Dynaudio Special 25 vs. Contour 1.3 SE


I'm torn between just getting a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.3 SE and ponying up to a pair of Special 25s. Are the Special 25s really that much better than the 1.3 SEs? I love the tight control of the 1.3 SEs, however, I haven't had the opportunity to listen to the Special 25s. Whatever I choose, I'll be driving them with an old Krell KSA 100 (class A) through a Meitner Museatex DAC--no preamp. I'm also open to non-Dynaudio suggestions, however, the JM Utopias were a bit warm for my tastes. Thank you!
bgarrett
How big is your room? I had the Special 25's for a home audition - they have a very large rear port, and I found that they really required being brought out about 4 feet from the back wall in my 14x18 room. When I did that, the bass locked in very well. I wasn't totally sold on the low end even after doing this - don't get me wrong, it was very good. It just didn't have as full a lower end as you might want, a problem with many monitors.

The tweeter in the Spec25's is unbelievably fast. If you want detail and imaging, I can't imagine a better answer.

Two things - I had them for a weekend, not a month, so these were somewhat limited impressions. I also don't know how broken in the speakers were - I had them fairly shortly after their release. I seriously doubt they had hundreds of hours on them. The things that concerned me may have become bigger in my mind, but also might have become mitigated or even become strengths.

I've only listened to the 1.3SE's at the dealer, driven by nice Krell amplification. Very nice, but no idea how they'd compare specifically with the Spec25's in concrete terms, as I haven't had them in my room.

To throw something else into the mix, have you thought about springing for the extra $$, but buying a pair of the Confidence 3's? Faced with many of the same parameters, that's where I ended up. In any case, an unbelievably well constructed and sounding speaker. Not quite as detailed, but a somewhat fuller sound, and will definitely have a deeper bottom end than the 1.3SE. I never had the Confidence 3's in my room at the same time as the Spec 25's, so I can't say I compared and one was a clear winner, tho I'm extremely happy with the Confidence 3's.

All of these are great speakers, IMO - well built, sound good on lots of genres of music, fill a lot of space without taking up much room. I don't think you can go wrong, basically. And, no, I wouldn't throw out an alternative to the Dyns :-) -Kirk
I also had the 1.3SEs and they are a very nice speaker, but like the person stated about you have to pull they out from the rear wall then babies need room to breath. I never heard the 25s, but I do now own the C2s, and I will have to agree with Kthomas if you can try moving up to the C3s. I hear they give a better soundstage.
Having spent time with both, as the above poster's commented, you HAVE pull them out as least 5-6'...