Dynaudio Confidence 20 Loudspeaker

Cabinet construction is what I’ve come to expect from Dynaudio and Danish manufacturers in general—superb. John Quick, the well-versed and cordial VP of Sales and Marketing for Dynaudio North America, stated that “the main part of the cabinet is made up of multiple layers of MDF that are bonded together and machined to create the rounded cabinet shape. This ‘exoskeleton’ structure, along with carefully placed extensive bracing, creates a cabinet that is inert and low in diffraction, but also flowing and pleasing to the eye.” As for the Compex front baffle, its actual composition is cloaked in corporate secrecy, but according to Quick it “allows quick dissipation of any energy generated by the drivers and a mechanical impedance mismatch that resists energy from the cabinet migrating back into it.” It’s light and strong and acoustically dead. Quick did reveal that in all Confidence models a substance known as Poron (a type of high-density polyurethane foam) is sandwiched between the Compex baffle and the cabinet to decouple the tweeters and midrange drivers from the baffle as much as possible and avoid vibration.

The advantages of two-way compacts are well known, as are their drawbacks. On the one hand, there is the image focus and coherence that two closely spaced drivers impart; the small footprint, narrow baffle, and simpler crossover conspire to make for a great middle/upper range and a sensitive voice speaker. On the downside are restricted bass output and dynamics, because there is only so far you drive/push a pair of small transducers before they begin to compress the music. A three-way relieves a lot of this pressure, but more and larger drivers require bigger and more robustly braced cabinets to control internal resonances and more complex crossovers, as well as adding to expense and taking up greater space.

Putting the Confidence 20 through its sonic paces, I first noted a level of harmonic clarity, imaging finesse, and micro-/macro-dynamic energy that immediately informed me that I’d left the land of the common two-way. No shrinking violet, the Confidence 20 not only didn’t shy away from the dynamic and output challenges presented by rock and large-scale orchestral music; it, in fact, seemed to relish them to an uncommon degree. To that point, I listened to Van Halen’s “Jump” and “Right Now” [Warner], with a little of Dire Straits’ “Telegraph Road” [Vertigo] and Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture [Mercury] thrown in for good measure. I haven’t pushed a two-way this hard for a long time, but this speaker made me throw caution to the wind. The Confidence 20 played through these tracks without protest and with tonal consistency and openness.

The 20’s overall character was defined by a smooth balance with just a slight suggestion of a midrange-forward tilt. While its focus was plainly on the midrange, I never got the impression of octaves radically dipping or rising or skewing out of alignment with one another. I considered its tonal signature to be on the warmer side of neutral. Confidence 20 does not have a lean or cold personality, unlike some overheated compacts I’ve known (and, in my earlier years as a reviewer, even admired) that were all speed and laser-focused imaging. Transient information was imparted with quickness but was also tempered with naturalism. The tweeter/mid/woofer connection was as unified as I’ve heard in this type of speaker; only the best coaxial drivers will surpass the Confidence 20 on this front. This is all another way of saying that the Confidence 20 is a superb voice speaker, reproducing the full spectrum of chest resonances, throatiness, falsetto, and head tone. A favorite go-to, Jennifer Warnes’ “If It Be Your Will” [Impex], was luminous and airy, her focused vocal and natural sibilance range touching the ear with sensitivity and authenticity. Perhaps the 20 was a little dry in the treble at times and during hard peaks, but it was mostly a joy to listen to.

Earlier, I noted in extended listening the breadth of Confidence 20’s dynamic envelope. Ordinarily, when volume and dynamics ramp up, you can hear a typical two-way hunkering down into a sort of protective crouch, as if pulling back from a sonic precipice, in effect squelching the biggest and wildest dynamic swings and rolling off the bass. There was little evidence of that tendency during Steve Winwood’s “The Finer Things.” Fully present and accounted for was the neck-snapping snare as it joined the full impact of the drummer’s floor pedal against the kick drum. In these instances, I found myself jokingly looking for a third driver—a midrange—figuring it had to be around there someplace. In my experience, I’ve rarely heard a two-way compact that packed as many of the virtues of a three-way into such a small package.

Bass response was well controlled and vigorously extended into the 40Hz range. The downward-firing port exhibited little to no bloat or overhang. The virtuoso musicianship of bassist Renaud Garcia-Fons’ “Palermo Notturno” was on vivid display, evincing much of the deeply resonant and profound expressiveness that I’m familiar with from my own loudspeaker references. The 20s followed the bassline during Norah Jones’ “Shoot the Moon” and the intro standup bass in the run-up to “Cold Cold Heart” [Blue Note] with nicely defined timbral and textural cues. They did the same with the standup bass in Harry Connick, Jr.’s “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” [Sony]. Ever present on these tracks was the sense of a player’s index and middle fingers setting those long, loose, steel-wrapped bass strings into motion.

