re: Good Speaker Deal: Revel Concerta2 M16 $285 each

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Special 40s

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6L6 tube amp

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Interesting combination.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Special 40s. I am a sucker for laser imaging and frankly, it is my personal favorite speaker trait. I can put up with a lot of other faults when a speaker images like an 11th/12th generation KEF or a narrow baffled Totem Audio speaker. The S40's dome tweeter on a flat baffle usually means wide dispersion/wide soundstage but lacking in image focus but the engineers bent that rule of physics.

The Special 40 has one of the few traits that overwhelms the imaging for me... a BBC dip. It is clearly a voicing choice by Dynaudio and gives it the smooth laidback sound in the 1 to 2Khz range that the BBC determined is pleasing to many people. For me, it just sucks out the attack in the upper soprano range but again it is an admired trait by a lot of people.

The reason I said the 6L6 output tubes are an interesting paring is it may be the even-order harmonic distortion of the tubes makes that BBC dip seem fuller and more detailed which is something you might lose moving to a solid state amp. If you are in love with the sound you have but just need more oomph I think the clear answer would be a vintage McIntosh MC240. If your amp sounds like a typical valve amp with 6L6 output tubes the MC240 would be the quintessential replacement but I have no problem SOPM (spending other peoples money).