DynaudioSpecial Forty Bookshelf Speakers Pair

About

The Special Forty anniversary speaker draws on 40 years of cutting-edge research – and brings it totally up to date with Dynaudio’s most celebrated techniques and technologies.

The Special Forty is classic Dynaudio: all the craftsmanship, attention to detail and total love of authentic sound you’ve come to expect. It’s the connoisseur’s choice – a simple pair of passive hi-fi speakers. But it isn’t about looking back, misty-eyed, at past glories and leaving it at that. It’s about using those glories as a platform from which to launch our next set of breakthroughs.

The Song Remains the Same

The Special Forty uses our proprietary MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) material for its main driver. MSP delivers precisely the right combination of rigidity, damping and stability for the most faithful sound reproduction. And, unlike other cone materials, it doesn’t change over time – so your Special Forty speakers will still be singing just as sweetly come our next anniversary.

It all sits in our special AirFlow Basket – the bit that holds the whole driver motor securely in place in the cabinet. Its development was one of those ‘Eureka!’ moments our engineers seem to get a few times a week in Dynaudio Labs (you can often hear them cheering from across the road in our factory). We asked them to reduce internal reflections and increase air movement without compromising the basket’s stiffness or stability, and this genius design is what they came up with.

Airflow is King

The new Esotar Forty tweeter takes air movement to another level. It moves the air in a typically sweet fashion in front of the DSR (Dynaudio Secret Recipe) precision-coated soft-dome, of course, but there’s a lot of engineering going on behind it as well.

Take the new pressure conduit. It’s a shaped vent in the back of the hybrid magnet system that allows more space in the rear chamber. That space lets us pack in more damping material and reduces back pressure, while the shape itself optimises airflow coming backward from the rear of the dome.

Then there’s the outlet; the aero-coupled pressure-release system. It sits underneath the voice coil and reduces unwanted pressure build-up that could affect its movement. Stopping those pockets of air from forming reduces resonance – and less resonance equals even greater potential for detail.

Flux Optimisation and Beam Control

We love playing with the laws of physics. Physics wins in the end, of course (usually), but we almost always manage to bend it to our will along the way. Just like we have with our magnet systems.

The magnet turns electrical energy that flows from your amplifier into the voice-coil, into the physical back-and-forth movement of the driver diaphragm. These movements are very small and very fast (especially in the tweeter), so they need a lot of finesse if you want to hear all that luscious detail and emotion in your music.

Behind the Woofer

In the woofer, that has been achieved that finesse in two ways: by placing the magnet inside the voice-coil, and by playing with magnetic energy itself.

Second, it has used hybrid magnet for even greater control over the flux and voice-coil movement. An incredibly powerful neodymium rare-earth magnet provides the muscle and flings flux around with abandon, while a ferrite magnet tempers that enthusiasm by gently moving the flux back to exactly where it’s needed most. The result? Symmetrical excursion, a reduction in second-harmonics, and an even more accurate, authentic sound.

Product Features

Esotar Forty

The new Esotar Forty tweeter maximises airflow for even more refinement, while its low resonant frequency smooths the transition to the woofer

17cm Woofer

Our best 17cm woofer yet. It’s based on what you’ll find in the Confidence and Evidence ranges and uses a sophisticated hybrid magnet system for lower distortion and higher power.

First-order Crossover

Phase Alignment and Impedance Alignment technologies keep this classic Dynaudio crossover topology firmly on top of its game.

Product Specifications

• Sensitivity: 86dB (2.83V / 1m)
• IEC power handling: 200W
• Impedance: 6 Ohms
• Frequency response (±3dB): 41Hz – 23kHz
• Box principle: Bass-reflex rear-ported
• Crossover: 2-way
• Crossover frequency: 2000Hz
• Crossover typology: 1st Order
• Woofer: 17cm MSP cone
• Tweeter: 28mm Esotar Forty
• Weight: 8.1kg
• Dimensions (WxHxD): 198 x 360 x 307mm
• Dimensions with feet/grille (WxHxD): 198 x 360 x 322mm
• Finishes/Colour: Grey Birchwood
• Warranty: 2 Years