Dynaudio Confidence C4 Loudspeaker
By John Atkinson, March 2003
Stereophile Magazine Vol.26 No.3

Judging absolute sound quality under the unfamiliar circumstances of an audio show is always fraught with difficulty. If a system sounds bad, there are so many possible reasons for it to do so that pointing a finger of blame at the components is possibly unfair. Conversely, when a room sounds good at a show, it is probable that the components being used deserve some recognition. Such was the case at Home Entertainment 2002 in New York last May, when Dynaudio's Confidence C4 made its debut.

Driven by a Naim CD player and Naim amplification in a fairly large room, the loudspeaker impressed me with its lack of coloration, the range of its dynamics, and the broad sweep of its soundstaging. Accordingly, I asked for review samples to be sent, to finish up the mini-survey of expensive, floorstanding speakers I've been publishing in recent issues. (This survey began with the Wilson Audio Sophia ($11,700/pair) in July 2002, and proceeded to cover the mbl 111b ($17,000/pair) in August of that year, the Mission Pilastro ($35,000/pair) in December, the Canton Karat Reference 2 DC ($10,000/pair) in January 2003, and the KEF Reference 207 ($15,000/pair) in February, punctuated by auditions of the more realistically priced Thiel CS1.6 ($1990/pair) and RBH 641-SE ($1499/pair) last September and October, respectively.))

Trickle-down...

...was the term I used to describe the new Dynaudio speaker on this issue's cover, to the puzzlement of some staffers. This was because, despite its $16,000/pair price, the C4 has much in common with its cost-no-object cousins in Dynaudio's Evidence line: the $85,000/pair Master and the $30,000/pair Temptation, reviewed by Larry Greenhill in May 2000 and December 2001, respectively.

Like the Evidences, the C4 is a tall, narrow floorstander with twin tweeters flanked first by twin midrange units, then by twin woofers. In combination with the first-order crossover slopes, this vertically symmetrical array of drive-units narrows the vertical radiation pattern, resulting in a claimed 75% reduction in the energy reflected from the ceiling and floor. Referred to by the manufacturer as Dynaudio Directivity Control (DDC) and reminiscent of the similar arrays used by John Dunlavy in his designs for Duntech and DAL, this will make the speaker's sound less dependent than usual on individual room acoustics.

Usually, having spaced tweeters covering identical frequency ranges will result in some top-octave vertical lobing as the drivers' outputs interfere away from the central axis. However, in the DDC array, the upper tweeter is used only between 3kHz and 8kHz, to narrow the vertical dispersion in the region where the radiating diameter would otherwise be smaller than the wavelengths of sound being emitted, reducing the presence-region "flare" in the speaker's reverberant soundfield.

The Confidence C4's tweeter is the new Esotar2 unit, which is also used in the Danish company's 25th-anniversary Special 25 loudspeaker, which so impressed John Marks in our January issue (p.55). A ferrofluid-cooled, 28mm, fabric-dome type, the Esotar2 uses a powerful neodymium magnet and aluminum voice-coil wire. Both the 6" midrange drivers and the 8" woofers feature molded plastic cones loaded with mineral powder (magnesium silicate), and again use low-mass aluminum wiring. Each of the woofers is reflex-loaded with a 2.75"-diameter port with flared inner and outer openings on the rear of the enclosure.

The first-order crossover network uses what Dynaudio refers to as "zero-compression" resistors and capacitors with low dielectric loss and is mounted on a glass-fiber-reinforced printed circuit board in a separate internal chamber. Electrical connection is via a single pair of gold WBT binding posts.

With its narrow, 10"-wide profile, the wood-veneered cabinet looks smaller than it really is, though a 16"-wide base, fitted with spiked feet, provides mechanical stability. The drive-units are carried on a gray sub-baffle sculpted from 40mm-thick MDF, which is attached to the front of the enclosure. Fit'n'finish were superb, as should be the case at this price level.

