I too am a Dynaudio fan ever since I bought a pair of x32’s a perfectly sized floor stander for my room but then I had the chance to trade them in for a set of Contour s3.4 almost twice the size and if I’m honest too big for my room but they sound so good and for £500 plus the x32’s I couldn’t say no, that was 5 years ago.
Matching them with an amp has been a long journey which took me in and out of Naim from 282/SC/300 via Quad and Hegel to a bare Supernait 2 which I’ve had a couple of years and drives the Dynaudio perfectly.
So my advice would be proceed with caution speakers can make or break a system and if you’re as happy with your set up as you seem to be you could end up a month down the line massively regretting any changes, speakers that even sound good on a home demo can end up still not being right.
I have had people walk into my room and straight away say those speakers are too big for this room but as soon as they hear them they change their mind. The man I sold my 282 to had been a Naim lover and had owned high end audio for 30 years or more said that my then 282/SC/300/Contour 3.4 was the best domestic stereo he had heard but on some tracks it was a bit too bass heavy for me.
On the subject of room size and set up I tried my whole set up in my dining room which is only a couple of square meters bigger than my lounge but is quite sparsely furnished, full of doors and lots of sharp edges and the room completely swallowed the speakers and sounded awful.
It’s pretty awesome that you can actually hear something from the era of C1/C2 before buying, even if it is in a different room environment. It is a ‘hit buy-now and take your chances’ choice for that sort of gear in NZ.
I had a pair of Contour S3.4 for about five years. I upgraded the tweeters to the Esotar^2 used in the Confidence, and that made them even better.
The Confidence C2 Platinum are very special. I hve heard many Dynaudio speakers and I think the C2s are the sweet spot in the line up. My Dynaudio dealer agrees, and misses them in production.
to clarify further : I have had the good luck to hear a Confidence 60, driven off a 552/500DR with the same Mscaler/Dave…
Quite a Different league to what I have at home, not sure buying the C2, driven off my 282/250DR will sound anything close that that rig. Completely musical and with no listener fatigue at all, and much deeper bass, not the mid bass that I hear at home…
Anyway going to audition the C2 this weekend if I am lucky
However I Just upgraded my streamer driving Mscaler/Dave from wifi only Wiim mini to the Wiim Pro (through ethernet) and not sure why, but it does sound quite a bit better now… The wifi signal was weak in that room anyway.
The C2s would be closer to the new generation Confidence 30. The Confidence 50 and 60 and entirely different beats and you better have a big boy amp for those.
I have heard all three since getting my C2s. I have no desire at all to make the change. I actually like my C2s better. The new Confidence are more resolving, but I feel like something is missing in the mids that I like about the C2s for classical.
That’s exactly right. I’m a big Totem fan and have the Forest Signatures on my main system and I’m very happy with them. In theory the Metal V2’s would be my dream speaker and there is a nice used pair for sale at the moment. But I’m fairly certain they would over power my listening room as they have two Torrent drivers in each speaker. My electronics would drive then fine, but a big risk as to whether they would work in the room. Given how much I love the Forests, I’m better to stick. And I could get a new Rega Planar 10 for less
A close friend just recently compared his Lumin U1 mini to U2 mini and found that they sound different. The difference is not night and day but appreciable. He is now a little disappointed that the U2 mini sounded better than his U1 mini. He’ll be adding adding a linear power supply to the Lumin streamer soon to squeeze more performance out from it.
OMG this speaker is in a completely different league to my Focus 260. Everything. Refinement. Soundstage, liveliness, attack of the instruments, realism, the F260 sounds nowhere in that league.
However, my wife absolutely refuses that the big C2 will be in the big AV room, where the X16 is doing a nice job, and must go if I buy it in my music room, where already the F260 is too big.
