upgrade Dynaudio Special 40 to Kef Reference 1

There is no such thing as an UPGRADE. 

You either prefer one speaker over another or you dont. The special 40 is a very expensive speaker. The kef is even more expensive. 

I see no reason that for that kind of money you shouldnt expect perfect speakers. If you feel the need for an upgrade, then youve been duped and sold a speaker that isnt good enough. 

The Kef 's may indeed be an Upgrade only your ears can be the judge,
If changing equipment from time to time allows you to enjoy music to a higher
degree than I'd call that an upgrade.
If your budget and time allow go audition a few things.

Have fun - it's a Hobby after all. 

"Duped" ` Really?  I suppose you have the first pair of speakers you ever bought?

We are a Kef dealer so yes we are going to be biased, however, the Kef Ref 1 in our opinion will be a substantial upgrade.

Tale of the tape Dyanudio vs Kef Ref 1

Dynaudio is a two way vs Kef Ref 1 a true three way

Kef Ref 1 offers very deep bass for a monitor sub 40 hz bass vs 41hz bass for the Dyaudio.

The Kef is a 40lb monitor vs 18 lbs for the Dynaudio

The Kef is a true point source the Dyaudio is not.

The Kef is room tunable via port selection the Dyaudio is not.

The Kef is the more transparent lower coloration speaker based on the Kefs more advanced metal drivers and driver construction.

The Dynaudio speakers are very musical and do sound excellent, the Kefs will produce more detail, a larger and more focused soundstage.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef dealers

The boys told it like it is .        There is no upgrade is silly .

In this particular case, I am going to speculate that personal preference will be a big factor to determine which one might choose.

I owned Dynaudio Monitors and now own similar KEF though not these two specific models. They are two very good but very different sounding speakers.

I find I do prefer the more coherent sound of the KEFs especially if not listening from more of a distance. I tend to like coherent source designs in general.

There is no upgrade! These are expensive speakers! For this kind of money they should be perfect! Are we talking about the audio hobby here? Foolish statements!
Both of these speakers are fairly cheap in the scheme of things. A $50k speaker will be classified as an expensive speaker. The Wilson $800k speaker is a more expensive speaker.A perfect speaker? No speaker is perfect, not even the $800k Wilson. 
There are upgrades in this hobby, not necessarily based only on amount of money spent and only the listener can determine if a different speaker is an upgrade or sounds better than another.

Yes, it is an upgrade.KEF Ref 1 has more defined treble, mids are more detailed and tones are more accurate, bass goes deeper and has more substantial weight.

That said, it is not necessarily better, as the special 40 is less neutral, produces louder bass and slighlty more elevated 100hz which makes it more "satisfying" to some people. A friend of mine did that exact same upgrade although he has a H190 instead. He finds the Ref 1 to be the superior speaker, but still misses the more "fun" (I can't believe I'm saying this for dynes) special 40.

Upgrade Dynaudio?
really?
those two words are oxymorons when used for Dynaudio,   

 Maybe trade in for another Dynaudio pair, KEF , is by no means a slouch,
dynaudio,....are an amazing speaker, etc 

good luck, let your ears be the judge.

I might want to add the Focal Kanta No.1 (lower price) or Sopra No.1 (higher) to your check list before laying down your cash.  The Sopra is a stunningly well integrated, surprisingly wide range, relatively compact stand mount. I haven’t heard the K1, but if the No.2 is any indication, it too deserves a listen. 

For the sake of transparency I should mention we are Focal dealers. But I speak for myself. 

Thanks all for the contributions. I am now thinking to keep the dynaudio speakers and change the amp. I like the mcintosh type of sound but don't have the budget now. any recommendations on amps?

The KEF are about as different sounding as can be from the Dynaudio. I really like the Special 40. Technically the KEF is probably superior but I could listen to the Dyns all day. 

Dyns sound magical to me.

The real question is what are you trying to do?
Changing the speakers will be an apples to oranges change.the Kefs are more transparent, more dynamic, and less colored, they also go lower and sound bigger, they also image with both a large and well focused sound stage.

The Dyanaudio loudspeakers are richer in the midrange, with a bit less treble detail, they do sound big for a small monitor.
Changing your electronics or dac will or may bring out more from the loudspeakers.
Op what makes you think the Yamaha amplifier is any better than the Hegel Just the contrary the Hegel's clean, dynamic sound would be excellent with the Dyaudios, the Yamaha may actually make the system sound too sleepy and less exciting.
The best thing you can do is to figure out for yourself what I am trying to accomplish? If you are craving more detail, a bigger sounding loudspeaker and deeper bass, then the Kef is for you,

If not stick with the Dyaudios and maybe you need to look at an even better dac or source upgrade.
The other thing is that there are a zillion great loudspeaker choices even in a smaller room a set of compact floor standing loudspeakers may be the ticket.
Dave and TroyAudio Doctor NJ

Kef and Dynaudio sound totally different, in general. I prefer Dynaudio sound but that’s just me. Dyn’s are typically harder to drive (more difficult impedance curves, lower sensitivities). Kef is good too though, especially if it is important to you that the entire room sounds pretty good, as opposed to being optimal in one listening location. Kefs might be better than almost any other brand in that feature. Really good choice if H/T a part of your system and whole family watches movies together, for example (foregoing not at all to suggest Kef not good for music, it is as well).

