Dynaudio Confidence 20- Owners Thoughts?

No sadly they were dealer 1 year old demo speakers. I had a set of Dynaudio contour 20i speakers, and did notice a huge difference in sound from then to the 20's. To be honest they didn't change in sound much during the 2 years I ran them. I also had a slight toe in on them so the tweeters went just past my ears. Like you I listen to a lot of Folk female singers, Jazz blues and classical.

I find the imaging to be incredible. There is no overlapping either, you can pinpoint each musician on the stage, and hear them all at the same time.  The confidence 20 needs a lot of amp to drive them properly, I am running Sugden MPA-4 mono blocks. 165w of pure Class A power. More than enough. My room is 13 feet wide, 20 long and 8 foot ceiling.

Thanks for the measurements hilroy48. Did you get the confidence 20 new? Did you notice a change in sound from new out of the box to after some playing time? Anyone have experience with these speakers in terms of burn in? I’m just wondering about people’s break in/burn in experience with these speakers.

They do sound good, just wondering if there is a change in sound with more playing time.

Ok I measured my room again, and found my old placement numbers.  From the back of the wall to the front of the speaker is 40 inches, they are 9 feet apart tweeter to tweeter, and 2 feet from the side walls to the tweeter. I sit 9 feet back from them.

I only have about 5 hours on them at this point so I’m more curious about others experience with burn in with the speakers as I have just wanted to give them a bit of time and hear what they can do. Did you find there was burn in with these speakers and sound changed? I have heard speakers change with a few hours on them...just curious what others experience with the confidence 20 is with burn in. I wasn’t planning on getting too fussy about exact placement until they have few more hours on them. They are 25 inches out from the front wall and about 6.5 feet apart, well away from side walls.

Associated equipment is Rega planar 3 with Ortofon 2M black cartridge, NAD cd to mueatex dac, Bryston BP20 preamp. Cables are audioquest water, speaker cable is Kimber 8TC.

What is the supporting gear and cables in front of these speakers? I had mine paired with Sugden Class A mono blocks, Saturn Audio power conditioner, DAC & phono stage. All WireWorld Cables. Except speaker cables at the time were Madison Audio Lab Extreme 1 cables. They were magnificent speakers, took several hours to get them placed correctly, they were everything I had hoped for, and were going to be my end game speakers. I now have the confidence 30's and those are my end game speakers now.  

The 20's had fast articulate deep bass, the tweeters were not bright or fatiguing at all. Do you have access to different speaker cables? What room treatment do you have? Do you have the speakers positioned correctly?

Hi All,

The speakers arrived yesterday and I have been playing them and listening as they burn in. They sound quite good at this point, to be honest. I have had new speakers in the past that sounded horrible right out of the box, so I'm surprised the Dynaudios sound so good so soon. Anyone have any experience how they sound with more playing time on them? Is there much change with more hours on them? The may sound a wee bit bright, a little closed in, and not a lot of bass at this point, to my ears and in my room, but certainly not harsh or muddy or unlistenable.

I appreciate your feedback. The speakers have yet to arrive so I have yet to hear them. 
 

The review in What HiFi and the Zero Fidelity review agrees that speaker could use more “verve” and dilutes the emotional experience when listening. 
 

Does anyone else find this? They aren’t “rhythmic” to listen to?

I guess this is one of the challenges of using language to describe subjective experience as I can’t quite understand how a speaker they describe as detailed, natural, accurate with excellent treble, mids, and bass can be lacking in emotional conveyance. 
 

I’d appreciate any explanations as to what it is the speakers are missing or what exactly they are describing as missing. 
 

Happy listening!

I have these speakers. I only compared them directly with the Raidho Acoustics td1.2 (~2x more expensive, louder, therefore clearer, large sound volume, but they seemed to be showy, something didn't quite suit me in this sound, but most people can judge that these are much better than Dynaudio) and Focal Sopra no1 (muffled sound in the treble and midrange in comparison).

I have enough bass, here they sound the same as my previous floorstanding speakers (also 2-way, 2x Scan-Speak Illuminator).
The Dynaudio's create an exceptional depth and layering of sound.
I have an 18m2 room, it's not perfect acoustically. The width of the stage is probably not great, but I've never had the conditions for it in any of my flats.

The sound is natural, detailed and fast. Very versatile speakers for many types of music. And yes, they will provide an emotional connection to the music, but I have read that they need a very good amp to show what they can do.

Certainly a very good choice.

Confidence 20 or KEF Reference 1 & why?

@chiefrusty they are very revealing speakers with the proper gear, I use Burmester, had there 032 integrated on the dyna 30's, they where excellent, did everything well

Thanks for the further information fellow listeners!

grislybutter, I have ordered the speakers but they will be another couple of weeks before they arrive, that is why I am asking.

do you have them yet? I am confused, if you purchased them, what prevents you from listening to them. What does it matter if people here say X or Y if you already have them and can decide for yourself?

They will sound different with every single amp because they are pretty hard to drive....

I had a set, they are not Bass shy at all. Adjust the bass by the distance to the wall. As for treble they are not fatiguing at all, at the same time silver speaker cables will make them sound bright.

They are capable of what you desire… but it is going to be a function of your other equipment. Your Bryston amp is very detailed and powerful thusly assuring good punch at the low end. But, it might be light in the midrange not giving full weight to voices and guitar. This is also partially dependent on your preamp and DAC. Hopefully those are very warm and natural sounding. 
 

But, again… don’t judge right out of the box… they are likely to be trebly and bass shy right out of the box.

How are they in terms of singers feeling physically present in the room? Do they give acoustic guitar stings a clean, full sound…as full as sounding almost liquid?

Thank you both for your responses...much appreciated!

Congradulations!

These are excellent speakers. I have heard them more than once. The low end is effected by placement, so if you find them lacking in low end, work on placement. Speakers are incredibly sensitive to placement, particularly bass and lots of patience can have a big effect.

Also, remember to get one hundred hours or more before starting to access what they sound like. No matter how much you know this, and folks remind you, once you have put out this much money your mind is racing to find validation. It is really hard not to jump the gun. 
 

Enjoy, you have purchased some world class speakers.

they are superb speakers, image very well, vocals are very nice, only downfall is they lack a little bass, they have detailed bass but lack a little in the low end, tweeter is excellent