Dynaudio "Special Forty"

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by S40Owner

Hi new member here and S40 Red Birch owner
Just wanna know what speaker cables are u using for your S40s.

I am using QED Revelation cables which I feel is not doing justice to the speakers

S40Owner, I am using Shunyata Venom speaker cables for my Dynaudio Contour S3.4s to very good effect. I was using DNM Speaker cables for several years, but the Venom speaker cables provided more transparency, clarity, but most importantly, more "quiet" and notably more musicality. Very happy with them and they are an excellent value for money.

The nice thing about the Shunyata speaker cables is you can use them with Shunyata's proprietary STIS termination system, which means you can utilize spades or banana plugs as you prefer. My cable set came with both, so I have spades on the amp's binding posts so my REL bananas can plug into them, and then banana plugs on the binding posts of the speakers.

Every Shunyata product I have ever used has exceeded my expectations.

[bart]

The Special Forty might be my favourite sub 3K speaker.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by bart

The Special Forty might be my favourite sub 3K speaker.

I would love to hear a pair some time. I love them in the red finish; stunning.

[S40Owner]

I would like to know if the Accuphase e650 sufficient to drive the S40 or shld I look at the e480?

[Puma Cat]

Sure, why would it not be?

[S40Owner]

Not sure if the e600/650 can bring out the full capabilities of the S40
How loud can it go to have clipping?
I always thought dynaudios are hungry n require consider amp power to bring out the s40’s full potential

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by S40Owner

Not sure if the e600/650 can bring out the full capabilities of the S40
How loud can it go to have clipping?
I always thought dynaudios are hungry n require consider amp power to bring out the s40’s full potential

Hi S40Owner,
The E650 put out 60 Watts AB at 4 ohms; but....it puts out pure Class A power up to 30 watts....that is a fair bit, and more than enough to drive reasonably efficient speakers to quite loud SPLs. The S40s are fairly efficient at 86 dB/watt. That means you only need 1watt of power to produce 86 dB of SPL.

I recently did a little experiment, and found that ~80% of the music I listen to was on average, between 65-75dB. 95% is at an SPL range of 65-80dB. I was listening to some Stevie Ray Vaughan the other night, and it was getting pretty loud, and I was seeing spikes of SPL between 80-83 dB. Bottom line: I'd never be listening at 86 dB, even for short periods of time, let alone for the duration of an entire song.

The SPLs at a given power output will be dependent on room size and how far you sit from the speakers, of course, but before you spend a lot of money on a more powerful amp, I'd get an inexpensive SPL meter and take some readings of what the SPLs are at your listening position for the range and SPLs you normally listen to for the content you listen to. You might be surprised how little power is actually being used for your normal listening levels.

Given you have 30 watts of pure class A power at your disposal, I'm fairly confident your Accuphase can drive the S40s to SPLs that are considerably louder than you'd want to listen to without clipping.

So, I'd recommend this course of action: get an SPL meter, sit down, and listen at your normal content at the levels you listen to, and take some reasonably complete notes. If you're llistening to content consistently at SPLs louder than 86 dB (which I doubt) and you find that your amp is consistently clipping only then would I consider getting a more powerful amp. Personally, I wouldn't spend money on gear based on hypotheticals, I'd gather some data and make a decision based on the content I listen to and the SPLs I listen to, and maken an informed decision based on that.

A new Accuphase is going to cost a lot of money; no need to spend money on an amp you don't need, that money could be used instead for going to concerts or buying musical content.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Hi S40Owner,
The E650 put out 60 Watts AB at 4 ohms; but....it puts out pure Class A power up to 30 watts....that is a fair bit, and more than enough to drive reasonably efficient speakers to quite loud SPLs. The S40s are fairly efficient at 86 dB/watt. That means you only need 1watt of power to produce 86 dB of SPL.

I recently did a little experiment, and found that ~80% of the music I listen to was on average, between 65-75dB. 95% is at an SPL range of 65-80dB. I was listening to some Stevie Ray Vaughan the other night, and it was getting pretty loud, and I was seeing spikes of SPL between 80-83 dB. Bottom line: I'd never be listening at 86 dB, even for short periods of time, let alone for the duration of an entire song.

The SPLs at a given power output will be dependent on room size and how far you sit from the speakers, of course, but before you spend a lot of money on a more powerful amp, I'd get an inexpensive SPL meter and take some readings of what the SPLs are at your listening position for the range and SPLs you normally listen to for the content you listen to. You might be surprised how little power is actually being used for your normal listening levels.

Given you have 30 watts of pure class A power at your disposal, I'm fairly confident your Accuphase can drive the S40s to SPLs that are considerably louder than you'd want to listen to without clipping.

So, I'd recommend this course of action: get an SPL meter, sit down, and listen at your normal content at the levels you listen to, and take some reasonably complete notes. If you're llistening to content consistently at SPLs louder than 86 dB (which I doubt) and you find that your amp is consistently clipping only then would I consider getting a more powerful amp. Personally, I wouldn't spend money on gear based on hypotheticals, I'd gather some data and make a decision based on the content I listen to and the SPLs I listen to, and maken an informed decision based on that.

A new Accuphase is going to cost a lot of money; no need to spend money on an amp you don't need, that money could be used instead for going to concerts or buying musical content.

85-90 dB in our room is about the maximum we can bear.

[S40Owner]

Thank you for all the inputs
I have bought the e470 instead of the e600/650 as I will be using the amp as a HT bypass
So, having more watts will keep my mind at peace
If I am using the amp strictly for music then athe accuphase class A will do just fine

[S40Owner]

Anyone did A/B comparison between the s40 n the Contour 1.4LE?