I spent around 10 totals hours listening to the new Confidence 20's and 50's. Time spent was over a few months during various stages of the "break-in" period.
I currently own the Confidence C2 Signature speakers, spent $12K USD, and had to hear the new speakers given the significant price escalation.
Wrt sound - there is definitely more emphasis/performance on the lower end of both speakers. Other subjective attributes were apparent to me (some good, some bad) but nothing to justify the price hike. Cabinet and overall build quality seems inferior to their predecessors and after every listening session I returned home and smiled wide at the C2 sound. By comparison, I prefer the old C2 sound.
I would guess the price hike is intentional market positioning rather than driven by any true production cost variable. Prices across the board are absurdly high these days.
I currently own the Confidence C2 Signature speakers, spent $12K USD, and had to hear the new speakers given the significant price escalation.
Wrt sound - there is definitely more emphasis/performance on the lower end of both speakers. Other subjective attributes were apparent to me (some good, some bad) but nothing to justify the price hike. Cabinet and overall build quality seems inferior to their predecessors and after every listening session I returned home and smiled wide at the C2 sound. By comparison, I prefer the old C2 sound.
I would guess the price hike is intentional market positioning rather than driven by any true production cost variable. Prices across the board are absurdly high these days.