Dynaudio has expanded its high-end speaker lineup with two new standmount models—the Contour 20 Black Edition and the Confidence 20A. One is a passive speaker designed for those who love traditional hi-fi setups, while the other is an active model with built-in amplification for a more streamlined system. Whether you're into tweaking your system with external amps or just want a powerful all-in-one speaker, Dynaudio is offering something for both types of listeners.
If you’re familiar with Dynaudio’s Contour 20i, the Contour 20 Black Edition takes that foundation and upgrades key components to bring it closer in performance to the more expensive Confidence 20 series.
One of the biggest changes is the tweeter. Dynaudio has swapped out the Esotar 2i for the more advanced Esotar 3, which is found in the company’s top-tier speakers. This upgrade is meant to improve high-frequency clarity, giving the speaker a more detailed and open sound.
The mid-bass driver also gets an upgrade with a neodymium magnet and an extended voice coil winding, helping with precision and imaging—in other words, making sure the speaker accurately places instruments and vocals within a soundstage.
Another notable change is the dual-flare port design, which helps smooth out airflow inside the speaker, improving bass response without adding unwanted distortion.
On the inside, Dynaudio has reworked the crossover network, using high-end Mundorf capacitors and resistors, a larger air coil, and Van den Hul cables. This is all meant to ensure a cleaner and more natural sound. The speaker follows a second-order crossover design, handing off frequencies between the drivers at 3.6kHz.
Design-wise, the Contour 20 Black Edition sticks to an all-black theme—black woofer basket, black tweeter plate, black anodized baffle, and a high-gloss black cabinet. While it looks sleek, these refinements also help with reducing unwanted vibrations.
The Contour 20 Black Edition is available now for $8,000 per pair, with optional speaker stands priced at $599 per pair.
For those who don’t want to worry about matching speakers with external amplifiers, the Confidence 20A takes Dynaudio’s Confidence 20 and adds built-in amplification and digital signal processing (DSP).
The Confidence 20A doesn’t just slap an amp inside the cabinet, though. Instead, Dynaudio uses a DSP-based crossover rather than a traditional passive one, which helps with phase accuracy and extends the bass down to 34Hz (-3dB), compared to 42Hz on the passive Confidence 20. That means deeper bass without the need for a subwoofer.
Each speaker is powered by two dedicated Class D amplifiers from Pascal, a company that specializes in high-performance amp design. The woofer gets 400 watts, while the tweeter gets 150 watts, ensuring plenty of headroom for loud, clean playback.
For connectivity, the Confidence 20A includes:
Unlike most active speakers, the Confidence 20A’s amplifiers aren’t housed inside the speaker itself. Instead, the electronics sit inside the custom stands, which also act as heatsinks to manage thermal performance.
The speaker’s overall look sticks with the black front baffle and matching driver rings, giving it a clean, understated aesthetic.
The Confidence 20A is available now for $24,000 per pair.
The decision between these two speakers comes down to how you like to build your audio system.
Both models bring high-end engineering and thoughtful refinements to the table, whether you’re into traditional hi-fi setups or modern active speaker systems.