Sound

In my approximately 3100-ft3 room, finding the positions where the Confidence C4s worked optimally was more problematic than it had been with the other speakers I've reviewed recently. In particular, getting a smooth blend between the low-bass, midbass, and upper-bass regions took much experimenting. With the C4's use of first-order crossover slopes and four drivers overlapping through much of the upper-bass region, the need to make the distances of each driver from each of the adjacent boundaries (the side and rear walls, even if the speaker's restricted vertical dispersion reduces the effects of the floor and ceiling) as different as possible becomes more complex than in the case of a speaker that uses a single woofer and a steep-slope crossover.

Even when I felt I had got the Confidences optimally set up, the low frequencies were more weighty than was strictly natural. Of course, no one ever complains about a speaker having too much bass, and with classical orchestral music, where there is no repetitive low-frequency pulse—the CD of Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna (RCM 19705) that John Marks raved about in his September 2002 "The Fifth Element" column, for example—the result was nothing short of magnificent. The six-octave-tall D chord at the opening of the Introitus depends for its musical import on the double basses' 36.7Hz pedal note being reproduced to its full extent, and that the Dynaudios more than delivered.

The elevated lows were less successful on rock music, where the ubiquitous two- or four-in-the-bar kick drum tended to be elevated too high in the mix. And while on Patricia Barber's Companion (Premonition/Blue Note 5 22963 2) the speaker's in-room LF balance endowed Michael Arnopol's acoustic bass with excellent weight, it also exaggerated the sound of the thumps on track 4, "Let It Rain," where guitarist John McLean apparently strikes his instrument with the heel of his hand. Its low-frequency balance was the Dynaudio's weak point, at least in my room, where it was outpointed in this region by the Wilson and Mission speakers; there was also a slight occasional lack of upper-bass clarity. But the 1/3-octave warble tones on Stereophile's Test CD 3 were reproduced in full measure down to the 32Hz band, and even the 25Hz tone managed to shake the room. There was no wind noise to be heard from the flared ports, even at high levels, though some doubling could be heard with the 20Hz warble tone.

To return to the Lauridsen disc: It may have been partly due to the Dynaudio's powerful-sounding bass aiding the perception of the low-frequency ambience, but the speakers threw an enormous dome of ambience over and behind the singers and orchestra. In my own recent choral recordings (see January 2002, pp.61-75, and December 2002, pp.63-73), the producers did not want the singers submerged in a wet cloud of reverberation, which would work against the relatively intimate nature of the works on these CDs. But when the music is appropriately written, as the Lauridsen works are, the hall's long decay time allows the composer's suspensions and unresolved harmonies to float in the air around the singers. This effect can be addictive, but demands a speaker that is both uncolored and highly resolving in both amplitude-response and imaging domains for the reverberation not to "rattle," and for the presentation not to be degraded into a "bathroomy" soup of sound.

The C4s were indeed highly resolving when it came to stereo imaging. "Dirait-on," the fifth and final song in Lauridsen's Les Chanson des Roses on the Lux Aeterna CD, is the only one in which the singers are accompanied, by a piano. The women extend from the center of the soundstage to the left speaker, the men to the right, with the piano clearly and unambiguously set via the C4s in the center but behind the singers. In the Debussy Invocation on Cantus' ...Against the Dying of the Light (Cantus CTS1201), I mixed the piano so that its image was positioned on the right of the stage, almost level with the singers. However, when tenor Brian Arreola solos in the work's central section, he stood behind the piano—this is clearly what I heard via the Dynaudios. In addition, Brian's image remained small and well-defined, even when his voice soared at the climax before the key change that presages the choir's re-entry. It is this ability of speakers not to bloat image size as the level increases that I value highly, and that helps distinguish great speakers from the merely good.

