Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" soft-dome tweeter, 6.6" plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 1800Hz, with first-order slopes. Frequency range: 44Hz–22kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83V/m. IEC long-term power handling: 170W.
Dimensions: 17.4" (445mm) H by 7.8" (200mm) W by 16.8" (430mm) D. Weight: 24 lbs (10.9kg).
Finishes: rosewood, maple, cherry, black ash veneers.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 519841, 519842.
Price: $6500/pair in standard veneers; premium gloss black or…
search
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe, Muse Polyhymnia universal players; McIntosh MS750 media server.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-1xe, Conrad-Johnson ACT2, Krell Evolution 202.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek 4340.
Power Amplifiers: Krell Evolution 600, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, Portal Paladin, all monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five, Sonics Anima, Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppy 8.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries & Antares, Krell CAST. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra.
Accessories: Ayre L-5xe line filter;…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Dynaudio Confidence C1's sensitivity on its woofer axis, which is 37" from the floor, is both below the specification and below average, at an estimated 85dB(B)/2.83V/m. As Wes Phillips found in his auditioning, it will benefit from being driven by a powerful amplifier. As can be seen from fig.1, however, its impedance is relatively kind to the amplifier, though a dip to 4.3 ohms in the upper bass and a combination of 5.9 ohms magnitude and a –38° electrical phase angle suggest that tube amplifiers would work best with this speaker when used from their 4 ohm…
Jim Austin wrote about the Dynaudio C1 in August 2008 (Vol.31 No.8):
Love is a lot to expect from a new relationship, especially when it's with a partner made of wood and rubber. But, jokes about "big racks" and Elliot Spitzer aside, true love is what most of us are seeking when we lay down our money for something expensive and potentially gratifying—like a new pair of speakers. I'm a happily married and a dad, but on the audio side, I'm on the prowl and looking for love.
I have found that in audio, as in other aspects of life, love is hard to come by.
Highfalutin audio…
The announcement in October 1995 of the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) set the hearts of audiophiles and music lovers pounding. Although primarily a digital video and computer-data storage format, DVD's massive capacity could be applied to a "super CD" audio-only disc. Finally we would be liberated from the musical limitations of the CD's 16-bit word length, 44.1kHz sampling rate, and two-channel format. We were tantalized by reports of 96kHz sampling rate, 24-bit word length, and multichannel playback. Digital redemption appeared to be just around the corner.
This belief was fostered by…
"Words are pegs to hang ideas on."—Henry Ward Beecher
Larry Archibald was moving office. As Stereophile's CEO believes that whatever you need should be close to hand and that you will always need everything, a knot of interested staffers gathered to see what archaeological items would be unearthed from the shrinking piles of paper on and around his desk. My haul? I managed to rescue some otherwise dumpster-destined 1986 issues of PC Magazine.
Browsing through those magazines, I stumbled across a writer referring to a 286 PC with a 12MHz clock as "blindingly fast"—compared with the…
"Rave on down through the corridors,
"Rave on words on printed page!"—Van Morrison, "Rave On John Donne"
"Rave on words on printed page!"—Van Morrison, "Rave On John Donne"
HI-FI '96, the Home Theater and Specialty Audio Show (to give it its full title), is the tenth high-end hi-fi show to be organized by Stereophile Inc., and the third to be held in the World's Greatest City, New York. (Our earlier Big Apple Shows took place in October 1987 and April 1990.) From Friday May 31 through Sunday June 2, 1996, 11 floors of the classic, city-block–sized Waldorf=Astoria Hotel will be devoted to the best in home audio, reproduced sound, and Home Theater.…
Conceptually audacious, elegantly designed, executed with space-age precision, and remarkably compact, Grand Prix Audio's direct-drive Monaco turntable ($19,500) aims to turn the tables on the belt-drive designs that have dominated analog playback for three decades.
Beginning with the proverbial clean sheet of paper, designer and project manager Alvin Lloyd leveraged his background in race-car fabrication to create his vision of the ideal 21st-century turntable. He's used modern materials and computer-based motion-control systems to meet the goals of any turntable: to provide a…
The platter-spindle-and-bearing assembly is immersed in an oil bath. The stainless-steel spindle shaft rides in a solid, single-piece bearing/mount structure of phosphor bronze. The vertical load is supported by a high-precision silicon-nitride ceramic ball riding on a bearing pad of a proprietary alloy chosen after careful listening to many different materials.
The Monaco's DSP-based motor controller is housed in a separate enclosure and connects via umbilical to a multi-pin Lemo jack fitted neatly inside a carbon-fiber cylinder that juts from the rear of the Monaco's plinth, below and…
When the oil level is within a hair of full, the turntable can be operated and records played. In fact, the platter should be left spinning continuously for the next three days, during which time the oil level must be carefully monitored, and more oil added as needed. After that, the holes should be covered with stick-on pads (supplied). Nothing else need be done. However, should you then move the Monaco, you'll need to first remove some of the oil or else risk a messy spill. And if you overfill the well during initial setup, the oil will run down the side of the bearing structure and out…