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Wow! That is the most thorough review of a speaker that I’ve ever been able to comprehend. Either what you’ve shared about the graphical representations earlier has finally started seeping into my brain, or you’re getting better at explaining the phenomenon you’re hearing and seeing in the data. I think you’ve made more strides than I have. The arrows and highlights helped when you’re looking at the graphs; but opening with a narrative of what you heard really helped pull me in. (You had me at ‘Dyne Audio;’ I thought, “That’s a world-class speaker company, I wonder what he has to say about it?”) Good to hear the passion back in your voice after the events of several months back. Edit: Just trying to say I could follow you from start to finish; 👍 Good Job.
You take all sorts of industries, from cars to phones to TVs to audio, then you take the best reviewers of each industry and you compare them on how scientific they are, and how they let you understand the root causes and basically teach you something more at any review. My winner is you Erin. Kudos!
I have used Dynaudio drivers in my systems since the 80's. Nice to see your deep dive on this speaker. Your second pronunciation of Vac-a-ville was correct. Edit: I absolutely love the deeper dive.👍
A very welcome review! Thank you for your time and effort in testing the speaker, and especially for the excellent and thorough review in this video. It was very helpful to have your explanation of the graphs. I really enjoyed my pair of red Special Forty’s - the good, bad, and the ugly……driven by a Naim SuperNAIT3 - very good in my small room. It helps to see some of the reasons I enjoyed them 😊 Thank You! Hope to see you in Raleigh.
Thank you very much! Very insightful as to why I like the Special 40s. Always thought I didn't like the "laid back" sound, but I dig these. Also confirmed my suspicion that I would likely enjoy the Linton's/Denton's. Appreciate the in depth breakdown!
Great review, Erin. I owned the Special 40's for nearly a year, but that 3 kHz "glare" was too much for me. It always hit me like a metal baton, or brass knuckles, especially at higher volumes. I've bought a lot of really great speakers thanks to your reviews, and I like you.
Love the indepth and actual understanding. Surround rekated issues have been a challenge with the 3D printed drivers. Still plan to send a drsign out someday. Expect to get destroyed by your standards but would be very helpful - Polymate3D . Keep up the great work!
I very much loved my Special 40s and was well able to live with it's slightly coloured sound. The tweeter alone is a real dream. But compare that speaker (plus amplifier of 2 grand or more) with a Buchardt Anniversary 10 and suddenly that more modern speaker looks more attractive. Lower bass, super low distortion and versatile, adjustable sound signatures.
@@ErinsAudioCornerwhen you do get the 10’s can you please text the analog input on the wireless bridge with a turntable? I’m seriously considering getting them and was curious about the a/d conversion. Thanks
Nice job, Erin, If you like the Forty, you really should give a listen/analysis to the Evoke 20. I assume that you finally reached Dynaudio to get this one, so it could be interesting to see the Evoke measured as well. To my ears, the Evoke 20 are way smoother and less colored/more balanced across the spectrum. Suitable for high SPLs indeed, the woofers from Dyn are absolutely impressive.
Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into those. As I mentioned in the video, these came from a friend who happens to be a distributor. Not from Dyn directly.
I have a pair of the Evoke 20 in my bedroom that are used for TV/music. I don't use a sub in this setup, but the bass they provide is surprising. I find them to be smooth sounding also. Their sound is just easy to listen to and there's nothing about them that seems wrong or offensive to me. Very easy speaker to like.
Hey Erin, if you want to share a visualisation of surround phase issue to help people understand, you could deno the Klippel SCN software. They have a few demo files in there. 😊 You can see the side cross section as well as a 3d view.
@@ErinsAudioCornerYou should consider having a chat with Lampos whose case I showed. He knows a lot more about the practicalities of loudspeaker design than me and what to do about these issues.
At the end of the day nearly every speaker is a compromise due to cost vs revenue. What do you think the extra special lacquer of the SP40 alone costs the buyer at the end: in my opinion a lot!
Thank you very much for this truly excellent and very thorough review! When you started to talk about the issues in the 500 Hz region, John Atkinson’s review of 2018 immediately popped up in my mind, but you did found that one yourself. Interesting, this correlation between you and John. Despite that, I still very much enjoy this speaker on a day to day basis, it’s the first bookshelf speaker I owned that made me start wondering why I always bought floorstanders in the past.
Do you think the precision of the imaging could be related to the response between left and right speakers being very similar? I've wondered in the past if precision imaging is enhanced by the individual driver quality control and whether the output from each speaker mirrors the other side.
I definitely do. In fact, I’ve been thinking of re-implementing my tests of where I would compare the response of speaker pairs because of this. I definitely believe that stereo matching plays a huge role in imaging precision.
Might depend on your ear pair matching :p I matched my speaker levels at the listening seat with a mic, but I find to get the image in centre (for my ears) I need to increase the left one like 0.5dB.
Astute point, hand matched pairing can be vital. Variances in the acoustic summation of the pair, uncorelated to correlated ... is of less importance for perceived loudness and intensity. However, to re-assimilate a recorded event, tight tolerance L/R matching can reveal more dimensionality. (Bill Duddleston at Legacy Loudspeakers hand matches the upper half of his offerings ... and the clear benefits he claims in soundstage resolution)
Hello Erin! Would you consider doing a video explained what phase is along with explaining stuff such as FIR filters and ringing? I believe Dirac uses some FIR filter correction and for the DIY person there is of course rePhase.
I would rather take a dip at 1-3khz than a 1-5khz spike. Its always nasty and when some note lands on that spike it can sound like the tweeter is breaking up something, a very coarse like kind of sound. Ive heard these speakers and I noticed a grainy sound on a couple of tracks, but when that grainy sound didnt show up it sounded real good, I mean REAL GOOD, something I could listen for hours. Turn up the volume and that coarse sound shows up more frequently, again, depending on the track (usually high pitched female vocals). Nearly bought them, but hesistated due to that harshness (seldom but repeatable). Went for the Polk R700 that time, I know its a weird alternative but I keep my options open to anything.
I am with you there. Still, would be nice if it weren’t there because - while not terrible - it is missing when compared to a more neutral response in that particular region.
Beautiful job Erin. I think Dynaudio needs a Klippel machine in their garage. I always wondered to design a smaller 6.5-7” speaker with the box as a passive radiator to get a fuller sound especially with the front baffle 3+ ft out and 4-5 ft from a side wall. Usually a tower is needed. My first speakers in 1977 were Polk 10 larger box on a short stand no bracing way too much bass for my bedroom but sounded good with early Byrds and certain bass light recordings.
