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A Danish Hi-Fi Great Just Gave Its Standout Loudspeakers an Audiophile Upgrade

The heritage audio brand’s new loudspeakers are even easier to build a hi-fi system around.

Dynaudio Confidence 20A active speakersDynaudio

By Tucker Bowe

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The Dynaudio Confidence 20 are the revered Danish hi-fi company’s flagship standmount passive loudspeakers. A pair costs $13,000, plus you’ll need to pair them with a high-end amplifier and DAC, making them reserved for serious audiophiles with deep pockets.

Due to the success of its flagship loudspeakers, Dynaudio is doubling down with the Confidence 20A, which is an active version of the Confidence 20. Yes, the “A” stands for “Active.”

But naturally, they’re anything but cheap.

Dynaudio Confidence 20A

Dynaudio Confidence 20A active speakers
The Confidence 20A are active versions of Dynaudio’s five-year-old flagship standmount loudspeakers.
Dynaudio

The “Active” advantage

With the Confidence 20A, Dynaudio is making it easier — but far from cheaper — to set up and listen to its flagship standmount loudspeakers. It added built-in amplification and digital signal processing (DSP) to its 2-way loudspeakers, so you have fewer components to worry when building a hi-fi system.

Depending on what kind of music enthusiast you are, this could be a good or not-so-good thing.

On the one hand, active speakers remove many of the moving parts and complications that come with a traditional hi-fi setup. Also the Confidence 20A has also been custom-tuned by Dynaudio’s audio engineers, pairing each driver with the proper amplifiers and DACs, to make them sound the best.

On the flip side, some audiophiles believe that active loudspeakers take a lot of the tinkering (aka the fun) out of building a hi-fi system as you can’t fine-tune and customize the sound. For such people, Dynaudio still offers the non-active Confidence 20.

Dynaudio Confidence 20A active speakers
The active loudspeakers don’t have built-in wireless streaming capabilities, so you’ll need hook them up to separate music streamer or audio source.
Dynaudio

Hidden power

The Dynaudio Confidence 20A are different than most active loudspeakers because, rather than housing the amplifiers and electronics in the speaker cabinet, they are hidden inside the stands instead. So, other than the stands, the Confidence 20A and Confidence 20 loudspeakers look basically identical.

As for the amplifiers, Dynaudio teamed up with Pascal, a fellow Danish audio brand specializing in high-end amplifiers, to build them. Each loudspeaker has two built-in amps, one to drive the 28mm Esotar 3 tweeter and one to drive 18cm NeoTec MSP mid/bass driver (this is the same driver array in Dynaudio’s non-active loudspeakers).

Naturally, this active loudspeaker pair packs quite the punch. Each speaker packs 550 watts of total power, with 150 watts going to the tweeter and 400 watts going to the mid/bass driver.

Dynaudio Confidence 20A active speakers
Each Confidence 20A packs 550 watts of power.
Dynaudio

Price and availability

If you couldn’t guess, the Dynaudio Confidence 20A are high-end active loudspeakers that are out of the average audiophile’s budget. A pair costs $24,000, making them considerably more expensive than Dynaudio’s $13,000 passive Confidence 20.

The Dynaudio Confidence 20A loudspeakers are available in two finishes: Space High Gloss (black) or Snow High Gloss (white). The stands are black, regardless of the finish.

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