Looking through my auditioning notes, I see that I listened to a great deal of choral and vocal music through the Confidence C4s, which bears testament to their uncolored, natural-sounding midrange. The midrange, roughly the decade from 200Hz to 2kHz, is where melody instruments and voices have their fundamental energy and where the music has its tonal center. If a speaker gets the midrange wrong, then what it does right at the frequency extremes to a large extent doesn't really matter. This Dynaudio got the midrange right, to an extent equaled only by the Wilson, Mission, and KEF, of the speakers I have recently reviewed. Its presentation was also seamless across the audioband.

When it comes to treble, I have yet to hear a speaker in my room that equals the omnidirectional mbl 111b. Once you've experienced that speaker's top-octave delicacy and ethereal extension, it becomes harder to accept the relative but inevitable lack of in-room energy offered by dome tweeters with diameters of 1" and greater. But other than that qualifier, the C4's Esotar2 tweeters offered a grain-free, transparent presentation of music's high frequencies that was effortlessly seductive.

The February issue's "Recording of the Month," the CD set of Beethoven's violin sonatas from Augustin Dumay, accompanied by Maria Joao Pires (DG 471 495-2), spent a lot of time spinning in my players over the holiday season. The Dynaudio C4 and a well-recorded classical violin, as this is, were made for each other. Even when Augustin plays without vibrato, there was no feeling of "scratch." When I was an active violin player, a touch of what (with hindsight) I now recognize was synaesthesia made me hear the over-close sound of a rosined bow catching on the strings as a distinctly sour taste in my throat. There was no such sourness with the C4s, just treble sweetness—no sense that the high frequencies were a little too high in level, as they were with the otherwise superb-sounding Cantons.

And even when the recording's highs are overcooked, as they are on the Roger Waters In the Flesh—Live DVD-V (Columbia Music Video CVD 54185, LPCM soundtrack auditioned in two channels), the forgiving nature of the Dynaudio's tweeters, coupled with the speaker's apparently limitless dynamics, allowed the music to communicate most effectively. The Americans may have invented rock, but it was the British who elevated it to a mature art form, in this lay person's opinion, at least as evidenced by this concert recording.

Summing up

While the Dynaudio Confidence C4's low frequencies will sound most neutrally balanced in large rooms, its top octave might then sound a little mellow. But in the right room, the listener will be knocked out by its natural-sounding midrange, its high-frequency transparency and lack of grain, and its well-defined, stable stereo imaging, none of which have been achieved at the expense of the speaker's musical communication. I can confidently recommend the Confidence C4, offering as it does much of the performance of this Danish manufacturer's cost-no-object Evidence models at a considerably more affordable price.

Review System:

Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv LP player on a Sound Organisation table.

Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processor; dCS 972 upsampler; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D and Ayre CX-7 CD players.

Preamplification: Linn Linto phono preamp, Mark Levinson No.380S line preamp, Z-Systems rdp-1 digital control center (updated to handle 96kHz sources).

Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.

Cables: Datalinks: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest SVD-4 S/PDIF. Interconnect: Madrigal CZ Gel-1 (balanced), DiMarzio (unbalanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Gibraltar. AC: Synergistic Research Designer's Reference2, PS Audio Lab Cable.

Accessories: PS Audio Power Plant 300 at 90Hz (preamps and CD players only), Audio Power Industries 116 Mk.II and PE-1 AC line conditioners (not power amps), ASC Tube Traps, RPG Abffusors. AC power comes from two dedicated 20A circuits, each just 6' from the breaker box. A No.33H was plugged into each.—John Atkinson

Measurements:

The Dynaudio C4's voltage sensitivity was to specification, at 90dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, as the speaker's impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) drops significantly below 8 ohms for three octaves in the lower-frequency range, where music has a considerable proportion of its energy, it is fair, I feel, to consider it as a 4 ohm load. The electrical phase angle (fig.1, dashed trace) is generally benign above the lower midrange, but the combination of -46 degrees and 5.1 ohms at 73Hz will rule out the use of amplifiers that are not happy with low impedances.

Fig.1 Dynaudio Confidence C4, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (2 ohms/vertical div.)

