I love my S40’s on the Nova, preferred them over my previous PMC twenty.22 which seemed to lack bass in my room. I would expect the 25.23 to be really nice as well from what I read.
I owned a Nova and paired it with S40s and was very happy with the sound.
I now own Evoke 50 which I use with 282/300DR. The Evokes are very good but need IMO an upgrade from the Nova to appreciate them.
In your position I would go for the S40 as I think they are an excellent match.
Pmc might be a bit sharp with all that glass
Thanks for your responses and recommendations. I think I am going to go with the S40s based on advice and in particular the size of the space I have to work with. My next noddy question for S40 and Nova owners is which speaker cables you would recommend to get the most out of it.
I have always been happy with Naim’a own, always sounded good to me. Powerline has really brought the system to the next level.
well to update again : I could not resist and purchased the KEF LS Meta 50 few days ago and it’s running in now.
It’s obviously a different sound than Dynaudio, and I described to a friend (when I first heard it, and before buying it) as one has to think of the Meta LS50’s in terms of what they don’t do, not what they do.
to my ears, they’re musical speakers, able to render the emotion of the music, and their tonality is spot on. Instruments sound like instruments should.
As Kef’s Jack Oclee-brown says himself, “The job of the speaker is simply to not get in the way, not to show off, or stand-out, or distract”
Kef states the LS50 Meta is “emotionally engaging” - in this case i do agree with them.
Jack Oclee-brown has an M.eng in Acoustic Engineering, and a PhD in Loudspeaker acoustics.
For now though I know there’s more to come from my Meta LS50 as they are running in but straight out of the box - they get to the heart of the music right away regardless of the genre, while rendering the 3 dimensionality of the soundstage, and preserving the tonality of the instruments.
I wasn’t really expecting this or planning on it, for now I think I will be keeping the LS50 Meta in my music listening room with the big 282/250/Dave rig as I am sitting quite near the speakers (less than 2 meters away), and moved the huge focus 260 to the living room where the room dimensions are more suitable for such a large speaker.
I sold my previous Dynaudio Excite X16 to help fund the purchase of the LS50 Meta, and I do miss them, after all spent a few years listening to music on them and watching TV in that living room, and there is something about the Dynaudio sound that is really attractive (the sweet treble and the punchy bass down to 30 HZ from the X16), but seems the neutrality of the KEF has this effect of music being emotionally engaging and realistic on the KEF…
About Dynaudio … will make an effort to audition their latest generation speakers as things have moved on a lot at Dynaudio from the excite/focus lines…
Looks like we may need a new thread on the Kef Ls50 Meta. I recall auditioning the Ls50 at the dealers many years ago before I picked the Dali Mentor Menuet over it. The ls50 Non-meta sounds good too but the lower price and conservative shape and wood veneer of the Dali are the main considerations for me during that time.
Enjoy ~
I have found Witch Hat Phantom a definite improvement over NACA5 and about the same cost.
I’ve also heard the new Kudos cable which is good.
If you search this site you’ll find several others have found the Phantom to be good value.
I’m very happy with the Chord Epic Twin cables with my Special Forty and NAP 250 DR
Room size and shape is the great imponderable. Few people can do much about room acoustics as others in the household have to be considered. We look at variants in Hifi kit in some detail but the great leveller is, probably, where we listen to music and there’s not much most of us can do about that
Early Xmas present- dynaudio stand 10 for my evoke 10’s . A tub of attabites in each (2/3 full) and my what a difference compared to my cheap richer sounds pair. Much more detail and even bass. not spiked yet…I’ll get the tree out if the way first
lovely looking speakers - as most Dynaudio’s are. Hope you enjoy them for a very long time, and the stands are no slouch either.
i think i will - i had many speakers through this house and my faves were atc until now…
The finish on Dynaudio speakers is second to none.
Currently has Dynaudio Excite 34 along with Naim Nova. I have looked at Dynaudio Contour 30 or Dynaudio Special Forty to replace them. Is that worthwhile and how much improvement will it give me?
Has anyone heard Dynaudio Special Forty and Evoke 30? If anyone has auditioned these, would be really helpful
I can’t tell you about the difference in sound, but i think the Evoke 30 are a visually stunning pair of floorstanders.
Hi, I have only heard the Dynaudio Special Forty at High End in Munich and at Hifi Tage in Hamburg. Especially the latter demo was very convincing. The S40s are very special speakers with a high sense of live experience. From what I have read I would rate them surely higher than the evokes. But I have not compared them one to one!
BR,
Richard
I think the evokes are voiced differently from the s40 with an easier going sound from what I have read. I have evoke 10 and they are nicely balanced and detailed with a slightly polite top end
When I bought my Dynaudio Contour s3.4’s I heard them on the end of a Hegel H100 and they sounded brilliant over 3 years later I’m finally in the process of buying a Hegel a newer model the H190 so in 2 or 3 weeks I’ll get to hear that combination can’t wait.