After owning all the above mentioned I would buy Piega coax 311. 
A keeper 

You need to drag your amp to some stores and LISTEN.  Only then can you tell whether there is truly and improvement or not, and whether that improvement is worth it in monetary terms.  Everything else is scratching a mirage-like itch.

Kren’s point about KEF Providing more consistent sound from different listening points than most including Dynaudio rings true from my experience with Dynaudio Contour monitors versus KEF ls50. The Dynaudios were very good but seemed to require more care in exact positioning as well. Dispersion with the KEF UniQ driver seems top notch. I often listen from my desk located between the two speakers and the KEF ls50s retain their character particularly well even there.

dynaudio require power power power and more power big transformers ,heavy amps:) this hegel offers not so much, Yamaha AS3000 looks nice,but again no real power
If you get decent powerfull amp,the sound will be as listening gryphon and big speakers in your room:)
Not sure abaut your bugdet ,but there is big krell fbi for sale
I think even krell s550i will outperform hegel and yamaha and will make your special forty sing

There is no evidence that the kef reference one is perfect or better. 
Kef came out with the LS50 which is much cheaper than ref 1 yet they say the LS50 is one of the best. Every speaker on the market is "the best". There are no bad speakers. its a hoax 

I do think it’s strange that when you go to the Kef website, they list the blades and the LS50 as their flagship lines, and the ref line and everything else under hifi lines. 
At least it was that way up until a few weeks ago haven’t checked recently. 
Does seem odd that they’d sell ref 1 at many times the cost of “flagship” LS50. Odd marketing choice on their part to group things that way. 
Note I’m not comparing ref1 to LS50 myself as I don’t really have an opinion. My point only that kef’s marketing groupings are curious 

The ls50’s are one of the best for it’s size and cost.

C’mon kenjit its not so hard to understand that no two things are created exactly equal.

If one must measure speakers relative to others, ability to deliver flat clean bass down to 20hz in a particular room is a reasonable way to measure. Speakers that can do it well ( along with doing all the rest well) in a larger room are clearly better.

Size matters with speakers. As does quality. Speakers must work hard to deliver full range sound in larger rooms.

Ohm Speakers are a good model of this. Room size mostly determines which model is best, how big, and the cost. In a smaller room a larger more expensive model is not necessarily better in that it will deliver too much bass but otherwise the design and sound is similar.

It’s a most scaleable design.

Use your ears.  Audition the equipment at home if you can.  The only way to know if you are getting what makes you smile.   If you can't audition at home bring your gear to the dealer.  Not as good a comparison but you will here some of the major differences. 

Good luck

Like everyone else on here are saying, it seems you are seeking a change in presentation of music.  What 'big difference' do you want or expect?  Both speakers are musically adept but their presentation will differ.  KEF speakers are known for their presentation of large soundstages but then Dynaudio Special 40's are also known for the same thing, since you are presently using them maybe its not enough? There is no safe quick way of finding out until you have personally audition them preferably playing your own music.   At the end of the day it will be you listening to the chosen system, not any one else.....

Kenjit,

Name 5 things in life that are perfect. 

Drop that 40 and give Fritz a call. Had the special 40 next to his Fritz Carrera Be and it wasn’t even close. That 40 has a disappointing midrange, the Fritz on the other hand sounds like single point driver had a baby with a bigger Harbebth

Drop that 40 and give Fritz a call. Had the special 40 next to his Fritz Carrera Be and it wasn’t even close. That 40 has a disappointing midrange, the Fritz on the other hand sounds like single point driver had a baby with a bigger Harbebth

I finally decided to keep the Dynaudio S40 speakers and grabbed a PASS Int 60 integrated amplifier. Now I have the sound i was looking for. Smooth, lush, detailed, sweet sounding amp. My next speaker purchase will be the dynaudio confidence 20. 

that is great news:) I am glad you found sound you was looking for

A better amp is all you need ( I have the S40 also)..  and the Pass Int60 is very good.   But I end up getting Luxman L590x over it..  

BTW I have also tried the Yam AS3000.   It is good,  but not at the same level as Pass or Luxman.  

Lose the amp and other paraphernalia, and listen to Dynaudio Core 59 or Genelec 8351B in your space. Both are active pro-grade models, and excellent at what they do. For modern living rooms or bedrooms in apartments, these will be hard to beat, at any price point. 

Altman, glad you keep the sp40. I use them with my Pass 60, then upgraded to the Pass 250 and the dyns scaled up right with it. The Pass has magical mids and so does the sp 40. I have a piair of LS 50 metas and Goldenear brx. The Though they can sound great depending what amp I use, none of them work as well with the pass as the sp40. I even tried the Buchardt 400 2’s and the sp 40 outshines them to my ears. I do like the Kef sound and my Hegal and LS50 make sound wonderful sound. 

Of course there is an upgrade. The only problem is there is no end to the upgrade. 

Nice upgrade! I was going to suggest changing out the amp since the Rost is their entry level integrated. Way to go with Pass! I need to figure out how to get one of their integrateds in for a home audition. I’ve got the Dynaudio HS and need a bit more punch at lower volumes. The mid’s and high’s are very efficient with that speaker and I tend to listen at a lower volume setting compared to my old Contour 1.1’s. The HS 85db stat seems off, they sound much louder.

Perkadin,

I have the HS speakers and I would recommend the Boulder 866 if that fits into your budget.   The HS really is a incredible speaker with the right amp.  Btw they sound very full at low volumes with the 866.