Other than a slight discontinuity around 115Hz, which implies some sort of cabinet problem at that frequency, the impedance traces are smooth. When I investigated the cabinet's vibrational behavior with a simple accelerometer, almost all the surfaces were suitably inert. However, the back panel did feature a low-level mode at the frequency noted in the impedance plot, and the side wall vibrated between 300Hz and 350Hz in the regions above and below the black plastic styling panels (fig.2). This mode could also be detected on the front baffle adjacent to the tweeters, though the poor coupling to the air by the small region affected will work against its having an audible effect.

Fig.2 Dynaudio Confidence C4, cumulative spectral-decay plot calculated from the output of an accelerometer fastened to the cabinet's side panel level with the upper woofer. (MLS driving voltage to speaker, 7.55V; measurement bandwidth, 2kHz.)

The saddle centered on 30Hz in the impedance magnitude indicates the tuning of the rear-facing ports. I did examine the responses of both midrange units, woofers, and ports; while the outputs of the members of each pair did differ in slight detail, the outputs were similar enough that I've shown the summed results in fig.3. The output of the ports (green trace) does broadly peak at 30Hz, with a smooth rolloff above 60Hz broken by traces of energy around 120Hz and 450Hz. These are both low enough in level, however, that I hardly think they contribute to the speaker's sonic character.

Fig.3 Dynaudio Confidence C4, summed nearfield midrange responses (red trace), summed woofers (blue), summed ports (green), with their complex sum (black).

The woofers' response (fig.3, blue) has its minimum-motion point at the port tuning frequency, but rolls off very slowly above 200Hz, due to the use of a first-order crossover. The response of the twin midrange units (red) is somewhat enigmatic, as there is both broad overlap with the woofers and some unevenness in their high-pass rollout. There always exists the possibility of leakage in these nearfield measurements when the unwanted drivers can't be disconnected without surgery—when a speaker has bi- or triwiring terminals, I short-circuit the unwanted drivers for each measurement. But taken literally, this overlap means that the Confidence C4's summed low-frequency response (black trace) is exaggerated in the upper bass.

This summed low-frequency output is also shown to the left of fig.4, spliced at 300Hz to the C4's farfield response, averaged across a 30 degrees horizontal window on the lower-tweeter axis and corrected for the measuring microphone's own departure from a flat axial response. As I've explained before (see my 1998 and 1999 articles on speaker measurements in the online archives at www.Stereophile.com), this apparent upper bass will be at least partly due to the nearfield measurement technique, which assumes a hemispherical acoustic environment for the drive-units—but only partly, which correlates with what I said in my auditioning notes about the speaker's exaggerated in-room low frequencies.

Fig.4 Dynaudio Confidence C4, anechoic response on lower tweeter axis at 50", averaged across 30 degrees horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield responses plotted below 300Hz.

The Confidence's midrange output in fig.4 can be seen to be slightly laid-back, but the response in the decade between 500Hz and 5kHz is otherwise superbly flat. There is a slight lift in the octave above 6kHz, with then an earlier-than-usual top-octave rolloff, due to the fact that the relatively large-diameter tweeters start beaming lower in frequency than with sammler domes.

This can be seen in fig.5, which shows the Dynaudio's lateral dispersion, referenced to the lower-tweeter axis. The HF output starts to roll off above 10kHz even 10 degrees to the side of the main axis, and there is a slight presence-region flare apparent. However, it should be noted how evenly spaced the contour lines are in this graph, which correlates with the stable, accurate stereo imaging I mentioned in my listening notes. In the vertical plane (fig.6), the Confidence's radiation pattern is free from the severe interference effects that can afflict speakers with an asymmetrical driver array and first-order crossover filters. However, the upper midrange does shelve down if the listener sits below the lower-midrange unit, which is 36" from the floor.

