udio industry is like show business in that it feeds on the latest and newest. Large audio corporations launch new models of the same components every year or two, while smaller manufactures do it every three or four years. High-end companies like Accuphase usually upgrade their flagship components every five years. Generally speaking, however, the newer is assumed to be better. It goes without saying that it is nothing but a marketing strategy. And there is no reason to take offence at that: this is how all trade works.
Changes and upgrades introduced to new components often translate into a better sound. Equally often, the sound is simply different. In the case of audio products where the driving force are technological advancements that take place outside our industry (e.g. in the computer industry in relation to audio file players, home cinema – D/A converters and acoustic room treatment, etc.) it mostly translates to improved specification and characteristics, increasingly better functionality and changes in component “cosmetics.” This is the normal state of affairs.

In the case of top shelf products, things are not so clear any more. In the loudspeaker manufacturing industry there have been no significant, game-changing inventions and development for (tens of) years. All there is to it is to polish and refine that which was developed by Bell Labs in the 1920s, and what was worked out in the period 1950-1970 and, in some cases, in the 1980s. After that, there have only been "tiny steps forward." The most expensive speaker models are simply a display of the craftsmanship of their designers, who make use of tried and reliable design solutions, showing off their skills. They use better and better diaphragm materials, design more and more refined enclosures and increasingly sophisticated crossover networks.

In audio, these small changes, if they are based on a solid foundation, represent the true value of the product. It turns out that what is left for the designers, these "scraps" I have just written about, is the key to a truly high-end sound. It is novelty that drives the sales. For the industry branches that rely on accumulated knowledge, and perfectionist audio is the best example of that, tradition and conservative thinking turn out to be equally important. This may seem rather schizophrenic but we face such paradoxes every now and then – "stability" is as much important as "novelty." It is hard to connect one with the other if particular models are upgraded too often. On the other hand, the manufacturer somehow needs to mark the changes and upgrades to the product that has gained popularity and widespread acclaim. The way Dynaudio has coped with that is so interesting and representative that it could be a great example to teach marketing in specialist industries.

This Danish company has a long tradition in the design and manufacturing of high-end monitors. Suffice it to mention such models as the Contour 1.3 SE, the Crafft or the Confidence 3. In the mid-1990s, Dynaudio began to work on the Confidence C1 stand mount speaker, which immediately became part of the new Confidence line. Its first reviews, e.g. by "Stereophile," were published in 2007 and immediately pointed to its unique status.
It truly was a remarkable speaker. Its enclosure was a break from the tyranny of the cuboid shape, which was achieved by mounting the drivers to a wide front baffle, which was optically separate, tapering downwards, where the tweeter was located. Of course, the midwoofer was still loaded to its enclosure, but the latter had a rather unusual proportions - it was very narrow and deep. As Dynaudio manufactured both transducers in-house, it could quite easily adjust their parameters to such an enclosure design./p>

It seems to me, however, that the real value of this design lied in the fact that the speakers became a favorite of Mr. Wilfried Ehrenholz, the owner of Dynaudio. The man who could, and even (for marketing reasons) SHOULD have picked any model from his catalog, decided for the Confidence C1 as his home speakers.
I do not think that his choice was only dictated by their absolute value. It is not hard to imagine that the more expensive Dynaudios are better. The thing is that the speakers are a critical part of the audio system, since they work with, and share in, particular room acoustics. Therefore, equally important as the quality of the speakers themselves is how they behave in a particular place, with given electronics. It very often happens that the best speakers do not sound as good as that are – theoretically – inferior, but are better matched with the particular room and amplifier that drives them. And, it seems, what we deal with here is exactly this kind of situation.

And what can a man like Wilfried Ehrenholz do, with his knowledge and capabilities, sitting day after day (more likely, night after night) in front of his beloved loudspeakers? I bet that he thinks about how to improve them. Hence, if I were to bet, I would put lots of money on the fact that the first clues concerning the direction of change, the first impulse to create upgraded versions, not just of the Confidence line, had its origin in his night sessions with a pair of the C1 in front of him.
The result of these improvement ideas was the Confidence C1 II and its limited version, the Confidence C1 Signature. There were few apparent design changes. The most notable was a new finish – the Signature was finished in dark brown Mocca or dark red (ruby) Bordeaux veneer. Its rear panel also featured a plate with Dynaudio owner’s signature.

