November 16, 2023

Dynaudio presents the new Special Forty

It is not advisable to rest on your laurels

The new Special Forty commemorative speaker builds on 40 years of research – and brings it up to date with Dynaudio’s most acclaimed techniques and technologies.

Cutting-edge technology in a classic Dynaudio design

We still surprise ourselves. There are people who would be content with their successes after 40 years of constant innovation. We do not. In fact, we are thirsty for new techniques and technologies. That’s why we developed the Special Forty: we wanted to revisit those innovations and see what we could change this time.

What you will find here is not going to be anything revolutionary. You’ll discover a glimpse into our past, along with some glimpses of our future.

The Special Forty is a classic Dynaudio – all the craftsmanship, attention to detail and absolute love for authentic sound you can expect. It’s the expert’s choice – a pair of passive high-fidelity speakers. But it’s not 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 advances.

Greatest hits reimagined

Compact speakers are really good for us. Since ever. So, as a nod to our classics – Special One, Special Twenty-Five, Craftt and Contour 1.3 SE included – we’ve kept the purity of the Special Forty, yet incredibly advanced.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a commemorative speaker if it didn’t include some of our greatest hits. But we haven’t gotten the band back together to play the same songs again. We’ve remixed, remastered and arranged things to carry those old glories into 2017 and beyond.

That’s why it incorporates one of our classic first-order filter designs, with our exclusive phase alignment and impedance alignment technologies. The filter expertly directs the input signal between the woofer and tweeter, so that each speaker only receives the frequencies it should and can perform at its best. Its specially selected components handle impedance optimization, and since both speakers have extended frequency ranges to better integrate and blend, their performance borders on astonishing.

The song is still the same

The Special Forty features our proprietary material, MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) for its main speaker. The MSP offers the perfect combination of stiffness, damping and stability, and achieves the most faithful sound reproduction. And, unlike other materials used in speakers, it doesn’t change over time – your Special Forty will still sound just as sweet when we celebrate our anniversary again.

The cone itself has a symmetrical excursion developed to the millimeter, to obtain a better mid-range. Behind it is our asymmetric “spider” – our passive harmonic rectifier. Minimizes upper harmonics to further fine-tune performance and enable the choice of individual parts of a piece of music, but rather individual instruments of an orchestra. Now, finally, the third violin section can shine with its own light. And, like all of our other MSP cones, it’s a one-piece design (which can be seen in the special ribs around the center guard). This also plays a stabilizing role – which is crucial when you turn the volume all the way up.

The secret is in our AirFlow Basket – the key that keeps the speaker motor in place inside the chassis. Its development was one of those “eureka” moments that our engineers experience several times a week at Dynaudio Labs (they can often be heard celebrating their successes from the street where the factory is located). We asked them to reduce internal reflections and increase air movement without compromising the stability or rigidity of the basket and this ingenious design is what they presented to us.

Air flow is the kingdom

The new Esotar tweeter takes air movement to another level. It moves the air rather gently in front of the DSR (Dynaudio Secret Recipe) soft dome, of course, but there’s a lot of engineering behind it.

Look at the channel. It is a vent on the back of a hybrid magnetic system that leaves more space in the rear camera. This space allows us to introduce more cushioning material and reduces back pressure, while the shape itself optimizes the flow of air coming from the rear of the screen.

Then we have the exit; the pressure release system. It is located under the voice coil and reduces unwanted pressure build-up that could affect its movement. Preventing these air pockets from forming reduces resonances – and fewer resonances equals greater detail potential.

Flow optimization and beam control

We love playing with the laws of physics. Physics always ends up winning, of course (or usually), but we always manage to make it almost adapt to our wishes. That is, what we have done with our magnetic systems.

The magnet converts the electrical energy flowing from the amplifier to the voice coil into a physical back-and-forth movement of the speaker diaphragm. These movements are very small and very fast (especially in the tweeter), so they need a lot of precision if you want to hear all the exquisite details and emotion in your music.

Behind the woofer

In the woofer we have achieved this elegance in two ways: by placing the magnet inside the voice coil and by playing with the magnetic energy itself.

Other manufacturers usually place it on the outer edge, leaving the coil hollow. By placing the magnet inside, the magnetic energy (or flux) is kept in the optimal position to arrange itself around the voice coil, where it should be. This means we can use internal reflections because there is less material for sound to bounce around inside the speaker.

Second, we use a hybrid magnet to have even more control over the flow and movement of the voice coil. An incredibly powerful neodymium rare earth magnet provides the force and launches the flux unceremoniously, while the ferrite magnet tempers this enthusiasm by gently moving this flux to where it is needed most. What’s the score? A symmetrical excursion, a reduction of the second harmonic and an even more precise and authentic sound.

Your enclosure

Let’s now talk about the finish. Regardless of the wood you have chosen, gray or red birch, our designers will have pampered you. We’ve always gone the extra mile with our commemorative models – from the exquisite birdseye maple of the Contour 1.3 SE to the knotty birch of the Special Twenty-Five and the mocha, burgundy and ivory woods of the Sapphire. We ask our team to think differently than what we’ve been doing and they take it to heart. This is why they are so raw, visceral, striking. We wanted the Special Forty to look as authentic and honest as the music they play.

Happy Birthday! Enjoy the party and eat a semla to our health.

Sensitivity: 86dB (2.83V/1m)

Power management: 200W

Impedance: 6Ω

Frequency response (+/- 3db): 41 – 23,000 Hz

Construction principle: rear bass reflex

Filter: 2 way

Cut-off frequency: 2,000 Hz

Filter type: 1st order

Woofer: 17cm MSP cone

Tweeter: 28mm Esotar Forty

Weight: 8.1kg