. Even lower than the Confidence's which are floorstanders - of course these are just specs. Any feedback on the bass compared to floorstanders?

I heard them recently at a dealer. I thought they were considerably better than 1.3se, even though they were not completely broken in. They were obviously deeper than 1.3, but it seemed to me they controlled the music better. Overall, very natural and neutral presentation. Combined with a rel sub, they did a terrific job with orchestral music.

has anyone out there actually heard the Dynaudio Special 25 ?

Just saw them at my dealer the other day. they are are deeper than the 1.3 se, but other than that look exactly the same. Hearing the tuner through them was fun!
-Vik

any more news on these speakers?

heard the Confidence C 2's and liked them - am considering them, Sonus Faber Cremona's and the Special 25's?

feedback appreciated

thanks

sounds awesome, someone please write a review if you go to the show... I'm sure there are many others dieing to know what they are like

this is what I've found on the web so far...

Culminating their 25-year anniversary, Danish loudspeaker manufacturer Dynaudio has released the Special Twenty-Five compact loudspeaker. Featuring a twenty-five-year warranty, the new speaker boasts a host of design advances based on the company’s experience with the Evidence and Confidence speaker lines.

An 8" woofer provides the Special Twenty-Five’s midrange/bass frequencies. The high-excursion driver uses a 3" voice coil fashioned out of lightweight aluminum. The woofer cone itself is Dynaudio’s magnesium polymer cone (MSP), while the voice coil consists of a Kapton former within a die-cast chassis. The magnet material is neodymium, which, according to the company, improves efficiency over a ferrite-derived alternative. The tweeter is the newest version of the company’s Esotar, now in its second iteration. The Esotar2 (Squared) is a soft-dome design that utilizes a rear-mounted damping chamber to prevent soundwave reflections. The tweeter is coated with a proprietary material applied directly to the dome, which reportedly improves transient and impulse response. The power handling of the newest Esotar is enhanced by use of "magnetic cooling/damping oil," which also prevents dynamic compression under extreme conditions. Other features of the Special Twenty-Five include a crossover mounted onto an aluminum plate, which aids in heat dissipation, and "zero-compression wire-wound resistors, ultra-fast metallized polypropylene capacitors with low-loss dielectric, and air-core inductors."

The Special Twenty-Five comes in a custom cross-grained birch-veneer finish. It will be available at the end of September and carry a retail price of $4800 USD per pair.

DYNAUDIO Factsheet
Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five Technical Specifications
Sensitivity 88 dB (2.83 V/1m)
IEC Long Term Power Handling >200 watts
Impedance Nominal 4 ohms
Frequency Response 35 Hz – 25 kHz (+/- 3dB)
Internal Cabinet Volume 17.5 litres
Bass Principle Bass reflex
Weight 13 kg
Dimensions 222 x 423 x 349 mm
8.8 x 16.7 x 13.8 ‘’
Tweeter 28mm soft dome, Esotar 2 technology
Pure aluminium wire voice coil
Integrated rear chamber with acoustic vent
Large neodymium magnet ring
Woofer 20cm one-piece moulded MSP cone
75mm pure aluminium wire voice coil
Large neodymium magnet ring
Die-cast chassis
Crossover 2 way crossover with 6 dB/octave slope
Glassfibre-reinforced PCB
Resistors with thermal coupling to heatsink
Integrated gold plated binding posts
Cabinet 20mm MDF with 10mm sandwich construction
Internal MDF bracing
Large 70mm diameter vent
Solid metal back plate
Exclusive cross-grained birch veneer

and warranty for 25 years...

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Available at the end of September, Dynaudio's Special Twenty-Five will retail for $4800 per pair and will carry a 25-year warranty. The new speaker will make its official debut at the upcoming CEDIA show, to be held in Minneapolis September 25–29, 2002. CEDIA attendees eager to see and hear the Twenty-Five should check out booth #408. Further information is available from Dynaudio's director of sales and marketing