At first glance the 25’s look about the same as the 1.3MKII’s but are quite a bit bigger.

The 25’s were placed 30” from the back wall, 42” from the tweeter and about 70” apart (tweeter to tweeter), listening was 8-9’ feet back
The similarities between the 1.3MKII and the S25’s are striking, the 25’s pulling ahead in staging and clarity and a slightly fuller bottom end due to the larger driver.
The proverbial wall of sound was more prominent with the 25’s, the sound stage took up the whole room with some recordings and the Esotar 2 tweeter really does it thing at the higher octaves.

Quick Listen
CD's Dorian Sampler Vol II, Messian “Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps” (Deutche Grammophone), Miles Davies “Kind of Blue”, Franz List Piano Music Vol 17 (Naxos), Dave Holland “Prime Directive” and “Emerald Tears”, Fripp & Eno “Beyond Even”, The Notwist “The Devil, You + Me”

Extended listen

Adding a few more listening impressions concerning the Special 25LE’s after sitting through a few more recordings.
As a flautist and electro-acoustic composer since about 1971 I thought a few modern 20th century works would show up any flaws in the 25’s presentation.

First up was George Crumb’s “An Idyll for he Misbegotten”, “Vox Balaenae” and “Madigrals” on New World Records, I find this a raw untreated recording and between the piercing upper octaves of the flute and lower notes of the kettledrums it puts any system to the test. Needless to say some of the movements for the first time put the hairs on the back of my neck on end. The 1.3MKII’s always did a convincing job but I was quite startled by what the 25’s threw back when asked upon to recreate the dynamics between the acute upper registers of the flute and the gut wrenching lower notes of the kettledrums at the same time, and they did this without missing a note.
Height, width and depth were convincingly portrayed and one was drawn into the performance even at its most cacophony stages.

Another excellent recording for uncensored dynamics are the works of Andre Jolivet (1905-1974) “Oeuvres pour Flute” on ADDA, Suite en Concert pour Flute et Percussion (1965) offers similar ear candy to Crumbs work, sort of like Varese’s “Ionisation” 1931 but with flute.
What the 25’s excel in is maintaining the rich timbre and overtones of delicate harmonics surrounding the various metal percussion instruments and the flute no mater how demanding the work, much more so than the 1.3’s. Again the dynamics are startling.

“The Flute Album“ on Conifer Classics with Soloist Karen Jones accompanied by harp and cello also showed the 25’s ability for keeping things well organized while portraying the interplay between the performers no matter how hectic.

And just to see if the 25’s can boogie Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell did their thing on “Radioaxiom a Dub Tranmission” a mixture of double electric bass. The 25’s held it together in the lower nether regions where the base notes remained distinct without messing up or covering anything else in the mix. The interplay of base rhythms accompanied by Sly Dunbar on drums were always easy to follow but the other accompanying instruments never got lost in the mix, a solid and entertaining recording.

So far my drawn conclusions are that the 25’s indeed have a jump factor over the 1.3’s, they really do recreate music in all its glory in a bigger and more dynamic way.
Instrument timbres are realistically portrayed and the flute and percussion render their leading edge on attach, for a stand mount the the perspective and image size are uncanny defying their size.
The 25’s have no intention on being polite and I can see that many listeners may find them a bit much to handle with some recordings, but as an electro-acoustic composer and flutist I can rest assured that’s the 1.3’s bigger brother is holding nothing back.
Contrary to some of the reviews, I find the top to bottom presentation quite seamless and they integrated very well with the Velodyne SPL1500R.
While the 1.3MKII’s are still an excellent speaker they are a bit more forgiving and laid back, the 25’s pull you more into the music which is exactly what I needed.

I’ve yet to audition the C1’s and this review is not meant in anyway to be a comparison but solely my reflections on the 25’s, they were the best Dynaudio was offering as a small package in 2002 as something special (although it’s taken me until 2009 to acquire a mint pair) and I believe they have succeeded.

And as I mentioned some may not appreciate the 25’s sometimes-honest raw portrayal of music (at least when it comes to Dynaudio), but thanks to the Danes, sometimes the truth does hurt and I’m up for it.

Room size 10’W 15’L 9’H

Associated equipment
Bryston BP25P, Bryston 4B SST,Bryston BCD-1, Rega P3/2000/Sumiko Blue Point II/Target wall mount, Dynaudio Special 25's SE on Target HR60's (lead and sand filled), Velodyne SPL1500R.

Other equipment
Bryston B60R and Dynaudio Countour 1.3MKII's for surrounds
Sony DVD 830 and OPPO DV 980H, LG 42PG25 (Plasma)
Head-fi-Setup: Shanling PH100, AKG K701, Grado SR325i's, Sennheiser HD580/600, AKG K501's.

Great natural balance and listenability.

Need to listen long term but sound better each time i hear them.