Much more important were the technical upgrades. A much more refined, precision coating was used for the silk dome of the Esotar2 tweeter. The midwoofer voice coil was redesigned, too. It was now even more precisely wound, using aluminum wire on a Kapton carcass. The drivers operate with a first-order crossover (-6 dB/oct). Although seemingly the simplest design, its proper implementation requires using the best possible passive components. Hence, the manufacturer employed higher quality capacitors and very expensive Caddock resistors. And, last but not least, internal wiring was upgraded.
The loudspeakers from Confidence CII and Confidence Signature lines had their world premiere at the 2011 Salon Son & Image show in Paris, in March 2011, but were presented to a wider audience in May of the same year, during the High End in Munich (see HERE).

All that time, Dynaudio designers were working on speakers from a higher line called the Evidence Platinum. It employs everything that had been learned through the CII and Signature lines and takes the upgrades even further. Let me remind you that real upgrades in the loudspeaker technology come about through advancing and polishing up long-known solutions. And the Platinum Evidence seems as polished up as can be. It is no coincidence that an audio system that included these speakers, which could be auditioned during the Audio Show 2013, was given our Best Sound Audio Show 2013 award (see HERE).
Let me also remind you that at the same time Wilfried had at home his beloved C1, by then their Signature version (I wonder if he signed them for himself, too?). It is not difficult to conclude that he was thinking about how to transfer these upgrades to the Confidence.

The way I see it, that is how the Confidence Platinum line came about, with the Platinum C1 in the lead role. On the surface, it is still the same speaker as the C1: a two-way stand mount design in a vented enclosure, with a large bass-reflex port on the rear panel and two drivers in an inverted configuration, manufactured in-house.
The 170 mm (6.5-inch) mid-bass woofer has a diaphragm made of MSP (Mineral Silicate Polymer) and a cast basket with narrow ribs that do not impede airflow. The magnet is mounted inside the basket, and the voice coil has a very large diameter. The cone is formed of one component, together with a dust cap. So far, we have seen it all in other Dynaudio speakers over the years. The improvements consist in a better selection of the mix material, more precisely made cone suspension, a change of the voice coil and bobbin and a different finish of aluminum components. We will come to the looks right back.

The treble and part of midrange is handled by a driver that became Dynaudio is also known by the fact that over the years he was as well as other versions, sold to other companies. Here we have a 28 mm Esotar2 model with an aluminum front and dual neodymium magnet. The diaphragm is now coated using a special process, and has a slightly different shape than before (such as in the Evidence Platinum speakers). The speakers look even better than those in the Signature line. Among other things, because it changed the way aluminum anodizing and finishing elements, which are now black and have a matte surface.
The set can be purchased Stand6 aluminum stands, with a multi-layer sandwich basis, which can tighten the column. That's the set I tested.

In the case of the C1 Platinum, "small is beautiful" is interchangeable with "small is big." We are already familiar with such paradoxes in audio, so this one is not really surprising. The size of the new Dynaudio speakers manifests itself in many ways, but the one I'm talking about is literal: the sound presented by them is truly powerful. Even earlier, with the C1 and especially the Signature, the volume, that is the size of the instruments and vocals, was large and impressive, but the Platinum is something else entirely.
Of course, it is a matter of physics and psychoacoustics, nothing magical about it, but the sound can actually be perceived as something beyond your imagination (in other words, there seems to be some magic involved). When you hear the vocals on the great Audio Fidelity release of the album In The Wind by Peter, Paul and Mary, they are amazing in their presence and normality. They are extremely effective. And the electric organ used on the Alice Coltrane’s album Eternity? Outstanding. David Crosby’s guitar and vocals on his album Croz? Strong, saturated and dense. Jerzy Milian’s vibraphone on Bazaar? Beautiful.

The C1 Platinum, like no other stand mount speakers I know except perhaps the twice as expensive Sonus faber Evolution, offer a full, genuine sound. The midrange saturation, because that is really what we are talking about here, is not the result of coloration and designer tricks. It is just that these speakers present the low bass with a rare effortlessness. And in their bottom end they do not pretend to be bigger than they are. In their case, it is more important HOW deep their extension is, rather than how DEEP it is. Large speakers, such as the Harbeth M40.1, the Trenner&Friedl Isis that I compared the Platinum with, but also the C4 Signature owned by Tomek (of the Krakow Sonic Society fame), build their volume of sound upon the freedom of bass and its control, down to the deepest end, having at their disposal a large cone vibrating area and big or very big cabinets. This cannot be simulated (yet). The C1 Platinum do not have that and yet, sitting close to them and driving them with a high-end amplifier, I did not feel cheated nor was there anything I found amiss.

Not because they are capable of the same things as large speakers; I'm not saying that and it is simply not true. But at the same time I can see what kind of speakers they are and I know how much they cost. I have no illusions. But there is no need to delude oneself, nor is there any reason to get it in your head; the Platinum monitors are a closed world and they do not need to be referred to anything else in order to appreciate what they do.
As such, they offer a big sound capable of deep bass extension. I can assure you that the way the form it into a whole will surprise anyone. The combination of electronic and live instruments on Depeche Mode Ultra, especially on the track The Love Thieves, was outstanding. To a large extent, it resulted from the fact that despite masses of information that could be heard thanks to the Esotar2 driver, there was no problem with sharpening and brightening.