They actually have a really cool microphone array. Check it out: dynaudio.com/magazine/2018/december/how-jupiter-delivers-dynaudio-s-trademark-quality?hs_amp=true
@Erin's Audio Corner First off, shout out to Scott Welch at Aegis Distribution for getting the Dyn Special 40s to you! 👍 He's been a mainstay in the car audio world for many years. And Erin, I really enjoyed your "deep dive" on this particular review, though I know it must have been a bit more work to put together and produce. As you and several others have mentioned in the comments, I think that Dynaudio's tighter and more closely matched specs and tolerances might be at least one of the key attributes "in play" regarding their more precise imaging while also still maintaining the wide dispersion. We both know from experience that the Left vs Right FR and balancing is extremely important in order to achieve excellent and spatially linear L-to-R imaging and tight focus in the car audio environment, so in my mind there's no doubt it's the same in home audio as well. This is also what all of the best professional studio monitors strive for, and what I've experienced when designing and building my own DIY home loudspeaker projects with the help of our fairly powerful multichannel car audio DSP's amplitude response matching via PEQ, time alignment/IR, X/Os, etc. BTW, IIRC, Jason Bertholomey has been using a pair of the Dyn Special 40s in his main home listening rig for a few years now, and he seems pleased enough with them to have kept them. Pretty sure he has also matched them up with a pair of the smaller REL T7X subwoofers, though. I'll point him to this review just in case he hasn't seen it...being of similar mind, I'm sure he'd be curious about the measurements vs listening impressions, even though I don't expect it'll change his mind regarding what he likes about them. Great work (as always, of course) on this review! But I'd also like to add that your content, and especially your delivery, keep getting better with each one, and has long ago exceeded all expections. So good on you, mate! 👍 It's great to see and hear your knowledge and insights finally reaching and positively affecting a much wider audience. Cheers
Great review Erin! I've had Special 40's for couple years now, and I really like them. Pretty much the best pair I've ever had, but if I start thinking about an upgrade one day, which speaker in your opinion c considered better than SP40 in every way? Of course Heritage Special is on my list, but that pair is twice the price of the Forties.
Erin likes the BBC dip 😀. I do too if it’s slight. The crossover area is just bad news and those frequencies are sharp so most passive speakers it seems are voiced with a small dip…unless they are home theater speakers…which is often a different voicing.
The Dynaudio "sound" is a bit dry and analytical for my tastes. "Laid back" to the point of boring? I never found their sound involving, at least the models I have heard. I also think they tend to be over priced compared to other modern offerings.
The 3Khz peak is audible on sound demos and probably used by Dynaudio to sell the Special Forty to unwitting investment bankers seeking the "showroom sound". I have the Evoke 10s and they behave much better overall and also have an irregular enclosure rather than a simple box shape.
Excellent review, Erin! To what do you attribute the unexpectedly precise imaging for a wide-pattern speaker? Even if you can only speculate, I'm interested in your thoughts.
This speaker is a great example of why no one should buy only or primarily based on measurements. Listen to them. They got trashed on ASR yet when I heard them in a demo room for the first time, they absolutely blew me away. The tweeter and bass extension was amazing, I got up to make sure the shop wasn't playing a sub, ridiculous for a bookshelf. We're they perfect? Of course not. Do they have a great midrange? No. The peaks everyone measured are actually audible, at loud volume you can literally hear the cabinet ringing making them sound a big boxy. Do they play as low as a floorstander? Nope. But would I personally pick them over a clinical and cold Kef or even a $10k Revel (now $5K on sale, cough) that don't touch the S40 in dynamics? Every day of the week. Put om on great stands, hook up a high current amp and run room correction over the signal, maybe boost the mids a bit and have FUN listening.
I don't listen at extreme volume, but I do push my speakers to the limit to see how clean they can stay at very high volume. For me it's a testament of the quality of the speaker. It's also a good test to see how difficult a load a speaker might be by pushing them on different levels of power reserve. For instance, the LS50s can't stay clean to even close to 100W on a 100-150W amp (even if high current), but they can stay rock solid at well over 100W on my JC1 mono blocks.
Hey Erin, is your measuring equipment capable of measuring spectral decay? I believe the spectral decay can highlight artificial properties and can be vital data for viewers
Notes I took; - The inexplicable 600hz dip? Perhaps it's destructive summation, ... as the spectral decay exhibits latent stuff around 600hz, in addition to the polars showing the 600 and 700hz energy emanating outward. - The tighter pattern, less sidewall interaction (relys more in your head) Wide dispersion, more sidewall interaction (greater apparent source width, yes, but adds a room element that anchors the soundstage with characteristics). - Above the trend line an octave wide 2dB bump @3k. "the 600, ... 800, 900hz resonances weren't nearly as annoying as the 3k. A quick look shows @80dB, 3k is about +5dB hotter perceived. Another superb piece of work Erin, just killer.
I have the Dynaudio Heritage Specials and I've heard a couple people say there was a bit of sibalance. I've never heard it. I wonder if it's due to the Class A preamp and monoblocks.
Hi Eric, Happy Holidays. I live in the Caribbean on the island of Trinidad and have no way to audition any speakers, hence trying to buy a speaker based on your reviews. Between KEF R3 Meta and these Dynaudio Special Forty speakers, which in your opinion is the better speakers for most genres of music? My amplifier is a Parasound A21+. TIA.
had the speakers - enclosure is crap for this pricetag :) ... the brightness is love it or hate it. There was music that i never hear sound so realistic and airy... and other one, that was just annoying "sharp" or "screaming". After a year or so i sold them. But was a nice experience tough. Dyn did a heritage after that for a double the price. Will be interesting to hear them.
@vladimirrusev468 One of Erin's friends from the car audio world and who's ears and opinions I trust has posted a comment here just below yours ( @jasonbertholomey1142 ), and he also previously owned these Dyn Special 40 for a while, and now owns the Heritage Special. I think he has kept them so far, so he must be liking them. 🙂 But IMO, given their price tag (if purchased new), I also think that the enclosure even for the Heritage Special is still "crap" as well. 😊 I've used several of the Dynaudio Esotar² drivers in home and car audio DIY projects and know just how well they can perform. And when they are properly implemented, they can really bring some magic to the party. In some ways, it's a bit easier for us car audio guys, because we typically use some fairly high-end 8 to 12+ channel DSPs that allow us to take acoustic measurements and play with infinitely adjustable Levels, custom Crossovers, Digital Delay (time alignment), 31-band P-EQ, and Phase Rotation for Each Independent Channel and speaker/driver, which can potentially work out some of the kinks like the ones seen here. But, then we also have to deal with the crazy and highly-reflective "small room" issues of the acoustics of the car audio environment. 🥴
Is there any explanation on why do you hear more a focused sound or "sharp" imaging on a wide radiation speaker like this? Had you experience something similar with some other speaker model with wide radiation?
Yeah, this is the Dynaudio "sound", so to speak - the dip around 1k is a common thing they seem to always have, and it's quite audible as a "scooped" response - plus that bit of presence sizzle.
Erin, awesome review as always. Could you share about the room you use for your subjective listening? How is it laid out and treated? I know the measurements are independent of this, but do you think your room configuration colors your subjective review? Or do you attempt to account for this?
Your upper midrange observation is accurate. It really baffled me when i had them as they were warm and laidback but somehow found them uncomfortable in the upper midrange area. And sometimes i feel like there is a disconnect in terms of coherence where the lower midrange is warm but upper part is kinda harsh which made it sound amazing in some songs and unlistenable to others.
Thank you very much for the review! I'd really appreciate it if you could review the current Focus and the (now obsolete) Xeo line of Dynaudio speakers. Those are active speakers from Dynaudio and it would be really interesting to see how they are different from passive counterparts and how they are compared to competition, such as Genelec and so on.
Tony commented above that it might be the response matching between the pair. And I’d tend to agree. So I’m gonna try to reincorporate that into my reviews.
@@ErinsAudioCorner I've been messing with level matching at the speaker vs at MLP as well as matching FR at both locations to see what affects they have.
It seems the real flaw in these speakers are the cabinet resonances. If these are still manufactured in Denmark it was more than likely a compromise Dynaudio was willing to make to make to stay competitive in the market with other brands moving their manufacturing of speakers in this price range overseas.
they are not audible, if you look at the SPL from them, they are about 75db below signal. at a 40db delta the human brain will discard the information.
@@themaskedsingercucucachu8225 unless you want to place it closer to a wall. It is already rear ported and more energy radiating backwards is never good.
