Man I have ripped these speakers probably more than anyone. I am a big Dynaudio fan but the special 40.... man how do say this. Take the woofer out and look at the crossover, and think about what you see? What you see is a a crossover that was so skipped on that the the parts in the $120 Overnights Sensation listed on Parts Express out class it. What you think you hear as laid back, and you can test this with spoken dialogue, is nothing more then a very smeared crossover in the vocal region. Very boxy you have found with some spoken dialogue, especially if the actors are further back in the sound stage right? This speaker sounds great with most music though if the singer is projected forward in the sound stage right... but double duty with home theatre and it’s unbarrable boxiness (as others have pointed out). My advice is to return them. I had these side by side with the Fritz Carrera be ($3000) and they absolutely embarrassed the special 40. The Ascend Sierra NRT at $1000 put the special 40 to shame also with more resolution, speed, and low end output.
Dynaudio Special 40 in the house
I just bought a used mint pair of Dynaudio Special 40 to try. I could not resist as I got a good price, and always wanted to try a pair of these.
Fun little monitors. That 28 mm soft dome tweeter ( Esotar) is impressive. Smooth and resolute. ( it plays down to 1000 hz, strong neodymium magnet behind a 28 mm dome) I can say it is one on the best soft domes outhere, along with the Scanspeak ring dome one used on Wilson speakers.
Magico , B&W , beryllium and diamond tweets are probably a bit better. But still, very impressive how engineers have come to make such good sounding soft domes tweets these days.
Generally, the 40s pros:
- Smooth, resolution, good rythm, good dispersion, superb finish and lacker.
cons:
- Sometimes a bit laidback and more bite would be appreciated. Not the last word in bass extension, and articulation...Cabinet can resonate a bit sometimes.
Opinions ?
Fun little monitors. That 28 mm soft dome tweeter ( Esotar) is impressive. Smooth and resolute. ( it plays down to 1000 hz, strong neodymium magnet behind a 28 mm dome) I can say it is one on the best soft domes outhere, along with the Scanspeak ring dome one used on Wilson speakers.
Magico , B&W , beryllium and diamond tweets are probably a bit better. But still, very impressive how engineers have come to make such good sounding soft domes tweets these days.
Generally, the 40s pros:
- Smooth, resolution, good rythm, good dispersion, superb finish and lacker.
cons:
- Sometimes a bit laidback and more bite would be appreciated. Not the last word in bass extension, and articulation...Cabinet can resonate a bit sometimes.
Opinions ?
- ...
- 11 posts total
- 11 posts total