Classic in looks but cutting edge in ability £2800
View online review whf.cm/SpecialForty
Perhaps we are hard to please, but on first hearing Dynaudio’s 40th anniversary speaker, in 2018, our first impression was actually one of mild disappointment. It’s not that there is a lot wrong with the Special Forty – it’s just that the design seemed to us to be a little too familiar.
Dynaudio has made any number of two-way standmounters, of this size and with drive units that look pretty much identical to the ones used here. Put aside the gorgeous finishes – the options are birch in either grey or red gloss – and there seems little to differentiate the Forty from a stack of products the company has made in the past. Except that, importantly, pretty much all of them were way cheaper.
But things start to look brighter once we delve into the details. These speakers are indeed designed as something of an homage to the company’s past, but they are not meant to be museum pieces.
That drive unit array may look straight out of the Emit 20 (or even the Contour 1.1 from well over a decade ago), but it is actually based on the drivers used in company’s pricier high-end Confidence C1 model.
Improved damping
Dynaudio didn’t just plonk in the units from the C1, mind you – the drivers have been fettled, with markedly improved results.
The engineers worked on improving airflow and damping behind the 28mm tweeter dome – the idea being to reduce back-pressure as the diaphragm moves, increasing detail and lowering distortion. The motor system has also been tweaked. That 17cm mid/bass unit still uses the company’s traditional MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) cone – it’s a one-piece cone using the large dome in the middle to aid rigidity. But much else has changed, from the suspension to voice-coil former and magnet system.
Dynaudio claims this to be the best 17cm mid/bass unit it makes, which is quite some claim considering it has far more expensive two-way models on its books using similar drivers.
The tweeter and mid/bass units are mated by a relatively simple first order crossover designed to minimise phase and impedance issues. Each drive unit can cover quite a wide range – the tweeter can delve to 1kHz, while the mid/bass is comfortable up to 4kHz – but the crossover point is fairly conventional at 2kHz.
Our Special Forty review samples aren’t brand new, so it doesn’t take long for them to come on song. Positioning is simple – we end up with them placed on solid stands, a metre or so from the rear wall
