Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player, custom Baetis Prodigy-X4i music server running JRiver Media Center v27 and Roon 1.8, exaSound s88 streaming DAC and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processor. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifiers: None. Switching performed with a Coleman Audio 7.1SW.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima2 Studio with IsoAcoustics Gaia I isolation feet.
Cables: Analog interconnects: AudioQuest Earth/DBS balanced, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA). Speaker cables: Benchmark Studio&Stage, Canare 4S11 (Blue Jeans Cable). AC cables Kubala-Sosna Emotion, SignalCable MagicPower 20A. Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB).
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 5000 and BrickWall 8RAUD power conditioners, Teddy Pardo 12V PS (for exaSound s88), HDPLEX 400W ATX Linear Power Supply, CyberPower 850PFCLCD AC filter (for Baetis server).
Listening room: 24' L × 14' W × 8' H, furnished with 2 MSR Acoustics Dimension4 SpringTraps in the front corners, 2 Ready Acoustics Chameleon Super Sub Bass Traps to the sides, and moderately sound-absorbing furniture. Front wall has large windows partly covered by fabric drapes and 4" thick 2' × 4' OC 705 panels. Rear of room opens into 10' × 7' foyer and a 12' × 8' dining area.—Kalman Rubinson
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COMMENTS
I greatly appreciate your decision to talk about break in vs. 'listener accommodation.'
Very much neurologically pitch perfect!
Kudos.
Now, if only my budget was of the same high quality as your review!
If this product is Major League....or more like Triple A, given its place in their product lineup, that puts me at Single A...minor league!
These things have an evil bass loading, almost as nasty as the Wilson Alexia's
JA's "should be used with amplifiers that don't have problems driving impedances of 4 ohms or lower" to me seems a little understated.
Cheers George
I wanted to get this speaker from my local Dynaudio dealer BUT they cannot get it for me because they are not "Confidence certified" dealer!
Its a nonsense - Dynaudio will loose sale because they will not let their dealer sell $21k speaker....
To become a "Confidence" dealer, one has to have at least 3 pair from the line as a demo - I do not blame dealer for now wanting stock something that might not sell.
sad....I emailed Dynaudio Denmark about this issue and am curious to see their response...
I read the review and realized that the Revel Ultima2 series, which was almost 15 years old design, still stand strong against the New Dynaudio Confidence. I auditioned the Revel Salon2 vs Dynaudio Confidence 50 (about same prices when I auditioned) and end up picked the Revel Salon2 :) I had some more chances to audition the New Confidence after I purchased the Salon2. And I have never regretted my decision.
The reason? There have not been great advances in the design and construction of loudspeakers as there has been in electronics. Subtle changes yes, but important breakthroughs no. Including the monstrous YG Acoustics speakers :)
The reason not new driver that revolutionize the consept.
Yes drivers in particular, some inventor has to find a different way of pushing and pulling air into a room, and lowering the mass of whatever it is considerably.
Cheers George
... these speakers may not have been the optimal choice due to their particularly low minimum impedance.
The manual for the AHB2 specifies an output current capability of 29A into a 1Ω, or about 840W.
However, peak output power tests conducted by HiFi News resulted in outputs of 108W / 200W / 346W / 230W into 8Ω / 4Ω / 2Ω / 1Ω.
The 230W output into 1Ω is equivalent to only about 15A, not 29A.
By comparison, the HiFI News test of the Rotel RB-1582 resulted in peak outputs of 295W / 555W / 1005W / 1630W into 8Ω / 4Ω / 2Ω / 1Ω.
The 1630W output into 1Ω is equivalent to about 40A.
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/reviews/16831125-ahb2-review-bench-test-andrew-everard-hi-fi-news
https://www.rotel.com.au/blogs/reviews-resources/11026613-hi-fi-news-reviews-the-unstoppable-2x200w-rb-1582-rc-1580
Your comments are acknowledged but please note that the NAD C298, in stereo and monobloc, was also used in this review.
... have significantly greater peak power output capability than a Benchmark AHB2 - assuming that it meets/exceeds those specs.
None of the tests I've seen, thus far, have measured the power output at loads of 2Ω, or lower.
The one review that attempted to measure peak power encountered issues with the protection circuit.
NAD claims peak power outputs in two-channel mode of 260W / 490W / 570W into 8Ω / 4Ω / 2Ω.
Further stated is a peak current output of 25A into 1Ω, which would equate to 625W.
In bridged/mono mode, NAD claims peak power outputs of 1000W / 1100W into 8Ω / 4Ω. The small power increase into 4Ω, versus 8Ω, suggests that some limiting mechanism is already coming into effect at that impedance.
Operating in bridged/mono mode increases the output voltage capability, but doesn't provide a higher power output at lower impedances if the amplifier can't supply the needed current and/or the protection circuit won't permit it.
...the slow, inevitable spiral toward the drain of audio as an objective aural experience, to be replaced by a gross commoditization wrought by meter readers, detached techs, and pugilistic invaders with a short stack of random data, we're reminded that fifteen amperes of audio current is insufficient to drive a competent residential loudspeaker.
Maybe we need a new Paradigm. One overtly unmoored from the former realities we thought we'd built fifty years of rich audio experience upon. Apparently it was we who were deaf and the non-listener who, somehow, really knew what was going on.
Fifteen amperes.
... power amp, with an output current capability exceeding 100A, would be simply ... pointless.
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