Searching for the Retirement Speaker. 282/ 250/ Supercap (Olive) Room 4m x 6.5. The electronics are recent or rebuilt.
I am looking for advice on your experience with your personal stand mount Dynaudio speakers. Yes, I agree that an in home audition is best. Originally I was looking at the Heritage Specials, but
I am concerned on what seems to be a disproportionate number of second hand Dynaudio Heritage Specials for sale here in the States. Considering that only 2500 were built and each country was allocated a certain amount, I am surprised to see from one to three for sale each week. I have Revel F35 now and although their 226be is on sale, I am looking for something a bit less dry and analytical (famous last words).
My concern is that I want a long term speaker. I have been considering second hand versions of HS, Contour 20i or even Confidence 20, depending on what a recently AV Options rebuilt Olive 250 can handle.
A. Do stand mounts simply sell more often due to their portability?
B. Is the HS a rich man’s toy, surpassed by the next shiny object?
C. Is the HS not a good value for its performance?
I have an olive 72-HiCap-250 set up feeding a pair of Dynaudio Special 40 stand mounts and they are fantastic- they look great, are small and sound superb. I have had them since 2018.
As far as I am concerned they are keepers and I would only replace them with Heritage Specials or Contour Legacy - both of which I have heard in Naim systems and are even better than the S40s but out of my price range for now.
My ears tell me that Dynaudio and Naim have fantastic synergy.
To answer your questions- A: dunno. B: no C: absolutely
my 2c - very high expectations (not least because of generally glowing reviews) from the HS and, I would think not uncommonly, suboptimal amplification leading to a less expressive/vibrant performance especially at lower to medium volumes. I would say the same for the S40, while both are fantastic speakers.
I’ve had the same set of Dynaudio Audience speakers going on 25 years now, and I’ve had my Confidence C2 Platinum since 2028. The C2s replaced Contour S3.4 and before that S1.4.
Dynaudios are real keepers. I’ve only ever sold a pair because I upgraded to the next level. I don’t imagine moving on from my C2s. A pair of C4s would temp me but I don’t want the hassle of selling such large and heavy speakers (i.e. the C2s).
I almost bought a pair of C2’s that were on consignment at a local dealer. Went home to think on it, next day they were already sold and being packed up for delivery to the more intelligent person who did not wait. I still regret that. They sounded absolutely fantastic.
I don’t pretend to understand the popularity of standmounts, though I doubt portability is a factor for many people. A more likely factor is size , or more accurately a perception of size because once mounted on stands the amount of room space occupied is often not hugely different from many floorstanders. But perhaps most significant is cost, given that for similar quality of sound a floorstander also doing the bottom octaves would be considerably more expensive, as that is where the design and construction challenges are greatest. Related to this last point, in some cases it is driven by the flawed “source first” doctrine, leading to some people limiting their spend on speakers.
Ive had a pair of Dynaudio Audience 72SE’s for almost 20 years have had them driven by a bare SN2 then with a HCDR and now I have them driven by a SN3+HCDR.
Naim amps and Dynaudio speakers is an excellent match in my experience.
Cant comment on the stand mounts as I prefer the bigger and better bass that floorstanders provide for almost the same size foot print.
From what I read and hear, the HS have a different sound signature compared to the Contour 20i and Confidence 20. The latter would have my absolute preference as they sound very open and detailed, but without sounding fatigue during longer listening sessions.
Like my C2 II, which I will never replace. I had the Contour 3.4 LE before that, but Confidence is a different level all together. A good friend has the Confidence 30 and it’s beautiful. It doesn’t get much better than that.
If you pair the Confidence 20 with a good subwoofer (dual Dynaudio Sub 6 which I had with the Contours) you will not regret it.
I’ve been running Heritage Specials with a NDS, 552DR, 300DR set up for 18 months now. The HS’ replaced my SL2s, so a tough act to follow. They are fabulous speakers. Their best attribute IMO is that I can listen to them for hours without any fatigue. So very highly recommended as a retirement / long term speaker.
A local dealer to me were both Naim and Dynaudio dealers and had quite a few different Naim amps paired with various Dynaudio speakers, so bassd on that I would say that up and diwn the Dynaudio range they work well with Naim amps.
I think that most of those HS on the second hand market are because of a non matching amp…
What is important with Dynaudio is the current NOT the watt !
Naim’s alim are up to the task.
Dynaudio is certainly long term speakers !
(My 122, 122c and 42w set will soon reach their 20 years)
Dynaudio lover here too I’ve had my Contour s3.4 for 7 years or more which is longer than I’ve had any speaker ever I also own Audience 52 in a 2nd system wonderful speakers both.
I have owned these audience 42 for 18 years now. Fantastic speakers! However, they need to be placed carefully and a bit away from the wall, the bass becomes very boomy otherwise.
