New Dynaudio Heritage Special..?..!

No affiliation to Huff, Dynaudio or anyone else but I was in Denver last month and went by Crescendo, the Wilson Audio and Dynaudio dealer. Demo’d the Heritage Specials driven by DCS front end through Audio Research Ref6se and Ref160m monos. The Heritage Specials are damn good speakers. I presently have Wilsons and Devores at home and the Heritage Specials are an extraordinary achievement. They play in that league for sure and they can fit in the boot of your car.

Now, some may believe that a stand mount speaker shouldn’t cost $7,000 and that’s all fine and well. What these speakers are capable of is quite simply extraordinary though. Who knows how they would sound when not driven by $90,000+ of front end gear, I didn’t ask them to hook them up to another setup. The store personnel however didn’t hesitate to hang them off the end of that rig and everyone in the store stopped what they were doing. They punch waaaay above their weightclass. Another customer was there demoing some Sasha DAW’s and we both looked at each other and just shook our heads at what we were hearing. Heck, the Transparent Ref speaker cables cost more than the Heritage Specials!

Will they change the audio industry? Probably not but to summarily dismiss them would be a mistake. Of course, no deep bass but what was there was really there. The mid and upper bass was quite convincing in a large demo room, the midrange and the upper end was sublime. Go listen, they may not be your cup of tea, they may be at a pricepoint below or above what you are looking to spend but they are absolutely a bargain in my opinion.

@maholl50 At a similar price range one might cross shop with the Harbeth 30.2 and priced above these two are Wilson Audio Tunetots. There are pros and cons and I have experience with each. No affiliation with any of the three companies.

The Heritage Special form factor is narrower, shorter and deeper while Harbeths are a visually larger speaker albeit more shallow for placement purposes. The Tunetots are taller than both, in between both on width and more shallow than either. Harbeths are front ported without alot of port energy concerns, the Dyns are rear ported and alot of energy exists at the ports although they come with port plugs. The Tunetots are uniqely slot ported in the rear and the port plug implementation is pretty advanced. The Tunetots sounds like two completely different speakers with/without the ports plugged but sound great in either configuration depending on placement forced on the user.

Harbeths are a little easier on a given amp to drive and slightly warmer but with the Dynaudios there is more there there in terms of detail. The Dyns feel faster, more agile. I personally believe the drivers in the Dyn are at another level entirely from the 30.2’s. The Tunetots are warmer than the Heritage Specials while being more complete sounding than the Harbeths. The Tunetots are more dynamic and amplifier friendly than both to my ears. The Dyanudios would probably require double the amp horsepower than the Tunetots to perform at a similar level.

The Dyns image and soundstaging is far superior and the bass is far stronger than the Harbeths but the Dyns take a little more work for setup. The Tunetots are not as placement fussy as the Dynaudios. Say what you will but the Harbeths kindof work wherever you place them, the Wilsons are nearly as simple to set up and the Dynaudios require still more. The Tunetots can be placed almost anywhere and have a whole extra performance level above the Dyns, which have the edge on the Harbeths. My feeling is that the Harbeth price increases and USA pricing is now beyond the value sweetspot whereas the Dynaudio Heritage Special is really, really great for the price asked. The Tunetots with their iso stands, etc really jump the price. If my room had no placement issues it would be hard to not consider Sabrinas vs Tunetots since the pricing gets pretty close.

I have two pair of Wilson Audio Tunetots and in the right room and the right ancillaries, they are objevtively far superior to both the Harbeths and the Dynaudios PROVIDED you are comfortable integrating a sub if your musical tastes lean that direction. The Dynaudios do not need a sub unless you are a heavy bass head. The Tunetots are a specialty product and they accomplished their design goal. They really can give a high end experience in a compromised room. I have one pair in my office and one pair in a TV room, in a bookshelf and they really shine. In my office they are drive by an Audio Note el34 tube amplifier and in my TV room the other pair of Tunetots are driven by a Boulder 866 (holy cow!!!! what an amp). The Harbeths in the exact same spot as the Tunetots never remotely satisfied.

Depends on what you are after but the capabilities of the Dynaudio Heritage Specials are levels beyond what the Harbeths can provide. The Tunetots on the other hand are levels above the Dyns except in the deeper bottom end. The unique port design of the Tunetots belie the bottom end specifications. In my rooms they dig alot deeper than I ever expected. At the pricepoint of these three monitor speakers I have mentioned, you really should seek them(and others) out and listen and arrange for a home demo with your gear. They are each at a pricepoint where floorstanding options are available for similar money so make sure you are after what these monitors do really well. The particular TV room to which I referred earlier has a serious bass suck in the exact position where floorstanders soundstaged the best. Since in our home we aren’t willing to live with the interior design downsides to treat the room to the extent required, we chose the Tunetots in their designed optimal positioning and then placed a small KEF KC62 sub optimally. We utilized a REL Airship wireless transmitter/receiver and it works wonderfully. No bass augmentation necessary in my office.

As I’ve said before (which is also not the norm in the Audiogon community), our hifi must live with us rather than the alternative. Good luck in your search. Peace.

@ryder all valid and excellent points. I’m not quite sure how the Tunetots were measured (ports open or closed, free space or closer to a boundary). I did not expect much low frequency energy but they are quite satisfying by themselves.

The Heritage Specials are indeed special and I have also heard great things about the Martens although I have not experienced them in person. What a great time to enjoy audio, the gear is better than ever.

Huff sold his Int25 and has an Int250 right now. In his latest klipsch review he is usingbthe preamp outs into a pair of XA60.8 monos. Imagine if he used a proper preamp.

@keithr How true. I peruse his writings from time to time because he is seemingly a nice guy AND, perhaps more importantly, his "review" history is actually more of a chronicle of what he is hearing as a normal hifi enthusiast as he moves up the equipment ladder. Just something to read to avoid the latest headlines on covid or Afghanistan or politics or other similar topics. LOL. I hope you are well and enjoying your new Fyne's.