Dynaudio Special Forty
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Plus 1 for Sonus Faber
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Maybe you could post a picture of your room. You really need the speakers somewhere around 2.5m apart and in front of the listening position. They are never going to give you what you want when positioned in corners. Speakers need space around them to breathe.
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Absolutely agree.
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I heard some lovely Sonus Faber standmount speakers at my dealership a few months ago (not a formal demo) just had some time to kill. Not cheap but they were incredibly musical and involving and I honestly wondered why I’m persevering with 20+ year old SBLs.
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Yeah, last year I considered the Olympica Nova III or V and heard the III with 282/250, they were really nice and in the top 2 of my auditions. Went a different way eventually, but if someone is looking for smooth/romantic, SF should be on the list
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…and whichever I listened to oozed detail…
Pretty sure it was these Sonus Faber Olympica Nova I speakers - powered by an Atom! Some would say mullet (they are a shade under £6,000) but they sounded amazing.
Appreciate these may be outside the price range but SF prices at my dealer seem to start at just under £800. I’d certainly consider SF speakers if I were to replace my SBLs at any point.
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Apart from those designed to be placed close to rear wall.
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If you need corner placement then Audionote UK could be on your list, the K or Js probably. No need to get too exotic with the wires, copper will do fine, which keeps the cost down but ply rather than MDF cabinets are worth considering. If you’re UK based I know Audio T in Reading stock these and the Nova so you could check with them if they think the combination works. They did sell some Es (no not that sort) to a guy with a 282/250 that I spoke to at an ND555 demo night and he preferred them to his NBLs. With Audio T they will lend demo stock to other stores in the group.
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Unless designed to be used in corners, they still need space to the sides.
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Thank You, by the way, in what way the sound will change within a month? I hear a lot about long burn-in for Nova… but not sure what to expect…
Basically, it should give you the things you say you are looking for. I’d give it a good 6 months or more to settle in before thinking about changing the speakers. Also, play with speaker positioning as well. Good luck.
Happy owner of a Nova, I paired it with a pair of NEAT Acoustics Ekstra and NAC A5 cables. The sreamin audio provider is Qubuz commanded by Roon Labs Software installed on MacBook Pro.
Very natural and never tiring sound, dynamic and with an exceptional low range yield. The ribbon tweeter, which many consider too unbalanced, is transparent and linear. A competent speaker with all genres, including classical music, which renders in a present and natural way. Highly recommended.
Just out of curiousity: how far from the rear wall are your Neat Ekstra’s?
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They are not particularly critical in positioning, I keep them less about 50cm from the rear, and have an absolutely controlled bass response. Please note that I mainly listen to Jazz and classical chamber music. Be careful in the orientation of the tweeters, it is not always necessary to create the classic “triangular” listening front, I tried to place them parallel to the side wall, at a good distance from the ear, and I found an excellent scenic reconstruction of the sound front . Experiment by shifting the orientation of the tweeter centimeter by centimeter, you could have good yields.
Thank You Mike_S! Currently, my perception is that Nova produces really dry music, it’s energetic, has proper balance, but it’s a sad and almost bitter sound to me. Takes all the magic out and leaves the barebones on some tracks.
It is the first time I have heard of the Nova in these terms. everything you say seems very strange to me. I can tell you from experience that the nova must always be left on, 24 hours a day. This results in a real and dramatic improvement in the sound, trust me. Plus try making some tweaks to the cables or speaker placement.
But I think it’s a speaker problem. Focal loudspeakers are very good in some parametres but for my tastes sound a little too bright and not very articulated in the low frequencies. I discarded them at first listen. Too analytical for my tastes and I turned to Neat Acoustics, more natural and musical.
I’d expect/hope, that burn-in would address that - it certainly did with mine. I found adding a Powerline added quite a bit more solidity in the lower end, so that might be another consideration.
Also, what speaker cable are you using?
I made a small drawing. My Nova played for some time already, and indeed did smooth a bit, but I still did not find my match. I auditioned it with Dynaudio Evoke 50 in a listening room - (it did sound correct with closed bass reflex ports not terribly bassy, super spacious and deep, almost great, lagged reverb sounds a bit, kind of lost subtleties and air, was not exactly exciting too), Spender D7.2 (it did have more of those missing informations and air but did sound super harsh, metalic and grainy in the upper parts, while lower parts were recessed). Those both speakers just showed what I do consider weak spots of Nova, lack of subtleties in the air, and a hardness, graininess in upper mids lower treble and not super precise bass. Sonus Faber are out of the question for my wife unfortunately… due to the looks.
I start to wonder if I am not expecting too much from all in one,… but its an expensive box. This is my room.
I did listen to Focal’s K2 with QED - rather cheep model , and Dynaudio Evoke 50 / Spendor D7.2 with something at the store - no clue what it was. Also , I read that power cable might ( ? odd to me still ) change the sound a bit, but no clue what was the power cable. You think its possible to bring reverbs to the fore with just cable?