Fig.5 Dynaudio Confidence C4, lateral response family at 50", normalized to response on lower tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 90 degrees-5 degrees off-axis, reference response, differences in response 5 degrees-90 degrees off-axis.

Fig.6 Dynaudio Confidence C4, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on lower tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 20 degrees-5 degrees above axis, reference response, differences in response 5 degrees-10 degrees below axis.

Fig.7 indicates how this quasi-anechoic behavior translates in my listening room. The response trace, an average of 120 measurements taken individually for the left and right speakers and weighted toward my ear position, shows the low-frequency emphasis that I noted in my auditioning and found in the nearfield measurements, broken only by the usual lack of measured energy in the 50Hz and 63Hz bands, something that appears to be typical of my room. Lower in frequency, even though the Confidence's summed nearfield response rolls out below 50Hz, the speaker's in-room output is maintained for at least an octave lower, due to boundary effects. This speaker will clearly give a more neutral bass balance in rooms that are larger than mine.

Fig.7 Dynaudio Confidence C4, spatially averaged, 1/3-octave, freefield response in JA's listening room.

I was surprised by the energy excess in the mid-treble revealed by this graph—this was not what I heard. I can imagine only that, instead of my ears locking on to the midrange level as their reference and thus perceiving the upper-frequency balance as boosted, they were instead taking the latter as their reference (aided in this by the boosted lows) and perceiving the mids as being laid-back.

The C4's step response (fig.8) indicates that the upper-frequency drivers are all connected with positive acoustic polarity. The woofers, however, appear to be connected in inverted polarity with respect to the midrange units, which is presumably to optimize both the frequency-domain integration between the drivers and the speaker's vertical dispersion. The cumulative spectral-decay plot on the lower tweeter axis (fig.9) in general reveals superbly clean die-away, disturbed only by a residual mode at 5kHz. It's no wonder the C4's treble sounded so grain-free.—John Atkinson

Fig.8 Dynaudio Confidence C4, step response on lower tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

Fig.9 Dynaudio Confidence C4, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime).

TOP

May 2003 - Soundstage.com

Dynaudio Confidence C4 Loudspeaker
by John Leosco

Sometimes people ask me when my passion for music and audio began. The idea of listening for both pleasure and enlightenment was a part of my routine at a very young age. I remember hearing Paul Harvey’s news and commentary while my mother prepared Campbell’s soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches for lunch long before I attended kindergarten. Once my grade-school days commenced, I’d always return home to the sound of an album in mid-performance. The television didn’t get flipped on until evening. We only had four TV channels to choose from in those days, the three major networks and PBS. Besides, music was simply more captivating. Personal computers and video games were merely an idea in some engineer’s noggin.

As a lad, I’d often descend into the basement. Among the shadows, the solid bleached-oak cabinet of a 1954 Magnavox console still held luster -- the fallen victim of a '60s' format war. A couple of large woofers split by a horn midrange driver, each powered by its very own 6V6 vacuum tube, soothed with monophonic sound. Don’t laugh. This Magnavox was musical, and its limitations were irrelevant. Frankie Laine would belt out the lines on Command Performance [Columbia CL625], and I’d be transported to a different place, maybe this time as an invited guest to the Queen’s Ball. Want to attend a bullfight? Then drop the stylus on Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The cellar was my sanctuary.

Thirty-plus years later, two wooden crates suspiciously resembling coffins straight out of the Wild West, were delivered to my door, an ominous sign for the superstitious and those over 40. Even Brian the truck driver was curious of the contents; hence questions about things audio and the aforementioned history lesson. A label on the shipment read: "Dynaudio -- Authentic Fidelity -- Confidence C4 -- Rosewood -- Made in Denmark -- Danes don’t lie." I admitted to Brian that I haven’t met enough people from Scandinavia, or Danes in particular, to corroborate the last statement.