I think this is by design. Look. At focus 200xd on stereophile. Similar cabinet size but much less resonances. I think Dynaudio engineers for some reason wanted this kind of cabinet.
Listened to a few small powered monitors (5" woofer cone) side by side in the store and some how Dynaudio for the price they are asking seemed like not a really good deal - a bit too laid back, even though I'm normally after inoffensive, laid back sound rather than aggressive. I think I liked small Genelecs way more. As for the pesky 1.3k cone edge, with some drivers you can really hear it, with others not so much. Soft cones are the usual suspects, but the cone of SB17NRXC2 was redesigned to minimize the issue. I looked at Signature series woofers from Dayton and it seems like they designed the surround and cone to avoid the problem, though the alu cones rarely exhibit this fenomena. Also surround thicker at edge of the role minimizes the problem. I know Mark Kravchenko used this kind of custom surround in his design for OEM client. Unfortunately most manufacturers don't want spend the extra money, so we are stuck with the 1.3k glitch in FRD, raise in distortions and other issues.
Distortion vis-à-vis excessive energy due to an octave wide bump, ... possess varying significance as a function of level. So yeah, it's somewhat of a moving target.
Thank you for your reviews. One man’s selfish nitpicking: I wonder if you’d consider beginning (or time stamping a place) with a more traditional, quick overview of your final conclusions of the overall sound of the speakers you review? For example, briefly stating if you’d recommend it, and a quick description of its sound characteristics (highs, mids, lows, soundstage, etc.). Then go into all the technical stuff. I bet you’d gain a larger audience. For example, I myself just want to know how the speakers generally sound - I find myself skipping past most of your tech content to find simple summative statements like “it can sound too bright” or “they really disappear”, etc. I am the consumer who’s constantly looking for how speakers sound, so that I know what to purchase next or what to recommend to friends. I’m guessing there are a lot more like me. Again, just my two cents. One might say “then go get that from other reviewers” - true, that’s possible, but I respect your knowledge base so much that I want to add your simple, general opinion into the mix; and I can’t if it’s buried in 20min of technical spec talk. Maybe with a tweak, I (we) could have the best of both worlds? Thanks so much for reading and considering. 👍
Hi Erin. Great info and insights as always. Much appreciated. I have a somewhat unrelated question - occasionally on used markets I see speakers advertised with some damage to the cones (the KEF LS50 variants are a great/not great example). They're usually indentations of various sizes. Almost invariably the seller goes on to say "Does not effect sound quality". My question is, does it? Or qualifying, does it in any meaningful way? Would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!
It absolutely does effect the speaker. But the degree to which it matters can vary. Say, for example, we have a 6.5” midwoofer paired with a 1” tweeter. The woofer has a dent. The damage will alter the response above the beaming point because there is no symmetry in the cone. Let’s say roughly at 2.5kHz there is a huge peak that wouldn’t otherwise be there. If the the crossover point is 2.0kHz and is second order then the peak gets through and creates harshness. If the crossover is digital and the slope is brickwalled then it wouldn’t have an effect because the woofer is cut off so abruptly anyway. In other words, you can have cases where the impact is minimal or extreme but you can’t assume there is no difference without testing it.
Brilliant, thanks for that thorough reply & example Erin. I’d naively presumed that to be the case, but with no particular expertise myself I couldn’t say for sure, other than using logic to assume there must be some adverse outcome from damage to drivers. Really appreciate all you’re doing for the audiophile community. I’m learning a huge amount from all your work, which I value greatly. Thanks again!
As a video idea, I’d be very interested to see some measured comparisons of a speaker with pristine drivers vs one/s with subtly and/or significantly damaged drivers, just to see what degree of impact that really has. Videos like that may exist, but having watched many hifi oriented uploads I’ve never seen anything like that. Thanks for considering the suggestion Erin. Cheers. Jason
20:26 is it possible that around the 100-150hz spot the speaker is amplifier limited? That's where impedance is lowest so it would make sense. Even if it was the amplifier I'd assume you have a good amp so realistically you could blame it on the speaker.
The amplifier is stable to 2 ohms and about 1500w so I don’t expect that is the problem. But sometimes coincidence isn’t just coincidence. So I’ll keep that in mind.
Dynadio is worlds best speaker sound in tone, so at some frequency you explain that no one can understand, that it aint perfect. Its the most perfect speaker out there. It would be nice if you could show us speakers playing against each other to explain your point.
Great review, very thorough! Have you checked out the dynaudio focus 20 XD, they're pretty much a powered version of the special 40, and when you compare the frequency response charts, it seems like dynaudio have corrected the flaws of the sp40, and then made a powered version of it.
I'd like to see a review of the new JBL 600 series, with two models under $1000, one with a 5" woofer, one with a 6.5" one, and both with a compression horn tweeter.
I have a pair in a 2nd system, that I got used for fairly cheap. They’re to my ears excellent sounding speakers in room…for their size. I’m aware of their measurements but they make a nice contrast to my Harbeth and JBLs. I’ll add that I’ve really liked them in a small room… in a large room, i heard the dip. It’s an interesting thing with regards to measurements as, for example, the measurement aberrations on a pair of the Klipsch Heresy IV really lined up with me hating them. Here… I actually really like the speaker, despite understanding it’s deviations. That said at the full msrp I wouldn’t recommend them. I’ve heard better and prefer, in general, bigger speakers.
I really appreciate your work. Do you have any plans to review the SVS Prime Wireless Pro powered speakers? They are interesting as they have really good features and their specifications looks good but I can't find any proper measurements out there.
Very interesting review. I don't suppose you've had much experience with Dynaudio's subwoofers? I've been lured towards a deal on an 18s, but there seems to be very few mentions of it and no measurements around.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Ah perhaps not sensible to translate any expectations over from that to this studio one. Though was it also a dual opposed setup? I've heard they're common in car audio to save space.
@@dananskidolf Dual-opposed subwoofer designs aren't as popular in car audio systems as they probably should be. But that's probably because the one larger dimension that results from having the two "stacked" or horizontally oppossed drivers usually becomes more of a problem when trying to fit multiple subwoofers into the confines of a vehicle. Sure, the enclosure can be relatively small, but just the back-to-back depth of the drivers themselves can make it difficult to implement in a lot of vehicles. Single subwoofers or multiple subwoofers that are oriented side-by-side will usually "nest" or fit better into the typical nooks & crannies of a vehicle's interior cargo space or trunk, etc. Regarding the Dynaudio 18S, if you'll be using the it for its intended purpose in a smaller to mid-size studio monitoring environment where you want *Balanced & Accurate* Low Frequency Response, I wouldn't hesitate to use it, especially if you can get a favorable pricing. I use the even smaller ~250w single 10" Neumann KH 750 active DSP subwoofer in my small home studio (Drummer & saxophonist), and it is excellent in that environment and for that purpose. It replaced my initial entry level PreSonus Temblor T10 active studio subwoofer which gave up the ghost after less than 2 years, and the Neumann KH 750 was shockingly better (and more so than the price difference would suggest). But neither the Dynaudio 18S or Neumann KH 750 would be my first choice if your application is for a Home Theater or 2-channel HiFi setup in anything other than a very small room. Using multiples would help, but at that point I think there are better options in regards to price/performance for Home Theater or larger 2-channel HiFi rooms. But in addition to the dual-opposed drivers, it's the active DSP/amplifier features in the 18S that give it excellent potential to be well-integrated into any type of "satellite + sub" setup, and a definite advantage for optimization in a small monitor + subwoofer studio environment. Side Note: If you get one, make sure it has the latest firmware update for the DSP (download then update via the rear USB port). I've heard and used Dynaudio's Esotar² 1200 12" subwoofer and Esotar² 430 midrange drivers in a car audio environment, and identical or nearly identical drivers from their TOTL Esotar² lineup are also used in their high-end home and studio monitor products. The Esotar² are all extremely well-regarded drivers and offer excellent base performance regardless of the environment they're used in. Like most Scanspeak drivers, they are well-respected and known to have fairly tight and consitent tolerances and excellent build quality. But, as we see here, some aspects of HOW these two Dynaudio drivers were implemented just doesn't seem ideal, and for their premium price I would expect (and want) better. Like Erin, I come more from a DIY background, and if I were to choose a raw Subwoofer DRIVER for a DIY design over the Esotar² 1200 subwoofer, it would be the 13" (12.5") Scanspeak 32W/4878T01 or T05 (automotive version). It matches or bests all of the Esotar² 1200's already fantastic specs and is almost half the price. There are also the excellent Acoustic Elegance drivers that are designed and offered by John Janowitz (AE Speakers). But I understand if you're looking for an "off-the-shelf" solution, and the active DSP and purpose-matched amplifier in the 18S would be harder to duplicate in a DIY design, though there are some good DSP "Plate Amplifiers" on the market now.
