Dynaudio Confidence 20 vrersus Kef reference 1

Owned both brands over the years.  Agree with what's been said so far.  Both are neutral speakers, but the Kef more so.  Dynaudio has a slightly more forward and robust/rich/soft presentation, Kef slightly more laid-back and open.  The Kef lets you see deeper into the recording, but at the same time will also highlight any deficiencies in your front end components and is less forgiving to poorly recorded program material.  I think the more forgiving nature of Dynaudio makes it cheaper and easier to achieve good sound with a modest front end, whereas Kef will reward you more with better components.  Both speakers require high power to sound their best, in my experience.
  

I'm no expert on audiophile issues, but I'll share a completely subjective opinion. To my ears, in the same room, these sounded very similar for the range of music I listen to, across classic rock, jazz, some pop, lots of lounge-ish downtempo like Thievery Corporation, to euro pop like Bjork. 

- Contour 1 
- Special 40 
- Evoke 20 

This is to my ear, using the same amp (Hegel H190). 

Having heard the soft dome of Dynaudio, I think my previous favorites Monitor Audio and KEF are a bit...metallic. Dyns just sound warmer, more integrated.  

It’s been years since I’ve listened to KEF at a Magnolia Hi Fi demo room before Best Buy bought them but I remember liking the sound. I’ve always preferred the sound of soft dome tweeters though, paired with a great mid-woofer and separate subwoofers I can place in the room where they may perform better.

I’ve built some speakers based on Scan-Speak Revelator drivers and still love their sound today. I’ve always held Dynaudio in the same class, having always liked the look and sound of Dynaudio.

 I was finally motivated to get Contour 20’s after putting Esotar 2 450’s in one of my cars and Esotar 2 650’s in another. I would have liked to use the Esotar 110’s but they were too big to make fit. I thought if they could sound that good in a car, imagine how they could sound in a properly set up home system.

 The Esotar 2 drivers seem special to my ears. I would have loved to get the Confidence 20’s but am very pleased with the Contour 20’s in the time I’ve had them. I use them with a pair of Scan-Speak Revelator 32W subwoofers and an Anthem STR Preamp that handles bass management and room correction that I can use or disable.

 Due to my room I need to move my chair a few more feet away from the back wall in order to get the smoothest response but when I do the soundstage and imaging is as good as I’ve heard.

 I’d say my system is tuned perfectly to my ears :).

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.

Thanks, ackerdo. I guess I won’t have to think of upgrading my c4 for a while :)