@Fizzgog, yes I did! It’s a really difficult call and doing A/B tests is a head wreck. I had a good friend over who is a seasoned front of house engineer and at the end of the night we leaned towards the S40’s. The A7’s were better then I expected though after just a week of not listening to them - much better bass which is to be expected but the upper mids are just too hot and they’re missing the lower mid/upper bass fullness that the S40’s have. There may well be some tracks that the A7’s do better but for long term fatigue free listening the Dynas win for sure. I’m going to have another A/B session tomorrow just to convince myself. The S40’s have over a 100 hours up now as I leave them on all day on radio paradise so I think they’re settling at this stage but will continue to improve I’m sure. Volume wise I probably listen around 40 on the Nova track depending, background music around 25/30 and 50 is fairly loud. I need to crank about 3 points extra over the A7’s to get the same volume but it has improved since new
I have been offered a very decent price to upgrade from Focus 160 to the Special 40. I suspect that the number of positive posts on here mean that it is a no brainer. What about colour? Is the red a bit too vivid or the grey a bit dull? Both look fine at the dealer but there is always the WAF to consider.
@Njb - I prefer the grey. It’s not as strking but it’s more neutral and works better with a wider range of decor. nd as @Hollow said a while ago, they look really neat with the black drivers/grilles and the black stands.
agreed, @Njb the important thing is to make sure you have seen them both in the flesh as photos differ from reality. The red is nice too though and is quite rich and warm but the grey is a safe bet decor wise and does look cool with black stands, I sort of regretted the grey initially but now I really like them. Incidentally my dealer told me that there were only 34 reds left and I think 116 greys, could be BS but as they’re a limited edition it could be true!
In the general settings I limited the volume to 65. After that I regularly listen up to 70 when I‘m alone at home and up to 50 when my family is around
Did anyone test the soft plugs that could by put into the bass tube on the rear side of each speaker?
One interesting thing I’ve noticed, when the S40’s were new and up to maybe about 50hrs running time, my Nova ran a lot hotter then usual. I put this down to the 6 ohm load but now with around 120 hrs up it’s running at its normal warmish temperature. Just goes to show that some electrical properties change along with physical loosening during run in or does the physical loosening up of the drivers actually produce less electrical load? Curious.
The port plugs are generally meant for applications that put the speakers too close to the walls, resulting or boomy or ill-defined bass. I bought a pair of C2s last year and they weren’t even provided, but are available on demand.
Odd question, but hope somebody can help. I am buying Special 40s. Can somebody tell me the dimensions of the box that they come in? I am guessing similar to my Focus 160 box, but don’t want a surprise when I turn up with my Mini.
The grey S40 surely looks good. Oddly, they look better than the higher range Dynaudio speakers to me, the Contour and Confidence lines.
Thanks. Slightly larger than F160 box but only marginal
Changed to grey, as most people recommended it. Seen C20 in same colour and bit less shouty in my room
The Special 40 measure 36x20x28 (hwd), all mesaures in cm
The Box fitted easily into the trunk of my BMW 1 series
Great speakers you are getting,I owned a pair for about six months when they were first released.I also owned focus 160’s for a couple of years. Just so you know, the S40’s are grey “birch”,and the C20’s are grey “oak”,so they are not the same finish.
In my eyes the run in reduces the friction and the mechanical behaviour of the drivers. That means over the time the speakers sound louder at the same volume level or by adjusting the volume the power request is reduced. The will move the amp to another operating point with lower power request and maybe to another efficiency. Both together obviously leads to less temperature
Never thought about until you mentioned it but I now realise I’m now playing my eight month old Nova/S40s about five points lower than I was at the beginning.
Maybe the effect you remarked is overlayed by the run in of your Nova