@@bbfoto7248 Wow, thanks for the mega info dump. > Regarding the Dynaudio 18S, if you'll be using the it for its intended purpose in a smaller to mid-size studio monitoring environment where you want Balanced & Accurate Low Frequency Response, I wouldn't hesitate to use it, especially if you can get a favorable pricing. Exactly what I was expecting / hoping for. It's just a home studio - hobby work only, not pro. I checked with Dynaudio for a sanity check in my room size and with my speakers and they agreed it should be appropriate, so I hit buy. It seemed quite a steal second hand. I haven't seen anything else with these features and low frequency range under £800. Just hoping it's all in good working condition as claimed. I'll be sure to check the firmware as you suggest. I'll consider a DIY build if/when I do a home cinema setup. It sounds like a fun thing to do, though I might be better off not adding even more hobbies to my life! But for this sub I wanted to be confident I could get it pretty smooth for doing decent mixing. Something off the shelf seemed safer to me.
I own the special 40s and contour series 30s... they are good and in use in my home theater. But, my favorites I own, and have heard, are Spendor D7s. Disappearing speakers that are pure joy and play piano perfectly.
I reallllllyy liked these speakers and almost took them home. Especially in the red finish. They looked awesome. I was able to get them to bottom out, but it took a good heaping of D'Agostino watts to get them there. Such a unique sound and presentation. I'm hoping to hear Heritage Special one day
That’s the point. It is not very linear and first reaction is one of “whoa, that’s not good”. But when you break it down you realize it’s not terrible, either. Thus the “?” at the end of the title.
And of course I would like to point out the review from GR Research: th-cam.com/video/0TxorWiy78w/w-d-xo.html He is talking about the same resonance like you. And how about crossover parts quality?
I did not see a photo of the speaker. If you dont include a shot (like the tweeters and the other Dynaudio ) of the speaker, it becomes a straihg talking head video and ehh, it's your channel. My guess is that you may want to keep it entertaining, a talking head is not. Cheers
I've never been impressed with any Dynaudio speaker that I've ever heard. For $3k there's a lot better to be had. Hell, for $2200 the KEF R3 Meta stomps all over this flawed poorly designed POS. Even the $699 Elac DBR62 does, as do similar under $1000 speakers from KEF again, Polk, Dali, Wharfedale, Monitor Audio, Revel, and several others.
😂😂😂😂😂 just go to a shop and listen to the special 40 they will bow your mind. Don’t listen to him or specifications. This is of no use to anyone. But he is entitled to his subjective opinion.
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Erin, do you answer questions for your Patreons? I would like to hear your thoughts on the Special Forty vs the speaker to beat - the R3 Meta.
@@dylanbond1627 I think I answered it somewhere here already. Honestly, I get so many I can’t keep track of them.
Wow! That is the most thorough review of a speaker that I’ve ever been able to comprehend. Either what you’ve shared about the graphical representations earlier has finally started seeping into my brain, or you’re getting better at explaining the phenomenon you’re hearing and seeing in the data. I think you’ve made more strides than I have. The arrows and highlights helped when you’re looking at the graphs; but opening with a narrative of what you heard really helped pull me in. (You had me at ‘Dyne Audio;’ I thought, “That’s a world-class speaker company, I wonder what he has to say about it?”) Good to hear the passion back in your voice after the events of several months back.
Edit: Just trying to say I could follow you from start to finish; 👍 Good Job.
You take all sorts of industries, from cars to phones to TVs to audio, then you take the best reviewers of each industry and you compare them on how scientific they are, and how they let you understand the root causes and basically teach you something more at any review.
My winner is you Erin. Kudos!
I have used Dynaudio drivers in my systems since the 80's. Nice to see your deep dive on this speaker.
Your second pronunciation of Vac-a-ville was correct.
Edit: I absolutely love the deeper dive.👍
Good to know!
A very welcome review! Thank you for your time and effort in testing the speaker, and especially for the excellent and thorough review in this video. It was very helpful to have your explanation of the graphs. I really enjoyed my pair of red Special Forty’s - the good, bad, and the ugly……driven by a Naim SuperNAIT3 - very good in my small room. It helps to see some of the reasons I enjoyed them 😊 Thank You! Hope to see you in Raleigh.
Thank you very much! Very insightful as to why I like the Special 40s. Always thought I didn't like the "laid back" sound, but I dig these. Also confirmed my suspicion that I would likely enjoy the Linton's/Denton's. Appreciate the in depth breakdown!
You're very welcome!
Great review, Erin. I owned the Special 40's for nearly a year, but that 3 kHz "glare" was too much for me. It always hit me like a metal baton, or brass knuckles, especially at higher volumes. I've bought a lot of really great speakers thanks to your reviews, and I like you.
Love the indepth and actual understanding. Surround rekated issues have been a challenge with the 3D printed drivers. Still plan to send a drsign out someday. Expect to get destroyed by your standards but would be very helpful - Polymate3D . Keep up the great work!
I very much loved my Special 40s and was well able to live with it's slightly coloured sound. The tweeter alone is a real dream.
But compare that speaker (plus amplifier of 2 grand or more) with a Buchardt Anniversary 10 and suddenly that more modern speaker looks more attractive. Lower bass, super low distortion and versatile, adjustable sound signatures.
I think I’ll be reviewing the Buchardt 10 soon-ish.
@@ErinsAudioCornerery much looking forward to that one
@@ErinsAudioCornerwhen you do get the 10’s can you please text the analog input on the wireless bridge with a turntable? I’m seriously considering getting them and was curious about the a/d conversion.
Thanks
Nice job, Erin,
If you like the Forty, you really should give a listen/analysis to the Evoke 20. I assume that you finally reached Dynaudio to get this one, so it could be interesting to see the Evoke measured as well. To my ears, the Evoke 20 are way smoother and less colored/more balanced across the spectrum. Suitable for high SPLs indeed, the woofers from Dyn are absolutely impressive.
Hey, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into those. As I mentioned in the video, these came from a friend who happens to be a distributor. Not from Dyn directly.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Yes, I heard this after I posted... So you didn't get any answer from Dyn directly?
@@vintageflanker7096 I did not.