For most compact two-ways, reproducing organ remains a challenge. Even so, the pipe organ that undergirds the chorale during “Lux Aeterna” was very nicely represented by the Dynaudio. True, it was reproduced more as a darker undercurrent, not quite in its 20Hz entirety, but when the organist lifts his hands and feet and the instrument goes silent at points in this and other tracks on Rutter’s Requiem [Reference], you could feel the air and weight vacate the hall. Naturally, there are the physical limits of excursion and enclosure volume, and at some point, the port assumes a greater presence. Still, there were little to no windage effects or chuffing to distract the listener.

A key takeaway that elevates the performance of the Confidence 20 was its ability to impart a scale and spatiality that are normally the domains of larger, multi-driver designs. What this means for a large chorus or chamber orchestra is a genuine sense of scope and dimension in the room, rather than a finely rendered miniature. In the case of solo piano, there was soundboard substance and venue-defining air movement to a concert grand. Many compacts down-convert these nine-footers to spinets, but the Dynaudio goes a long way to maintaining the illusion of a concert-hall instrument. Credit the excellent off-axis behavior and perceived in-room power response. At least some of the credit also accrues to the wider dispersion and slightly lower crossover point (2.3kHz) of the oversized tweeter.

There was a lot of low-level detail and resolving power and transparency on tap, as well—attributes that reinforced the way in which macro- and micro-dynamics can influence the mix of a multi-track recording—how they can intensify a track at the softest and loudest levels.

When I listened to Linda Ronstadt’s cover of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” [Asylum], what often gets my attention is how ever-widening dynamic swings allow me to hear into the recorded balance of individual instruments with greater clarity. During “Moon,” there’s pianist Bill Payne’s accompaniment, which introduces the song and is slightly offset from centerstage. Later, it recedes in level as a backing instrument, but the transparency and inner dynamics that the Dynaudio exposes on this track permitted me to hear beyond the note and “feel” just how heavy the player’s touch was on this track. He’s banging away in the final driving section of this song, and you can hear the weight of his touch on the keys as he punches each chord. I also noted, much to my surprise, that during Cat Stevens’ delicate “Lilywhite” [Island], it was not just the guitar’s high strings ringing out but also the dark resonances of the low-level cello—a cue that’s often missing on many two-ways compacts. Another track that exemplified Confidence 20s ease at reproducing the many textures of acoustic instruments played together in real-time was Jackson Browne’s “My Opening Farewell” [Asylum] from his 1972 self-titled debut album. Guided by some of the legendary players of the time, recording such as these are like time capsules in the way they impart the in-studio atmosphere of another era with eerie verisimilitude.

A lot is expected of a stand-mounted two-way in this premium price range—and rightfully so. Competition abounds in this segment, including some fine three-ways. But Dynaudio’s Confidence 20 surpassed my expectation in style, build-quality, and performance. The Confidence 20 was passionately musical and emotionally moving like no other Dynaudio compact in my experience—sonically arresting and ultimately irresistible, making for an easy and enthusiastic recommendation.

Specs & Pricing

Type: Two-way, bass-reflex.
Drivers: 1.1″ Esotar tweeter, 7″ Neotec MSP mid/bass
Sensitivity: 87dB
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms (5 ohms minimum @ 155Hz)
Crossover: 2.325kHz (second-order)
Dimensions: 16.25″ x 9.1″ x 20.5″
Weight: 59.5 lbs.
Price: $13,000 (includes stands)

DYNAUDIO A/S
Sverigesvej 15
DK-8660 Skanderborg
Denmark
dynaudio.com

Associated Equipment
Front end: SOTA Cosmos Eclipse turntable; SME V tonearm; Cartridges, Clearaudio Charisma, Sumiko Palo Santos; Phono Stage, Parasound JC 3+, Pass Labs XP-17; Media Player/DAC, dCS Bartok Apex; dCS Puccini (SACD); Lumin S1 Music Player; Synology NAS; USA Tube Audio RS9 Server, MacBook Pro/Pure Music; Integrated Amplifiers, Aesthetix Mimas, MBL Corona C51; Preamplifier, Pass Labs XP-12; Loudspeakers; ATC SCM50T, SCM20P, REL S/812 subs (2); Cables & Power Cords, Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 interconnect & speaker, Audience Au24frontRow cables and power cords, Synergistic Atmosphere Level Four; Shunyata Venom NR power cords. Audience USB, AudioQuest Carbon firewire; Wireworld Platinum Starlight 8 Ethernet; Power Conditioners, Audience aR6-T4, Shunyata Hydra Delta D6 conditioner; Accessories, Stillpoints Ultra 5, Townshend Audio Seismic Podiums, VooDoo Cable Iso-Pod, Critical Mass Systems rack