21st century totem poles

Opening the crates revealed a pair of slim, elegant, exquisitely finished pillars. Lovely hand-polished furniture-grade veneer offered no flaws and virtually invisible joints as if each speaker were sawn from a single tree trunk. Each Confidence C4 measures 69"H x 10"W x 17 1/2"D and weighs 110 pounds, the loudspeaker cabinet permanently supported above a 16" x 16" metallic plinth. The C4's towering aesthetic form occupies a small footprint within the listening area while creating an internal volume of 60 cavernous liters. The bass-reflex design is vented toward the rear through two 2 3/4" flared ports. A single set of WBT gold binding posts inconspicuously resides on the back just above the pedestal, so you can't biwire or biamp.

What initially appeared to be an architectural masterpiece technologically impresses as well. Up front a distinctive baffle bulges outward like a rectangular shield. In fact, the 1 1/2"-thick gray-colored extension is a special resonance-damping high-density fiberboard attached to the cabinet face. The baffle’s shape is contoured with precise lines and curves to achieve balanced transmission. Additionally, the side walls are widened and stiffened, with smoked-glass ellipses adjacent to the woofers. Both elements serve to optimize diffraction and help eliminate midband and high-frequency resonance.

Symmetrically mounted on the innovative baffle are three pairs of drivers, all made by Dynaudio, of course. The 20cm woofers and 15cm midranges have one-piece cones of magnesium silicate polymer (MSP). The midrange units are set into motion by 38mm pure-aluminum-wire voice coils, and the woofers are driven by 75mm coils with large neodymium magnet rings. Lightweight aluminum enables the voice-coil diameter to be larger without the mass of a heavier copper conductor. A flat-cone geometry is made possible, the voice-coil-to-cone attachment is much stronger due to a greater adhesive surface, and the coil’s cooling properties are also dramatically increased.

The new Esotar² soft-dome tweeter utilizes textile silk material with a unique coating to provide smooth high-frequency roll-off. Efficient magnetic material together with an aluminum vented voice coil are said to deliver an ultra-dynamic impulse response. To control resonance, a rear-mounted acoustic absorber deadens back-wave energy, and a magnetic fluid acts like a sensitive shock absorber to internally damp the voice coil. Dual tweeters on the Confidence C4 are connected to a massive aluminum plate centrally secured into the baffle, a solid surface that combats unwanted vibrations with the added benefit of heat dissipation.

Dynaudio wanted to design a loudspeaker that would be less influenced by room acoustics. First developed for the Evidence models and now passed down to the Confidence line, Dynaudio Directivity Control (DDC) regulates dispersion on the vertical plane to minimize ceiling and floor reflections. Each driver type has a specific radiation pattern that is frequency dependent. At higher frequencies the energy radiated by a driver is more direct, and in the lower registers it is more dispersed. With DDC, each set of identical opposing drivers operates in tandem within the same frequency range up to a certain level, then the lower driver is faded out, leaving the rest of the duties to the uppermost unit. Total energy radiated into the listening area should be balanced both at nearfield and distant positions, while yielding a reduced angle of radiation above and below the listening window.

The complex first-order network responsible for driver integration has specified crossover frequencies at 730Hz, 2000Hz, and 8000Hz, with 6dB/octave slopes. The crossover is housed in a separate chamber and is built from high-quality components, including a glass-fiber-reinforced printed circuit board with thick copper traces, low-loss capacitors, and zero-compression resistors.

The Confidence C4 loudspeaker has a specified frequency response of 27Hz-25kHz +/- 2dB. Sensitivity is specified at 89dB (2.83V/1m) with a nominal impedance of 4 ohms. All of the C4's engineering and craftsmanship will set you back $16,000 USD for a pair in rosewood, maple, or cherry finish. A dynamic duo in black lacquer runs $17,800.

Care and feeding

Unpacking and moving large full-range loudspeakers can be a hernia waiting to happen, but the Confidence C4s are a refreshing departure from the norm. With the speakers weighing in at just over 100 pounds each, two sets of hands are recommended for removing the speakers from their packing crates. However, they were a breeze to spin and crab-walk into position on the plinths’ edges.