I have a pair of the Evoke 20 in my bedroom that are used for TV/music. I don't use a sub in this setup, but the bass they provide is surprising. I find them to be smooth sounding also. Their sound is just easy to listen to and there's nothing about them that seems wrong or offensive to me. Very easy speaker to like.
@@JosephTongret I need to try to get a pair to review.
Hey Erin, if you want to share a visualisation of surround phase issue to help people understand, you could deno the Klippel SCN software. They have a few demo files in there. 😊 You can see the side cross section as well as a 3d view.
Great suggestion!
I showed this in my first video with Erin. One hour and three minutes in.
@@Rene_Christensen thanks for the reminder, Rene! I’ll see if I can find some time to cut that part out and upload a short video for it! You rock!
@@ErinsAudioCornerYou should consider having a chat with Lampos whose case I showed. He knows a lot more about the practicalities of loudspeaker design than me and what to do about these issues.
@@Rene_Christensen indeed, I need to. I’ve got a few more folks I’d like to have on. You as well.
Erin, I am not sure if you saw the video but Dynaudio has one of the most sophisticated speaker measuring tools and room. Keep up the good work.
I did.
At the end of the day nearly every speaker is a compromise due to cost vs revenue. What do you think the extra special lacquer of the SP40 alone costs the buyer at the end: in my opinion a lot!
Great review man.
Obtuse will always make me think of Shawshank redemption
How do the SP40's compare to the Kef R3 Meta's? Ive heard the timing of the drivers are off on the R3 Meta's by some reviewers.
Your time is always appreciated, Erin. Thank you.
I appreciate that!
Great review. The insight is invaluable. Thanks!
Thank you very much for this truly excellent and very thorough review! When you started to talk about the issues in the 500 Hz region, John Atkinson’s review of 2018 immediately popped up in my mind, but you did found that one yourself. Interesting, this correlation between you and John. Despite that, I still very much enjoy this speaker on a day to day basis, it’s the first bookshelf speaker I owned that made me start wondering why I always bought floorstanders in the past.
Thanks again Erin. Nicely done as always.👍
Thank you!
Do you think the precision of the imaging could be related to the response between left and right speakers being very similar? I've wondered in the past if precision imaging is enhanced by the individual driver quality control and whether the output from each speaker mirrors the other side.
I definitely do. In fact, I’ve been thinking of re-implementing my tests of where I would compare the response of speaker pairs because of this.
I definitely believe that stereo matching plays a huge role in imaging precision.
Might depend on your ear pair matching :p I matched my speaker levels at the listening seat with a mic, but I find to get the image in centre (for my ears) I need to increase the left one like 0.5dB.
Astute point, hand matched pairing can be vital.
Variances in the acoustic summation of the pair, uncorelated to correlated ... is of less importance for perceived loudness and intensity.
However, to re-assimilate a recorded event, tight tolerance L/R matching can reveal more dimensionality.
(Bill Duddleston at Legacy Loudspeakers hand matches the upper half of his offerings ... and the clear benefits he claims in soundstage resolution)
Hello Erin! Would you consider doing a video explained what phase is along with explaining stuff such as FIR filters and ringing? I believe Dirac uses some FIR filter correction and for the DIY person there is of course rePhase.
Great suggestion!
I would rather take a dip at 1-3khz than a 1-5khz spike. Its always nasty and when some note lands on that spike it can sound like the tweeter is breaking up something, a very coarse like kind of sound. Ive heard these speakers and I noticed a grainy sound on a couple of tracks, but when that grainy sound didnt show up it sounded real good, I mean REAL GOOD, something I could listen for hours. Turn up the volume and that coarse sound shows up more frequently, again, depending on the track (usually high pitched female vocals). Nearly bought them, but hesistated due to that harshness (seldom but repeatable). Went for the Polk R700 that time, I know its a weird alternative but I keep my options open to anything.
I am with you there. Still, would be nice if it weren’t there because - while not terrible - it is missing when compared to a more neutral response in that particular region.
Excellent review. Considering to purchase these speakers. Exactly what i needed :)
Glad I could help!
@@ErinsAudioCorner do you think that this excellent imagining may be due to 'alive' cabinet?
@@adrianegowski5012 my guess is it’s more to do with speaker response matching but I haven’t verified that yet.
Hi Erin, i wish if you could do the Emit20, more reasonable price around 1000 USD. Appreciate 👍
Noted!
Beautiful job Erin. I think Dynaudio needs a Klippel machine in their garage. I always wondered to design a smaller 6.5-7” speaker with the box as a passive radiator to get a fuller sound especially with the front baffle 3+ ft out and 4-5 ft from a side wall. Usually a tower is needed. My first speakers in 1977 were Polk 10 larger box on a short stand no bracing way too much bass for my bedroom but sounded good with early Byrds and certain bass light recordings.
They actually have a really cool microphone array. Check it out:
dynaudio.com/magazine/2018/december/how-jupiter-delivers-dynaudio-s-trademark-quality?hs_amp=true
They have Klippel.
Thanks for highlighting the edge termination issue.
@Erin's Audio Corner
First off, shout out to Scott Welch at Aegis Distribution for getting the Dyn Special 40s to you! 👍 He's been a mainstay in the car audio world for many years.
And Erin, I really enjoyed your "deep dive" on this particular review, though I know it must have been a bit more work to put together and produce.
As you and several others have mentioned in the comments, I think that Dynaudio's tighter and more closely matched specs and tolerances might be at least one of the key attributes "in play" regarding their more precise imaging while also still maintaining the wide dispersion.
We both know from experience that the Left vs Right FR and balancing is extremely important in order to achieve excellent and spatially linear L-to-R imaging and tight focus in the car audio environment, so in my mind there's no doubt it's the same in home audio as well.
This is also what all of the best professional studio monitors strive for, and what I've experienced when designing and building my own DIY home loudspeaker projects with the help of our fairly powerful multichannel car audio DSP's amplitude response matching via PEQ, time alignment/IR, X/Os, etc.
BTW, IIRC, Jason Bertholomey has been using a pair of the Dyn Special 40s in his main home listening rig for a few years now, and he seems pleased enough with them to have kept them. Pretty sure he has also matched them up with a pair of the smaller REL T7X subwoofers, though.
I'll point him to this review just in case he hasn't seen it...being of similar mind, I'm sure he'd be curious about the measurements vs listening impressions, even though I don't expect it'll change his mind regarding what he likes about them.
Great work (as always, of course) on this review! But I'd also like to add that your content, and especially your delivery, keep getting better with each one, and has long ago exceeded all expections. So good on you, mate! 👍 It's great to see and hear your knowledge and insights finally reaching and positively affecting a much wider audience.
Cheers
I had the early Contour 1.3 back in the early 90’s.. Also has a “glare” but higher up in frequency compared to the Forty’s ~3kHz..
Saw the title thought this was about the Motion XT B100 again lol.
Great review Erin!
I've had Special 40's for couple years now, and I really like them. Pretty much the best pair I've ever had, but if I start thinking about an upgrade one day, which speaker in your opinion c considered better than SP40 in every way? Of course Heritage Special is on my list, but that pair is twice the price of the Forties.
I heard the S40 and The Rubicon2 was a beter speaker for my liking and costs just 2k in Europe
I’ll have to check that one out.
An excellent review...
Thank you kindly!
Scott is a great guy and helped me out alot when i first got into the SQ side of car audio
Erin likes the BBC dip 😀. I do too if it’s slight. The crossover area is just bad news and those frequencies are sharp so most passive speakers it seems are voiced with a small dip…unless they are home theater speakers…which is often a different voicing.
