We’ve been stocking Dynaudio loudspeakers since soon after we moved Signals into our new home in Saint Cecilia’s House, Trimley in 2017.
Initially, we had the (then quite new) Special 40 stand-mounts. When we first heard them, we had the impression that they cost twice as much as they do and still we were impressed. Their synergy with Naim electronics was a major draw and their improbable level of bass ‘heft’ allied with surprising dynamics, clarity and overall musicality really had us hooked. They might be compact, but they can create a large and convincing musical performance.
A customer request to hear the Contour 20 stand-mount led to us meeting an affordable, fairly compact (but not exactly small) stand-mount speaker that also punched above its weight and price point. Very much next level to the Special 40 but also a rather different character.
Following this, we were introduced to the Emit series of the day. This was a re-hash of some older drivers in vinyl wrapped enclosures. They were pretty good, very competitive against the opposition, but they earned no coconut either! The current Emit’s are far, far better.
Soon after this, the Evoke series arrived and we realised that this series of four loudspeakers would be able to cover all bases for about 70 percent of our customers. The closest from the Evoke series to Special 40 is the Evoke 20 and they trade points. Overall, the Evoke wins on refinement and the S40 offers more fun and ‘punch’ with a little more midrange resolution.
For this reason both are retained for demonstration.
We also have the new Focus range which is visually almost identical to the Evoke series. These are actively driven with in-built amplification and streaming cards. They have analogue and digital inputs too. Compatible with the current ‘connect’ music service apps from Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz, they are frightfully modern :).
Basically, they are “lifestyle” products but with design and performance integrity.
The Contour series was revised, gaining an ‘i’ suffix and all have found happy buyers over the years, with the stand-mount 20i being the most popular, followed by 30i. Contour 60i is enormous!
There is an issue, though. And this comes in the shape of the Confidence series.
Confidence starts with the 20. It’s a stand-mount but one for which the stand is an integral part of the design. The downward facing bass port sits above a diffuser that forms the top of the stand pillar. Visually, a stand-mount, functionally, it’s floor-standing. The performance is very much that of an accomplished floor-stander too.
Amid all the radical tech, the Confidence range utilise the Esotar 3 tweeter and this brings some advantages of its own to what are some extremely well judged products. Across the entire Confidence series, the cabinet shaping, low mass composite baffle, bass port management cross-over and driver specification conspire to make a range that is better than it needed to be.
I was astonished to find out that the higher end Evidence series remains in production. Dynaudio themselves acknowledge that the Confidence massively outclasses its older more expensive sibling. We tried some large Evidence examples when we were seeking out a reference large passive loudspeaker for our hall-like main listening area.
The killer feature on Confidence is shared with most of the other current range too and this is that they are unusually easy to drive. We’ve powered our large Confidence 60’s with all manner of fairly modest electronics to surprising effect.
Recent developments have revolved around Confidence too. The Contour 20 Black edition involves quite a lot of Confidence 20 tech, including Esotar 3, shoe-horned into a slightly altered Contour 20i cabinet. It’s very good indeed. At a little over half the price of the Confidence 20, it’s arguably better value but there remains a gulf between them.
The new Confidence 20A (for active) is a very interesting proposition worthy of a whole fresh article. We’ve had a brief listen but we intend to get to know them better.