Once the speakers are situated, four hex-head screws with pointed tips located in the plinths’ corners may be lowered from the top to level the speaker. Leveling was a cinch, but I wish the spikes were needle-sharp enough to burrow through carpet and a thick pad down to solid floor. Heck, I’m willing to tear up a perfectly good rug for better stability.

I settled on an eight-foot speaker spread with each transducer nine feet away from my chair, but the Confidence C4s sounded pretty darn good regardless of exacting placement. Bass response was smooth and extended when the Dynaudios were at least two feet removed from the front wall in my asymmetrical room. Images really snapped into focus with the speakers quite severely toed-in, the drivers aimed to intersect about seven feet behind my head.

I can’t definitively say the Dynaudio Confidence C4s are a difficult load, but my reference Ayre V-1x amplifier sure wouldn’t effectively drive ‘em -- sounding lethargic in the process. Maybe the specified 3.3-ohm minimum impedance between 20Hz and 200Hz with a 57-degree phase shift in the same region was to blame. Fortunately, the recently reviewed Plinius SA-102 amplifier controlled the C4s with its burly current delivery and proved to be an ideal stablemate. If you’re considering these speakers, make sure you have enough horsepower on hand to make them gallop.

The rest of my review system consisted of a PS Audio Lambda CD transport feeding a Dodson Audio DA-217 Mk II D digital converter via an Illuminations D-60 digital cable. An Ayre K-1x preamplifier varied level through single-ended AudioQuest Diamond interconnects. Synergistic Research Designer’s Reference speaker cables bridged the amplifier-to-speaker gap. An API Power Wedge 116 conditioned AC power to the front-end components.

Come fly with me

Dynaudio’s high-tech drivers and efforts toward reducing loudspeaker resonance and room reflections have paid off -- big time. The Confidence C4s sound lightning quick, transparent, and remarkably clean. Despite how rapidly each uncolored individual note rings down, it has the requisite harmonics -- and no more -- to replay familiar tunes with stunning realism. From The Best of Sade [Epic EK 85287], "The Sweetest Taboo" opens with a tropical curtain of rainfall splayed nearly from wall to wall. Maracas enter and briskly shake, every pebble strike defining their hollow form, while complex, rhythmic percussion distinctly taps out a Latin beat. Sade Adu’s naturally aloof vocals were focused and rock steady. The Caribbean flavor was so fresh, I envisioned myself relaxing on a sandy beach somewhere, sipping a Mai Tai.

Thunder and lightning aside, what allured me most was the clearly holistic approach to musical reproduction of the Confidence C4. Instead of reciting a critical analysis or a dissection of the music into its elements, the Dynaudio loudspeakers seem more concerned with communicating the whole and the interdependence of its parts. Whether or not the first-order crossover with a wide-band blending of drivers is responsible, the outcome is an integrated portrayal no matter the source.

An excellent example is the sublime compact disc Diana Krall Live in Paris [Verve 440 065 109-2]. I could talk about Krall’s confident and creative phrasings at center stage surrounded with tinkling piano strikes, silky-smooth strings, and immediate bass, offset by a twangy electric guitar and stainless, shimmering cymbals, but doing so would miss the point entirely. Notes from the various players mingle without a fundamental loss of identity, just like in real life. Oh, the intimacy of fine small-group jazz! I can close my eyes and ingest the thick ambiance almost as if I’d flown the Concorde over to Europe and walked amongst the crowd at the Paris Olympia to experience the event firsthand. Wonderful!

And this is the way it was throughout the review period: Utterly precise images were cast before me with a mid-hall perspective, the players located either just in front of, between and around, or behind the loudspeaker plane. Raising the volume, even to ridiculous levels, did not shove the musicians forward into my face or submerge me in a wake of sound. Rather, positioning and size held steady amidst superb escalating dynamics without a trace of hardness or strain. Fatigue didn’t set in even during lengthy listening sessions. Soundstage breadth wholly depended on venue and recording; it was sufficiently large and never constrained by the speakers.