It’s not that I like it. More that I don’t hate it. 😅
The Dynaudio "sound" is a bit dry and analytical for my tastes. "Laid back" to the point of boring? I never found their sound involving, at least the models I have heard. I also think they tend to be over priced compared to other modern offerings.
The 3Khz peak is audible on sound demos and probably used by Dynaudio to sell the Special Forty to unwitting investment bankers seeking the "showroom sound". I have the Evoke 10s and they behave much better overall and also have an irregular enclosure rather than a simple box shape.
Excellent review, Erin! To what do you attribute the unexpectedly precise imaging for a wide-pattern speaker? Even if you can only speculate, I'm interested in your thoughts.
Great as usual :) Your presentation feels effortless at this point.
Wish you could get your hands on some ATC SCM11's.
Thank you very much! Maybe one day on the ATCs.
This speaker is a great example of why no one should buy only or primarily based on measurements. Listen to them. They got trashed on ASR yet when I heard them in a demo room for the first time, they absolutely blew me away. The tweeter and bass extension was amazing, I got up to make sure the shop wasn't playing a sub, ridiculous for a bookshelf. We're they perfect? Of course not. Do they have a great midrange? No. The peaks everyone measured are actually audible, at loud volume you can literally hear the cabinet ringing making them sound a big boxy. Do they play as low as a floorstander? Nope. But would I personally pick them over a clinical and cold Kef or even a $10k Revel (now $5K on sale, cough) that don't touch the S40 in dynamics? Every day of the week. Put om on great stands, hook up a high current amp and run room correction over the signal, maybe boost the mids a bit and have FUN listening.
I don't listen at extreme volume, but I do push my speakers to the limit to see how clean they can stay at very high volume. For me it's a testament of the quality of the speaker. It's also a good test to see how difficult a load a speaker might be by pushing them on different levels of power reserve. For instance, the LS50s can't stay clean to even close to 100W on a 100-150W amp (even if high current), but they can stay rock solid at well over 100W on my JC1 mono blocks.
I am having a really hard time deciding between the Special Forty, Buchardt S400 MK II, KEF R3 and Ascend Sierra. 🤬
Hey Erin, is your measuring equipment capable of measuring spectral decay? I believe the spectral decay can highlight artificial properties and can be vital data for viewers
Second pronunciation of Vacaville (like vacuum) was correct. I grew up in the next town over, Fairfield...
Notes I took;
- The inexplicable 600hz dip?
Perhaps it's destructive summation, ... as the spectral decay exhibits latent stuff around 600hz, in addition to the polars showing the 600 and 700hz energy emanating outward.
- The tighter pattern, less sidewall interaction
(relys more in your head)
Wide dispersion, more sidewall interaction
(greater apparent source width, yes, but adds a room element that anchors the soundstage with characteristics).
- Above the trend line an octave wide 2dB bump @3k.
"the 600, ... 800, 900hz resonances weren't nearly as annoying as the 3k.
A quick look shows @80dB, 3k is about +5dB hotter perceived.
Another superb piece of work Erin, just killer.
Thanks, man!!! Keep that Front of House rockin!!!!
Excellent review 💯👍
Can you review british speaker like graham harbeth proac spendor or tannoy?
I'll check it out.
I have the Dynaudio Heritage Specials and I've heard a couple people say there was a bit of sibalance. I've never heard it. I wonder if it's due to the Class A preamp and monoblocks.
Hi Eric, Happy Holidays. I live in the Caribbean on the island of Trinidad and have no way to audition any speakers, hence trying to buy a speaker based on your reviews. Between KEF R3 Meta and these Dynaudio Special Forty speakers, which in your opinion is the better speakers for most genres of music? My amplifier is a Parasound A21+. TIA.
The KEF is a more neutral sound signature overall so I would probably lean toward that. However, the Dyns have more bass and dynamic range capability.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Thanks for reaching out. Much appreciated.
had the speakers - enclosure is crap for this pricetag :) ... the brightness is love it or hate it. There was music that i never hear sound so realistic and airy... and other one, that was just annoying "sharp" or "screaming". After a year or so i sold them. But was a nice experience tough. Dyn did a heritage after that for a double the price. Will be interesting to hear them.
@vladimirrusev468
One of Erin's friends from the car audio world and who's ears and opinions I trust has posted a comment here just below yours ( @jasonbertholomey1142 ), and he also previously owned these Dyn Special 40 for a while, and now owns the Heritage Special. I think he has kept them so far, so he must be liking them. 🙂
But IMO, given their price tag (if purchased new), I also think that the enclosure even for the Heritage Special is still "crap" as well. 😊
I've used several of the Dynaudio Esotar² drivers in home and car audio DIY projects and know just how well they can perform. And when they are properly implemented, they can really bring some magic to the party.
In some ways, it's a bit easier for us car audio guys, because we typically use some fairly high-end 8 to 12+ channel DSPs that allow us to take acoustic measurements and play with infinitely adjustable Levels, custom Crossovers, Digital Delay (time alignment), 31-band P-EQ, and Phase Rotation for Each Independent Channel and speaker/driver, which can potentially work out some of the kinks like the ones seen here.
But, then we also have to deal with the crazy and highly-reflective "small room" issues of the acoustics of the car audio environment. 🥴
Is there any explanation on why do you hear more a focused sound or "sharp" imaging on a wide radiation speaker like this? Had you experience something similar with some other speaker model with wide radiation?
Yeah, this is the Dynaudio "sound", so to speak - the dip around 1k is a common thing they seem to always have, and it's quite audible as a "scooped" response - plus that bit of presence sizzle.
Well, the Heritage Specials I have coming soon are different. Unless they are an exception to the rule.
@@ErinsAudioCorner they very well may be, but the scooped + sizzle thing is definitely been indicative of every Dyn I've heard.
Erin, awesome review as always. Could you share about the room you use for your subjective listening? How is it laid out and treated? I know the measurements are independent of this, but do you think your room configuration colors your subjective review? Or do you attempt to account for this?
very nice Erin , with this price tag such poor quality, Dynaudio should get this and fix this
Your upper midrange observation is accurate. It really baffled me when i had them as they were warm and laidback but somehow found them uncomfortable in the upper midrange area. And sometimes i feel like there is a disconnect in terms of coherence where the lower midrange is warm but upper part is kinda harsh which made it sound amazing in some songs and unlistenable to others.
Really appreciate your analysis. Hopefully you'll be able to analyze a pair of the newer ls3/5a speakers from manufacturers such as Falcon, KEF etc..
Thank you very much for the review!
I'd really appreciate it if you could review the current Focus and the (now obsolete) Xeo line of Dynaudio speakers. Those are active speakers from Dynaudio and it would be really interesting to see how they are different from passive counterparts and how they are compared to competition, such as Genelec and so on.
Getting real good at these! What do you think caused the precise imaging? Maybe I missed it.
Tony commented above that it might be the response matching between the pair. And I’d tend to agree. So I’m gonna try to reincorporate that into my reviews.
@@ErinsAudioCorner I've been messing with level matching at the speaker vs at MLP as well as matching FR at both locations to see what affects they have.
@@joentell in car audio it’s a must. That’s where I learned the importance. But radiation width also plays a role based on experience.
Erin, I'll watch keep watching ur videos. I'll understand what's going on. Soon emuff.
It seems the real flaw in these speakers are the cabinet resonances. If these are still manufactured in Denmark it was more than likely a compromise Dynaudio was willing to make to make to stay competitive in the market with other brands moving their manufacturing of speakers in this price range overseas.
they are not audible, if you look at the SPL from them, they are about 75db below signal. at a 40db delta the human brain will discard the information.
