I read the specs from the Dynaudio website. Anyway it doesn’t matter at all because specs are not relevant and what counts is what your ears tell you. Enjoy!
If I wanted a satellite sub system with an active crossover I would have bought one. But I didn’t. I bought full range speakers with stereo pair of REL subs. You are wrong that I have done this incorrectly. My system is setup according to REL’s guidance (not yours), setup with the help and guidance of my very experienced REL dealer, who I have dealt with and trusted for some 25 years, and my ears confirm that it sounds great.
My setup sounds as you described you think it should sound: integrated seamlessly, with the mains and subs “disappearing into the soundstage” with a “sharp, tight fisted, fast and punchy sub bass.” I trust that REL knows how their systems should be setup, I trust that my dealer knows what they are doing with REL setup, and I trust my ears. I will not be adding an active crossover to set this up.
I’ll pick this up when I’ve got some time to spare
I tried REL subs with my S40s. No matter how they were set up they were noticeable because the sound quality was not at the same level as the S40s.
Bass may have been extended but the overall sound quality was not as pleasing as the S40son their own.
I auditioned the RELs at my dealers and we tried numerous settings and positioning of the speakers but the end result was the same, a diminished overall sound quality.
It did however make me appreciate the quality of the S40s.
Did you consider to test a B&W DB3? I am happy with the combination of both S40 and DB3
Stephan, I used to own a B&W sub on an Arcam system. It was ok but the problem I find is the sub’s sound quality doesn’t match the main speaker quality. Although I could hear more bass emphasis I would rather do without it and enjoy the better quality sound from theS40s.
I think eventually if I require more bass I’d go for say, Contour 60 floor stander rather than the sub route.
Halo, what REL model are you using? I have the same S40 as you but with Star and thinking to go for REL Carbon Limited. Are you using high level connection?
It was one of their latest models, i9?
There was to my ears a noticeable difference in sound quality.
We used high level connections.
Hello Gents, here are my 2 Dynaudio setups. The 2-ch setup is a Naim Uniti Star driving Contour 20s and my HSU VTF-3 MK5 HP, and the other is DM2/6 & Focus 210C with a Marantz 5010. Forgive the mess we were still moving in when I took these photos.
Looks great !!
Callus01, are you liking the Contour 20’s, I’m loving mine!
Finally, I have taken delivery of my S40s. I know that they will take weeks to run in. Are there any specific rules? I am tempted to swap them with my home theatre front speakers so they get max play time in. Hopefully, they will just get better and better.
When I got my new speakers I put the HDX on random play and turned the sound down during the night, as long as they are moving that is most important part. They were running like that for 2 weeks and since stopping I can’t notice any further gain. I am sure you can do same thing if you stream (I dont so not sure functionality of streamers)
@Njb - When I got mine last December, my dealer advised me to start running the speakers in by putting them opposite one another, close together and with one speaker out of phase, and then having Radio 4 or a similar speech radio on, 24 hours a day for three or four days.
I was made fully aware of the fact that it would take up to six months for the S40s to fully break in, but those initial few days helped loosen up the drivers enough for the speakers to be pretty listenable.
I’m selling on my S40’s unfortunately, in my setup they just cant match the Spendor A7’s for presence and detail and bass too obviously. They had a good run in period of over 500 hours so I think what i heard was fairly indicative, I found they made everything sound maybe a bit neutralised, forgiving of poor recordings or resolution but likewise never really excelled with good stuff, I never had any wow moments! The Spendors on the other hand show up poor stuff for what it is but good recordings sound excellent and they frequently really grab me. Also I found you really needed to crank the S40’s to make them come alive, admittedly when cranked up loud with rock or electronic they were pretty impressive but that’s enough to make me keep them. Perhaps if I’d bought the S40’s day 1 with the Nova and never heard anything else I’d be completely happy, having two sets of speakers at home to do a/b tests is a head wreck! Expensive little exercise!
When I got my Confidence C2s I just played my streamer 24/7 for a few weeks, turning it down at night.
The treble seems reasonable straight out of the box, but the bass does seem restrained. Still, the running in process is normally great fun as the speaker balance moves around a bit.
So I have put on the radio through my streamer and turned it down low overnight so that it is barely audible. However, it must be exercising the coils etc to a small degree. It might take the speakers longer to loosen up this way but, hopefully, it is counting towards the running in time.
Absolutely! They’re excellent speakers, took a while to get use to the different presentation vs my old Focus 260s but now I don’t think I’d go back to the Focus.
They like power…I had another well regarded British amp that really didn’t drive them well. Replaced with SN2 Whoa!! big improvement