Audiogon needs a "Block the Buffoon" button. 🤡🤡🤡
Dynaudio Confidence 20 vrersus Kef reference 1
Any any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks much. Paul.
42 responses Add your response
| Post removed |
@kenjitAn ignorant post. What speaker is not a "wooden box with drivers in 'em"? And in fact, you are wrong. The baffle is Compex, and the box is a composite MDF, like most speakers. Have you heard the Confidence 20? What if an extra $5K was not a big deal? Then what? Would you still not get the speakers that sounded better? |
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. |
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'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. |
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've heard the Reference and it was a really smooth listen. Maybe a tad dark sounding, but I kinda like that signature. In a fairly large room the sub 40hz bass was missing, so that was probably my only gripe. I've also listened to the special 40 and to me at had more sub bass impact, but this was in a smaller room. I thought it sounded a bit aggressive for my taste, but again it could have been the room. The Confidence 20 goes deeper in the bass than the special 40. |
| Post removed |
| Post removed |
Do you realize that you are a narcissist? Do you realize that you are pompous? Do you realize that those of us who have followed you for the past 6 months laugh at you and give you zero credibility?Its not a crime to be pompous is it? You cannot be a narcissist unless you have been committed to a mental hospital and formally diagnosed. You have no qualifications to make these assertions. You are just changing the subject because you are not able to add much to the actual discussion. There are plenty of DIY guys out there putting together there own speakers... are they doing it wrong too? Definitely. Very Wrong.
Anybody can claim to be the best speaker designer. Every speaker company will claim that their design is superior. Show me the evidence Bruce. Show me the evidence that the Dynaudio confidence 20 is a brillant speaker. It costs $12k. I demand evidence. Have you changed the crossover components, or the dsp in your bose wave radio or are you just a hypocrite? I dont have a bose radio. Thats just your mistaken belief. The earbuds do not need modifying. They are still enjoyable despite their limitations. Im sure there are people who have upgraded their crossover components... are they achieving audio nirvana? You would need a retune not just upgrade the components. I never claimed the crossover is the answer to everything. There are many problems with speakers that cause audiophiles like you to be on the never ending speaker merry go round. I suggest you find out what you need to do to come off it. You are WRONG if you think you have already found perfect sound. Kenjit~ Champion Audiophile |
| Post removed |
| Post removed |
As a matter of fact, yes, my system is custom tuned to my ears through thought out choice of components, cables, acoustic treatments, speaker placement, speaker choice... I, like anyone else here tunes their systems through component selection, cable selection, speaker selection, acoustic panels... if we don’t like a certain element of the sound we are getting we research what needs to be done to change it into something that is musical satisfying to our ears. Not too hard for the rest of us to understand Exactly. Audiophiles do want to tune their systems to their liking. However, the problem is theyre not doing it correctly. Cables are often used to supposedly adjust the sound but they make not even 0.5db difference across the entire spectrum. An Equalizer could be used however and that would enable you to adjust several db across the spectrum which IS easily audible. A crossover cannot be retuned with cables. A crossover can only be retuned by changing the crossover. And that is one reason audiophiles cannot be satisfied. They dont like the way the crossover sounds and they are not clever enough to redo it. Is the bose wave radio you have custom tuned to you ears? Are your cheap earbuds custom tuned to your ears? No they are not however they may be tuned closer to my liking than other speakers even much more expensive ones. Furthermore most high end speakers are deliberately tuned RULER FLAT by a bunch of ignorant designers, which is wrong by anybodys standards. |
| Post removed |
He thinks his cheap earbuds sound amazing and that bose and sonos sound better than either of the fine speakers that you are looking atThat is because these high end speakers are never set up under the correct conditions. The bose and sonos are tuned more correctly. Of course they are not perfect. I have not claimed that. You would need a custom made studio to hear these high end speakers properly. How many high end dealers have their own custom made studio of the same level as a professional recording or mastering studio? The speakers you find on the market place such as Dynaudio confidence 20, are not custom tuned. Speakers must be fine tuned. Are YOUR speakers custom tuned to your ears Bruce? Or have you made a terrible mistake and bought a mass produced speaker that only profits the speaker companies? I suggest you have your speakers retuned to your ears rather than the speaker designers ears who presume to think that they know what you want to hear Kenjit~ Master Audiophile bar none. |
| Post removed |
I had the dynaudios C1s mkll, after that the signatures and now the 40s. When the new confidence came out I knew one day I'll have it. Yes they went up on price quite a lot. The 40s are very close to the C1s, as a matter of fact I believe they are the king of that categorie right now. Those who ask why so expensive, don't know or heard a dynaudio contour or confidence in a good system, to me they sound better then speakers costing more. I heard and owned many speakers with Seas, Scanspeak, Morel ,Vifa and Accuton drivers but for me dynaudios beats them all. They have a right and rare balance of detail and dynamic at same time never sound like artificial reproduction. |
I own the Ref 1’s paired with Hegel H590 and have listened to the new Confidence 20’s paired with the Luxman 509 (non critical listening environment and with speaker cables that tend to be too bright/fatiguing for my ears). Both are excellent choices and really comes down to what you prefer....although I don’t think there’s a night and day difference between the two speakers. I’m not sure what avanti1960 is referring to with respect to the “metallic” signature of the Ref 1’s. I’d be interested in what was driving them, cables, power cord, etc. |
https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/266-dynaudio-confidence-20-loudspeakers Looks like a very nice speakers but it needs their dedicated stands because of the down-firing bass port. The model below Contour 20 looks very nice also w/ many glowing reviews. https://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/contour/contour-20 |
I have heard the Kefs on a number of occasions. I also own the Confidence 20’s. I prefer the Confidence, better fit and finish along with a fuller sound. They do not lack any detail compared to the Kefs yet they are simply more natural and enjoyable. If you have never heard a bookshelf kick and punch like a full range speaker then you need to hear the Dyns. |
the confidence 20 is a horribly expensive wooden box with drivers in 'em. I see nothing that justifies such a high price. Theres a limit to what you can do with a wooden box. Either the quality needs to be vastly improved or the price needs to come down. The kef ref 1. Less expensive but still very expensive. Again, it comes down to the question of why one speaker is better than another. I just posted a thread on that exact topic but nobody here knows the answer. |