@@themaskedsingercucucachu8225 unless you want to place it closer to a wall. It is already rear ported and more energy radiating backwards is never good.
I think this is by design. Look. At focus 200xd on stereophile. Similar cabinet size but much less resonances. I think Dynaudio engineers for some reason wanted this kind of cabinet.
@@themaskedsingercucucachu8225 good engineering and audibility are 2 different things.
Very interesting review,s40 is (was) a dream speaker for me. And I saw Danny’s review too. What’s inside and so on. You need to put extra bracing in.
Listened to a few small powered monitors (5" woofer cone) side by side in the store and some how Dynaudio for the price they are asking seemed like not a really good deal - a bit too laid back, even though I'm normally after inoffensive, laid back sound rather than aggressive. I think I liked small Genelecs way more.
As for the pesky 1.3k cone edge, with some drivers you can really hear it, with others not so much. Soft cones are the usual suspects, but the cone of SB17NRXC2 was redesigned to minimize the issue. I looked at Signature series woofers from Dayton and it seems like they designed the surround and cone to avoid the problem, though the alu cones rarely exhibit this fenomena. Also surround thicker at edge of the role minimizes the problem. I know Mark Kravchenko used this kind of custom surround in his design for OEM client. Unfortunately most manufacturers don't want spend the extra money, so we are stuck with the 1.3k glitch in FRD, raise in distortions and other issues.
Having the most distortion at 1KHz is basically the worst case situation for a speaker. I’m surprised you didn’t really find it offensive.
There’s always going to be some amount of subjectivity; science is never exempt of this entirely nor bias
Distortion vis-à-vis excessive energy due to an octave wide bump, ... possess varying significance as a function of level.
So yeah, it's somewhat of a moving target.
I have never measured speakers. I either like the sound or I don't ;)
Okay. 🤷♂️
If you measured a speaker you do like then you could find out why you like that speaker over another,instead of just guessing.
This is fun for me too, Erin!
Difficult to get over the price when looking at the linearity issues... and things like R3 meta, Wharfedale Lintons etc existing
I hear you. I think the one thing these have over the R3 Meta is output.
Meta has higher distortion and is made in China.As are Lintons.
These are renown to measure so so and have cheap crossover parts, but sound great, Go Figure !
Thank you for your reviews. One man’s selfish nitpicking: I wonder if you’d consider beginning (or time stamping a place) with a more traditional, quick overview of your final conclusions of the overall sound of the speakers you review? For example, briefly stating if you’d recommend it, and a quick description of its sound characteristics (highs, mids, lows, soundstage, etc.). Then go into all the technical stuff. I bet you’d gain a larger audience. For example, I myself just want to know how the speakers generally sound - I find myself skipping past most of your tech content to find simple summative statements like “it can sound too bright” or “they really disappear”, etc. I am the consumer who’s constantly looking for how speakers sound, so that I know what to purchase next or what to recommend to friends. I’m guessing there are a lot more like me. Again, just my two cents.
One might say “then go get that from other reviewers” - true, that’s possible, but I respect your knowledge base so much that I want to add your simple, general opinion into the mix; and I can’t if it’s buried in 20min of technical spec talk. Maybe with a tweak, I (we) could have the best of both worlds? Thanks so much for reading and considering. 👍
Hi Erin. Great info and insights as always. Much appreciated. I have a somewhat unrelated question - occasionally on used markets I see speakers advertised with some damage to the cones (the KEF LS50 variants are a great/not great example). They're usually indentations of various sizes. Almost invariably the seller goes on to say "Does not effect sound quality". My question is, does it? Or qualifying, does it in any meaningful way? Would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!
It absolutely does effect the speaker. But the degree to which it matters can vary. Say, for example, we have a 6.5” midwoofer paired with a 1” tweeter. The woofer has a dent. The damage will alter the response above the beaming point because there is no symmetry in the cone. Let’s say roughly at 2.5kHz there is a huge peak that wouldn’t otherwise be there. If the the crossover point is 2.0kHz and is second order then the peak gets through and creates harshness. If the crossover is digital and the slope is brickwalled then it wouldn’t have an effect because the woofer is cut off so abruptly anyway.
In other words, you can have cases where the impact is minimal or extreme but you can’t assume there is no difference without testing it.
Brilliant, thanks for that thorough reply & example Erin. I’d naively presumed that to be the case, but with no particular expertise myself I couldn’t say for sure, other than using logic to assume there must be some adverse outcome from damage to drivers. Really appreciate all you’re doing for the audiophile community. I’m learning a huge amount from all your work, which I value greatly. Thanks again!
As a video idea, I’d be very interested to see some measured comparisons of a speaker with pristine drivers vs one/s with subtly and/or significantly damaged drivers, just to see what degree of impact that really has. Videos like that may exist, but having watched many hifi oriented uploads I’ve never seen anything like that. Thanks for considering the suggestion Erin. Cheers. Jason
20:26 is it possible that around the 100-150hz spot the speaker is amplifier limited? That's where impedance is lowest so it would make sense. Even if it was the amplifier I'd assume you have a good amp so realistically you could blame it on the speaker.
The amplifier is stable to 2 ohms and about 1500w so I don’t expect that is the problem. But sometimes coincidence isn’t just coincidence. So I’ll keep that in mind.
Dynadio is worlds best speaker sound in tone, so at some frequency you explain that no one can understand, that it aint perfect. Its the most perfect speaker out there. It would be nice if you could show us speakers playing against each other to explain your point.
Dude. Even Dynaudio themselves agreed with my review. Calm down.
Great review, very thorough! Have you checked out the dynaudio focus 20 XD, they're pretty much a powered version of the special 40, and when you compare the frequency response charts, it seems like dynaudio have corrected the flaws of the sp40, and then made a powered version of it.
Not yet. But maybe one day.
I'd like to see a review of the new JBL 600 series, with two models under $1000, one with a 5" woofer, one with a 6.5" one, and both with a compression horn tweeter.
I have a pair in a 2nd system, that I got used for fairly cheap. They’re to my ears excellent sounding speakers in room…for their size. I’m aware of their measurements but they make a nice contrast to my Harbeth and JBLs. I’ll add that I’ve really liked them in a small room… in a large room, i heard the dip. It’s an interesting thing with regards to measurements as, for example, the measurement aberrations on a pair of the Klipsch Heresy IV really lined up with me hating them. Here… I actually really like the speaker, despite understanding it’s deviations. That said at the full msrp I wouldn’t recommend them. I’ve heard better and prefer, in general, bigger speakers.
I agree on all fronts. This has been an interesting speaker for me.
Scott might like a shot as well.
😂😂
I really appreciate your work. Do you have any plans to review the SVS Prime Wireless Pro powered speakers? They are interesting as they have really good features and their specifications looks good but I can't find any proper measurements out there.
I actually emailed them to see if they’d be willing to loan me a pair and they said they would. I need to follow up.
@@ErinsAudioCorner I hope they do send you a pair. I look forward to seeing the review!
Ooh special 40 gets the special treatment 😅
Exactly 👍
Wow I'm pretty early. Good stuff as always but yeah for the asking price... Mid at best
not all amazing speakers mesure technically well, the naturalness and relative response often superceeds all measurment...sometimes
Will this one's works well in a soundproofed room?
It could benefit from wall absorption due to the directivity error. But that will also alter the HF.