Replacing a pair of Contour 1.3MK2 in my main system. I still have the 1.3MK2's in my bedroom system. These are big upgrade from the 1.3MK2 units. They have a greater inner detail and better soundstage.
They are not as good as the C1's but at the price i paid for them they are darm close. I have them on Dynaudio Ultima stands made by Partington which made them for Dynaudio a few years ago.
Wonderful tweeter om these units, ame as Tempation level speakers.Give them air and they will reward you. They don't have the slightly harsh midrange of the 1.3MK2's.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio C1,
Dali 300MK2
Usher Tiny dancers

high resolution, bass extension, soundstage, high extension, etc,,,

Very sentitive to set-up matching and stands´position

Firstly, I should start this review saying "excuse me". Excuse me because when I posted a review in this website some months ago describing the Dynaudio´s 1.3SE performance ( the model I had recently purchased ) I pointed out in general words I was disappointed by the Special Twenty Five performance, comparing to 1.3SE and even with the older model 1.3MKII.
I keep saying that the 1.3MKII and mainly the 1.3Se are just excellents speakers , but, frankling speaking, I guess I commited a big mistake concerning the special 25th and I will explain the reasons why.
At that time I compared the 25th to 1.3se in a friends´room, with different set-ups, we did not pay too much attention to speaker´s position as well as stands position when placing the 25th, keeping almost the same position as when listening to 1.3SE. That´s, in my opinion, THE BIG MISTAKE. Some months later, I decided to test the 25th in my own listening room in order to take away all possible remain doubts. Starting the listening test, I felt the sound was more focused and neutral than I previously thought. After more that 2 hours changing the stands position, I found out the "optimum" position to my listening room ( 1 m from behind walls, 55cm from side walls and only 2.5m to the sweet spot - I have a small room. None toe-in ). The tweeters should be a little bit above yours ears´ level and the speakers stands should be a very heavy ones. What´s the result ? Just incredible sound. The bass extension is amazing, the transparence is really outstanding ( you can almost touch the music ), the soundstage is really good and, which let me really impressed, was the size of instrument and voices, matching big speakers levels. Summarizing, It is a benchmarking bookshelf, very sensitive to set-ups and placement. Take care on that, otherwise the result can disappoint you and you can not get what these exquisite speakers can offer you due to its high resolution.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio C1 and Sonus Faber Guarnieri - the ones I know....

high resolution, bass extension, soundstage, high extension, etc...

Very sensitive to position and set-up macthing. Need a really long break-in ( more than 300 hours....)

Firstly, I should start this review saying "excuse me". Excuse me because when I posted a review in this website some months ago describing the Dynaudio´s 1.3SE performance ( the model I had recently purchased ) I pointed out in general words I was disappointed by the Special Twenty Five performance, comparing to 1.3SE and even with the older model 1.3MKII.
I keep saying that the 1.3MKII and mainly the 1.3Se are just excellents speakers , but, frankling speaking, I guess I commited a big mistake concerning the special 25th and I will explain the reasons why.
At that time I compared the 25th to 1.3se in a friends´room, with different set-ups, we did not pay too much attention to speaker´s position as well as stands position when placing the 25th, keeping almost the same position as when listening to 1.3SE. That´s, in my opinion, THE BIG MISTAKE. Some months later, I decided to test the 25th in my own listening room in order to take away all possible remain doubts. Starting the listening test, I felt the sound was more focused and neutral than I previously thought. After more that 2 hours changing the stands position, I found out the "optimum" position to my listening room ( 1 m from behind walls, 55cm from side walls and only 2.5m to the sweet spot - I have a small room. None toe-in ). The tweeters should be a little bit above yours ears´ level and the speakers stands should be a very heavy ones. What´s the result ? Just incredible sound. The bass extension is amazing, the transparence is really outstanding ( you can almost touch the music ), the soundstage is really good and, which let me really impressed, was the size of instrument and voices, matching big speakers levels. Summarizing, It is a benchmarking bookshelf, very sensitive to set-ups and placement. Take care on that, otherwise the result can disappoint you and you can not get what these exquisite speakers can offer you due to its high resolution.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio C1, Sonus Faber Guarnieri - the ones I know.....

Natural sound, no coloration. Very satisfying listening at low volume (which means you need pure Class A amplication).

So far, none.

I have used my modest hi-fi for 8 years until my CD player broke down. Bought a used Meridian 508.24 and at the same time saw a need to change bigger speakers. Tried a used pair of Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home, but gave back after 10 days after deciding I was too used with the natural sound of Dynaudio drivers of my old BBC-designed Harbeth LS5/12a. So happened that a (hardly used) Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five was out for sale. Very, very natural timbre and tone of acoustic instruments (acoustic, classical guitar), brass instruments, indian classical instruments. Very detailed. If you own a Taylor 912 guitar with its "ringing" tone, you will appreciate these speakers because of its similarity. Michelle Shocked's electric guitar and electrifying voice in "Stillborn" comes out clean without glare at very loud levels. The high-pitch jazz clarinet of Kenny Davern is simply wonderful coming out from the Special 25. Soprano Kathleen Battle competing duet with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is another good test for the speakers. Most important to me is low level/volume listening which produces no loss of information and still very dynamic--as I listen to music very late at night when the ambient noise and power supply is most quiet. Absolutely fatigue-free.

Similar Products Used:

Harbeth LS5/12a BBC monitor