Dynaudio Special Forty

Classic in looks but cutting edge in ability ₹2,89,999

Perhaps we are hard to please, but on first hearing Dynaudio’s 40th anniversary speaker, in 2018, our first impression was actually one of mild disappointment. It’s not that there is a lot wrong with the Special Forty – it’s just that the design seemed to us to be a little too familiar.

Dynaudio has made any number of two-way standmounters, of this size and with drive units that look pretty much identical to the ones used here. Put aside the gorgeous finishes – the options are birch in either grey or red gloss – and there seems little to differentiate the Forty from a stack of products the company has made in the past. Except that, importantly, pretty much all of them were way cheaper.

But things start to look brighter once we delve into the details. These speakers are indeed designed as something of an homage to the company’s past, but they are not meant to be museum pieces.

That drive unit array may look straight out of the Emit 20 (or even the Contour 1.1 from well over a decade ago), but it is actually based on the drivers used in company’s pricier high-end Confidence C1 model.

Improved damping

Dynaudio didn’t just plonk in the units from the C1, mind you – the drivers have been fettled, with markedly improved results.