Only in the lower frequencies did the Confidence C4s display imperfection in my 22' x 15' x 8' room, plus adjoining areas. On Janet Jackson’s All For You [Virgin 7243 8 10144 2 4], the particularly strong bass lines appear a little too prominent, at times even dominating the scene and overpowering the room with pulsing rumbles. I hadn’t experienced the phenomenon before with this disc, and drastically changing speaker positions didn’t help much. Perhaps the rear-firing ports tend to excite my room more than my downward-vented B&W Nautilus 801. With my classical and jazz references, lows from the Dynaudios were often realistic and sometimes prodigious. However, the powerful bass was always well-damped, firm, and in character with the loudspeaker.

England vs. Denmark

The Dynaudio Confidence C4s and my long-term B&W Nautilus 801s are both very dynamic, revealing, and extended transducers. But across the board, the B&W Nautilus 801 is comparatively the flamboyant one. Its full bass appears balanced, but feels more conspicuous, with prolonged effects after the initial impact. The Nautilus' midrange is sweeter, with slightly richer harmonics, and the highs ring a bit more emphatically. The 801s tend to project the soundfield outward, closer to the listener. If you rush to be in the front row at a concert, consider the B&W Nautilus 801s. On the other hand, the Dynaudio Confidence C4s offer up a riveting, crystalline, mid-hall representation marked by transparency and speed.

The Confidence C4s do cost $5000 more per pair than the Nautilus 801s, and there’s simply no getting around the difference in price. But let me try to lessen the blow a little. The Plinius SA-102 amp performed admirably driving the Dynaudios, and it costs $5000. The C4s also need only one pair of speaker cables, so the total for a speaker/amp/cable combo may be as "little" as $22,000. From my experience, getting the maximum potential from the B&W Nautilus 801s will require more expensive amplification, and you’ll likely want to biwire them. Before you’re through, a Nautilus-based outfit may cost as much or even much more than a Dynaudio package.

Old friends

The Dynaudio Confidence C4 is a distinguished, musical loudspeaker that reminds me of why I got involved with audio in the first place: to visit faraway lands, experience exotic places, and reminisce with old friends -- all without leaving my listening room. I bet they’ll do the same for you.

An old friend stopped by the other night. Bear Family has released a Frankie Laine retrospective entitled I Believe [BCD 16367] containing the Columbia tracks he recorded from 1951-1955, 163 in all. Laine’s booming voice in big mono sounds great, each inflection explicitly clear. "Rose, Rose I Love You" recalls the aching pain of an American serviceman departing the Orient soon to be separated from the love of his life, his Asian flower, forevermore. "Jealousy" contains all of the searing emotion the textbook definition of the word implies. Once again, 30-some years since the first time and listening this time to the Dynaudio Confidence C4s, I was totally enthralled and in awe with what I heard.

Review Summary

Sound: "Holistic approach to musical reproduction" in which "the outcome is an integrated portrayal no matter the source"; "lightning quick, transparent, and remarkably clean"; offer "a mid-hall perspective, the players located either just in front of, between and around, or behind the loudspeaker plane."

Features: "Slim, elegant, exquisitely finished pillars" that feature all Dynaudio drivers, including the Esotar² soft-dome tweeter; "special resonance-damping high-density fiberboard" baffle"; "Dynaudio Directivity Control (DDC) regulates dispersion on the vertical plane to minimize ceiling and floor reflections."

Use: The C4s need power -- "if you’re considering these speakers, make sure you have enough horsepower on hand to make them gallop"; ample bass response may be a concern in some rooms.

Value: "Simply no getting around" their $16,000 price, but given their sound with a less expensive Plinius amp and need for only one run of speaker cables, they may be within reach once considered part of a complete system.

...John Leosco
johnl@soundstage.com

Link to review above - Soundstage.com

TOP