I am not sure at all bringing the massive C2 into that room, will do what it is supposed to do, as I cannot listen to music at loud volume levels (my ears hurt now and I cannot listen to loud music, and then my wife has had enough of it. And I don’t blame her one bit - my love of music and Naim is getting too much for her). I just measured my listening volume and it’s around 55 DB average. Do I need a C2 speaker if that is going to be my listening level?
So I don’t know still what to do. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a C2, and yet I don’t have the room for it, and neither the usage for it either.
I think maybe the wise thing is to just stay with my F260…?
If you don’t have the room for it, or the usage, then it’s not really a once in a lifetime opportunity, as it’s not going to work for you. I reached the very same conclusion on the Totem speakers I mentioned above.
Audiophile forums may not always be the best place when it comes to deciding what we can get away with. Some of us have a few priorities and biases that other non-audiophiles don’t always understand.
Sometimes I apply the ‘it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission’ policy, but am acutely aware that their are limits to how often this one can be used (if ever for some).
PS, are you sure about the 55dB? I only have a few dodgy android apps for this, but I just wound down my music to see how low that was. It was totally muted before finding that TOH using the pepper grinder in the background was still exceeding this level (if correct).
If you don’t have the room for it, then don’t buy it. It’s as simple as that.
If you feel your 260s are too big, then why not revisit the Heritage? It will be more appropriate to the space. Or maybe try the C1, though it’s still too good for the rest of your equipment.
I suspect your decision may be about more than just the sound or dimensional issues.
But since we are on it, at over 1.5m tall, the C2’s certainly look serious, but the slender footprint is not massively different to the Heritage or 260’s. If their are kids in the picture, then 1.5m C2’s may not be very child friendly (my earlier sslender speakers took a tumble with an excitable child, before being screwed to the floor from the underside).
I could be wrong, but think C2’s were being made about 2013, Heritage end of 2020. I’m therefore guessing that early C2’s could be easier on the budget.
Dooh…In the middle of writing this my street has lost power and music has stopped (I’m currently on a laptop). Suddenly the best speakers in the world would be useless to me. Not relevant, but just a different perspective that makes you think. Pity no one in my house can sing.
What is your measure of “not enough room”? (You haven’t indicated size of room, other than your assessment as “medium size”. Something like Focal Grand Utopia I can understand, but C2 is hardly a massive speaker - narrow front, and fronts will likely be similar distance from front wall so the depth is immaterial, and height I assume only half or less the height of the room.
My advice from personal experience: Don’t do it! I also couldn’t resist the temptation when a pair of used C1 appeared, but it proved to be a big mistake. They never worked in my room (they do need a lot of space around them), and I also didn’t have enough power for them (SN2). So it was 5 wasted years without enjoyment of the music…
How big is your room? I use my C2s in a room that is 11’ x 17’ x 8’. Sure, they would do better in a larger room, but they sound fantastic as is. As long as you can get them at least a half meter away from the walls (especially back wall) they might do nicely.
Once you pair them with a great amp they really open up at low/moderate volume. My prior Contour S3.4 never had low level response as good as the C2. However, I have the C2 Platinum and I vaguely recall they made some tweaks to the crossovers to improve low volume performance.
I used to have a dedicated room in the exact size, 11’ x 17’ but slightly larger at the rear since it’s an L-shape. Good to know the C2s are able to fit in this room which to me is medium size or slightly smaller than ideal. Due to the rather narrow footprint, I suspect it will still work well in smaller rooms being able to go closer to the side walls. Even though the room is “slightly” smaller than ideal, I would still buy the speaker if it’s reference quality and in near mint condition unless there are other factors or considerations that do not allow the purchase. The room will always be a compromise and it’s up to the person to make the best use out of it.
My current room is also slightly small for all my speakers widthwise as I can’t place them more than 6’ apart. However, I still get great results from them. In my book, the loudspeaker is the most important component in the system so try to get the best sounding one that suits your taste and listening experience. Other than the improved clarity, nuance and detail, the capability of reproducing the tone of instruments to sound most lifelike and real makes the listening experience much more enjoyable, in my experience.
