I auditioned the Special 25s a couple of months ago at ProMusica in Chicago (thanks, Ken). At the time, I owned a pair of 1.3SEs, and my audition of the Spec 25s was enough to convince me to sell the 1.3SEs, which I have since done. The 25s were not fully broken in, and were played on lesser electronics than what I use at home, but they had a remarkable rightness that made the entire reproduction chain simply disappear. They use the driver technology from the new Confidence series, and the new Esotar 2 tweeter, and are more sensitive than the 1.3SEs (but then, so was my mother-in-law). The 25s definately DO NOT require a sub in a small to medium sized room - they are extremely articulate in the bass, and sound like they go down strongly to the low 30s in-room. Besides, I doubt there's a subwoofer made that could keep up with them, and I own probably the fastest one in existence - the Talon ROC 2002. The mids are seemless, the highs sweet and detailed. I recently sold my pair to Confidence 5s, and still own the Confidence 3s. The Spec 25 is a superior speaker overall than the C5 (at $10,000), and gives the C3 ($8000) a run for its money. I always considered the C3 a better balanced speaker than the C5, with stronger bass. Obviously, the newer technology in the Spec 25 pays dividends, and saves money (hard to imagine coming from Dynaudio). If anyone is planning to buy used C5s, I strongly recommend they audition the Spec 25s first, or buy a used pair of C3s instead. My 25s are on the way, and who knows, my C3s may be up for sale soon.