Super interesting
Very interesting review. I don't suppose you've had much experience with Dynaudio's subwoofers? I've been lured towards a deal on an 18s, but there seems to be very few mentions of it and no measurements around.
I haven’t, other than their car audio subwoofer.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Ah perhaps not sensible to translate any expectations over from that to this studio one. Though was it also a dual opposed setup? I've heard they're common in car audio to save space.
@@dananskidolf
Dual-opposed subwoofer designs aren't as popular in car audio systems as they probably should be. But that's probably because the one larger dimension that results from having the two "stacked" or horizontally oppossed drivers usually becomes more of a problem when trying to fit multiple subwoofers into the confines of a vehicle.
Sure, the enclosure can be relatively small, but just the back-to-back depth of the drivers themselves can make it difficult to implement in a lot of vehicles.
Single subwoofers or multiple subwoofers that are oriented side-by-side will usually "nest" or fit better into the typical nooks & crannies of a vehicle's interior cargo space or trunk, etc.
Regarding the Dynaudio 18S, if you'll be using the it for its intended purpose in a smaller to mid-size studio monitoring environment where you want *Balanced & Accurate* Low Frequency Response, I wouldn't hesitate to use it, especially if you can get a favorable pricing.
I use the even smaller ~250w single 10" Neumann KH 750 active DSP subwoofer in my small home studio (Drummer & saxophonist), and it is excellent in that environment and for that purpose. It replaced my initial entry level PreSonus Temblor T10 active studio subwoofer which gave up the ghost after less than 2 years, and the Neumann KH 750 was shockingly better (and more so than the price difference would suggest).
But neither the Dynaudio 18S or Neumann KH 750 would be my first choice if your application is for a Home Theater or 2-channel HiFi setup in anything other than a very small room. Using multiples would help, but at that point I think there are better options in regards to price/performance for Home Theater or larger 2-channel HiFi rooms.
But in addition to the dual-opposed drivers, it's the active DSP/amplifier features in the 18S that give it excellent potential to be well-integrated into any type of "satellite + sub" setup, and a definite advantage for optimization in a small monitor + subwoofer studio environment. Side Note: If you get one, make sure it has the latest firmware update for the DSP (download then update via the rear USB port).
I've heard and used Dynaudio's Esotar² 1200 12" subwoofer and Esotar² 430 midrange drivers in a car audio environment, and identical or nearly identical drivers from their TOTL Esotar² lineup are also used in their high-end home and studio monitor products.
The Esotar² are all extremely well-regarded drivers and offer excellent base performance regardless of the environment they're used in. Like most Scanspeak drivers, they are well-respected and known to have fairly tight and consitent tolerances and excellent build quality.
But, as we see here, some aspects of HOW these two Dynaudio drivers were implemented just doesn't seem ideal, and for their premium price I would expect (and want) better.
Like Erin, I come more from a DIY background, and if I were to choose a raw Subwoofer DRIVER for a DIY design over the Esotar² 1200 subwoofer, it would be the 13" (12.5") Scanspeak 32W/4878T01 or T05 (automotive version). It matches or bests all of the Esotar² 1200's already fantastic specs and is almost half the price.
There are also the excellent Acoustic Elegance drivers that are designed and offered by John Janowitz (AE Speakers). But I understand if you're looking for an "off-the-shelf" solution, and the active DSP and purpose-matched amplifier in the 18S would be harder to duplicate in a DIY design, though there are some good DSP "Plate Amplifiers" on the market now.
@@bbfoto7248 Wow, thanks for the mega info dump.
> Regarding the Dynaudio 18S, if you'll be using the it for its intended purpose in a smaller to mid-size studio monitoring environment where you want Balanced & Accurate Low Frequency Response, I wouldn't hesitate to use it, especially if you can get a favorable pricing.
Exactly what I was expecting / hoping for. It's just a home studio - hobby work only, not pro. I checked with Dynaudio for a sanity check in my room size and with my speakers and they agreed it should be appropriate, so I hit buy.
It seemed quite a steal second hand. I haven't seen anything else with these features and low frequency range under £800. Just hoping it's all in good working condition as claimed. I'll be sure to check the firmware as you suggest.
I'll consider a DIY build if/when I do a home cinema setup. It sounds like a fun thing to do, though I might be better off not adding even more hobbies to my life! But for this sub I wanted to be confident I could get it pretty smooth for doing decent mixing. Something off the shelf seemed safer to me.
Have you did a new car build?
I own the special 40s and contour series 30s... they are good and in use in my home theater. But, my favorites I own, and have heard, are Spendor D7s. Disappearing speakers that are pure joy and play piano perfectly.
Thanks for sharing!
forgot to say... GOOD JOB! very nice review. best reviewer on youtube by far.
@@themaskedsingercucucachu8225 well, thank you very much.
I’d take Spendor over Dynaudio every day of the week.
me too!
@@ChicagoRob2
They should have just increased the price and made it perfect.
Haha. You’re not entirely wrong.
review the components, the crossover consists of mediocre caps, inductor and wiring
lol
Crossover components are fine.
I reallllllyy liked these speakers and almost took them home. Especially in the red finish. They looked awesome.
I was able to get them to bottom out, but it took a good heaping of D'Agostino watts to get them there.
Such a unique sound and presentation. I'm hoping to hear Heritage Special one day
You could dampen the cabinet if you bought these. easy fix.
Like you to do power Yamaha Studio speakers
Vacaville (vac same as vacuum).
It's Vack-uh-vill :)
Great content and review as always
But the title come on.. XD is not like the speaker measure bad
That’s the point. It is not very linear and first reaction is one of “whoa, that’s not good”. But when you break it down you realize it’s not terrible, either. Thus the “?” at the end of the title.
@@ErinsAudioCorner man i love how you always take the time to answer hahahaha keep having fun and happy listening ! :) *please towers*😆😆😆
Hey, everybody...
at the price of 3000 dollars and those problems with the enclosure and the cone , i will be stuck with my cheap speakers
And of course I would like to point out the review from GR Research: th-cam.com/video/0TxorWiy78w/w-d-xo.html He is talking about the same resonance like you. And how about crossover parts quality?
Crossover parts quality is fine.
@@skavcic are you sure?
I did not see a photo of the speaker. If you dont include a shot (like the tweeters and the other Dynaudio ) of the speaker, it becomes a straihg talking head video and ehh, it's your channel. My guess is that you may want to keep it entertaining, a talking head is not. Cheers
So expensive speakers get a pass and budget speakers everyone loves are crap, got it !
Be specific. There are plenty of budget Speakers I enjoy. I’m going to guess you own some that I don’t like.
Sorry been trying to find the best speaker around three hundred and you keep shooting them down what do you recommend specifically
I’ve liked 11 of the 15 speakers I have reviewed recently.
All ranging in price from $150-$3000. 🤷♂️
@@ErinsAudioCorner thanks !
vaca not veyca
I've never been impressed with any Dynaudio speaker that I've ever heard. For $3k there's a lot better to be had. Hell, for $2200 the KEF R3 Meta stomps all over this flawed poorly designed POS. Even the $699 Elac DBR62 does, as do similar under $1000 speakers from KEF again, Polk, Dali, Wharfedale, Monitor Audio, Revel, and several others.
R3 Meta is worse than this.
😂😂😂😂😂 just go to a shop and listen to the special 40 they will bow your mind. Don’t listen to him or specifications. This is of no use to anyone. But he is entitled to his subjective opinion.
Overhyped and overpriced
Excellent review! The Special Forty are waaaay overpriced.
Nope.
Hey Erin,please try the Elac Carina floorstanders!