Floor standing speakers Dynaudio Confidence C4 Signature
Design C4, the older models in the line of Confidence, characteristic of elite products Dynaudio. It is tall and narrow tower, whose drivers are not installed on the front panel, and on a separate platform. It is made of vibration-absorbing material (composition is kept secret) and has a shape in terms of the optimal sound aerodynamics. Mount, enhanced streamlined tides covering the lateral plane.
Symmetrical arrangement of emitters with the principle of DDC (Dynaudio Directivity Control), which in combination with first-order crossovers provides a uniform and wide sound field, regardless of the acoustics of the room. I will add that the only limitation for these speakers - volume of the room, which should not be too small, because it depends on the character of the bass and the construction of the soundstage.
In the center of the assembly DDC - a pair of tweeters Esotar2 with fabric dome with a diameter of 28 mm. Voice coil wound light aluminum wire, ferro-fluid cooled. Due to this effect is suppressed sound compression, when due to the winding, its resistance increases, and the efficiency of the radiator, respectively, decreases. Small nonlinear distortion - a consequence of a powerful magnetic system of neodymium alloy. Tweeters cover the range from 2 to 25 kHz with a linear, guaranteed in the segment of +/- 30 degrees from the acoustic axis.
Mid-outs (6 inches) and low frequency (8 inches) heads are made of composite brand - plastic polymer with the addition of magnesium silicate. Each woofer driver is configured individually with your own bass-reflex port are displayed backwards.
Filters (first order, Slope 6 dB / oct.) assembled on reinforced boards and to eliminate the effect of the microphone enclosed in sealed boxes. In Scheme special resistors giving no compression, and low-loss capacitors.
With this construction of crossovers in the bi-wiring makes no sense, and all the speakers Dynaudio only two terminals, but it is true with high-quality gold-plated WBT.
Signature version differs from the standard design, improved finish. In our case it is natural veneer color "Mocha" mirror lacquer. Look such a fantastically beautiful speakers, though, if viewed from the front, sparkling luxury is not too conspicuous.
As I have said, the path to the elite models Dynaudio must be chosen very carefully, so a few words about it.
The nature of the source Chord Red Reference MKII. We managed to study in a variety of systems, and its contribution to the sound will determine a snap. The main feature of this device is that instead of the standard chips (converters, digital filters, etc.) are used here build FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), consisting of millions of logic gates. It's kind of cubes from which the developer can add any path configuration. Among them, in particular, a 76-bit DSP with fourfold oversampling filter and WTA-18000-th (!) Order. This masterpiece of Robert Watts, chief engineer, spent more than 20 years. If necessary, you can reprogram the FPGA again, creating a new generation of machine. The data read from the disk, is pumped into the intermediate RAM-buffer capacity which is defined by the listener. This allows you to completely clean signal jitter accumulated in transport and reduce the need for an accurate reading. Although the latter an advantage in this case is not relevant, since the Red Reference set made on special order mechanism Philips CD Pro 2 top-loading.
Circuitry allows you to select the sampling frequency up to 176 kHz, as well as to give the read data to the digital outputs in a standard SPDIF, TosLink and EAES/EBU. The analog signal is taken from nests or RCA, or by a balanced interface XLR.
Preamplifier Chord CPA5000. Also belongs to the class Reference. Different low noise, double protection against interference and the ability to set the sensitivity for each of the eight inputs. As it turned out, this should be treated more carefully, because even the slightest inconsistency input immediately affect the sound.
And on the final amplifier. As such, we used two monoblock Chord SPM1400E. In a press release, this model is referred to as the manufacturer only as "Superamp": weight 18 kg, power available power supply more than 380 J, the output transistors dual MOSFET, capable to give a 2-ohm to 1 kW of power. In addition, the innovative Dynamic Coupling circuitry provides uniform current selection from the positive and negative supply rails, due to which the balance is preserved shoulders at any signal level.
By the way, powerful amplifiers and large speakers tend to sound worse than the large, namely at low volume, it's the so-called problem of the first watt. Let's see how our system behaves. Diminish the level of the preamplifier, assessing the transparency of sound and tonal balance. It seems nothing has changed except the scale of the sound stage, which is gradually moving away and concentrated between the speakers. Well, we must admit that the phase response is absolutely linear path. Correct dynamics, ie the ratio between the soft and loud sounds, remains up to barely audible levels. The upper range of transparent, "silver" in it does not tarnish. Feels a little stiffness in the upper middle, but this is an obvious consequence of the lack of warming up a new set of speakers - to come back to normal, it will take at least 50 hours of continuous operation.
If you talk about symphonic music, then a bunch of Chord and Dynaudio good just instantaneous transition from piano to a powerful forte, moreover kick feel the whole body, as if actually sitting close to the orchestra pit. Formation of the atmosphere strongly depends on the size of the room, as this involved mainly early reflections from the walls, floor and ceiling. In our case, the atmosphere seemed slightly simplified - C4 in the room was clearly a bit crowded. But in the cramped conditions revealed a very useful property of acoustics: the distance between the extreme drivers more than a meter sound perceived absolutely solid, like playing super powerful shelf monitors.
Violin - the most difficult tool for digital path - sounded very nice and at the highest detail did not show the slightest sign of field. Extremely natural sound chamber quartets, emotional vocals - all this is very addictive in the audition process. Like degustiruesh delicious dishes - like and do it, and the pleasure you get.
The upper range is very typical for Dynaudio - light and bright, without any aggression. Silk dome not give rigidity, although not able to reproduce the ultrasound, so the impact of the drums, for example, will not make you wince, but will not cut the ear. Detail from the tweeters Esotar 2 is just awesome, and thus no sign of "dirt" digital path.
On some tracks Radiohead sound engineers have surpassed themselves by turning elegant and very difficult spatial effects. Acoustics visually dominates the listening room, but in a three-dimensional sound stage it seems to be not heard. For floor systems the situation is quite rare. In many respects it is a merit of the listening room - in the cabin, where we conducted the test, that it has been very competently.
And the exact opposite on a plan - the jazz standard "Giant Steps" Coltrane, archival record. Tools clearly laid out channels, saxophone exactly in the center of the stage, a minimum of studio effects, gentle, barely noticeable compression, very natural reverb. The atmosphere of another era speakers conveys no less delicately, correctly placing emphasis and a focus on the most important details.