It is a very open presentation, rich in detail and information. What is largely responsible for that is the amazing tweeter, one of the best tweeters of this type I know. Among dome compression drivers, i.e. dynamic transducers, only diamond dome tweeters are capable of something more (but even they have their limitations).
My Harbeths, and other designs "by BBC," do not handle the range that well. One might dream that instead of SEAS, which are great dome tweeters in themselves, they used Dynaudio drivers, like the Electa Amator II from Sonus faber, one of the best monitors ever created. This is, however, only wishful thinking. A speaker system (set) is called a system not without reason. Just like with an audio system, which comprises the best combination of properly matched components, offering something more than they are capable of on their own, so in the case of speakers the driver is merely one of many components. To design the best speaker it is not enough to simply take the best drivers available; in truth, it is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. Hence, all I can do is dream about “what if.”

Let’s go back to the C1 Platinum, though. The coherence with which they convey the musical material is amazing. There seems to be no treble, bass and midrange but instead a continuous sound. This is a very striking presentation, with an emphasis on what comes immediately after the attack; in other words, without hardening but with lots of energy. Space is breathtaking, especially its size. Listening to medieval music performed by Ensemble Peregrina one could see not only the side walls but also the top; the sound surrounded the listener with a thick coat. At the beginning, I even thought for a moment that the speakers were in counter-phase. Although the vocals in the center were steady and strong, the whole thing was so spacious as never before. I checked twice and everything was as it should be. It is just that their acoustics, interior and quality were so different from what I had recently heard (maybe except for the Isis from Trenner&Friedl) that my first reaction to it was a thought that I made a mistake somewhere.

Because the presentation is large and full, and yet practically devoid of the lowest bass (these are stand mount speakers, mind you), it is built on a strong foreground. The latter is what calls the shots here – every now and then the instruments come before the speaker line, creating a sense of their presence in the room, right in front of us, and not as they are heard (seen) from a distant row at a concert, away from us in the front.
The C1 Platinum belong to a small group of stand mount speakers which are outstanding in their own idiom, i.e. as stand mount speakers. They stand on their stands high and proud, next to such designs as: the Sonus faber Guarneri Evolution, Raidho D1 and Kaiser Acoustics Kavero! Chiara. That they are about half price of all the above speakers does not change much.

The decision which one to choose, apart from the price (10,000 US dollars left in your pocket is no picnic), should be based on the kind of music you listen to. Each one of these speakers comes out slightly better with a particular music genre. If I were to guess what the Dynaudio owner listens to in his or her house, I would say that it is the music from the 1960s and 1970s, or at least contemporary music played and recorded in that spirit. The density, fullness and tangibility of the foreground they offer with blues, folk and jazz are a great experience. And the tracks on Ultra, Depeche Mode album, with guitars and harmonies that are blues in spirit, sounded so good that I found it hard to sit still. Large orchestral compositions, fast and dense rock, slightly poorer recorded, are the domain of large floorstanders and the C2 Platinum or the C4 Platinum will cope with it better.

Conclusion

In the evening, on the same day the speakers left my apartment after the review, I was at Elton John’s concert (time: 19:30; venue: Krakow Arena, 7 Lema St). The concert was retrospective in nature. The first four numbers he played were from his multi-platinum album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Contact with an artist of this caliber in a live setting is a special experience. It cannot be replaced by playing it back at home, at least when it comes to the so-called "experience."
Earlier, on the same day before noon, I listened to that album at home, released as a high-quality Platinum SHM-CD. I am about to say something bordering on heresy but what the heck, I take responsibility for it: I preferred what I heard at home on the Dynaudio. It was a real spectacle and it evoked equally strong emotions. And, above all, a much better sound.

The C1 Platinum sound beautiful. They look wonderful. They are "specialized", but what isn’t these days? For anyone looking for stand mount speakers, this should be "required reading." RED Fingerprint.

The speakers were placed in the same spot that is normally occupied by my Harbeth M40.1. They were mounted on the proprietary Stand6 stands, with which they looked great. I put the Acoustic Revive SPU4 receptacles under the speaker spikes and placed the receptacles on the RST-38H quartz isolation boards.

The angle of speakers’ toe-in can alter both the amount of treble as well as space presentation. For me, as most monitors auditioned in my room, they sounded best with aggressive toe-in, with their axes crossing some 50-70 cm in front of me. This resulted in a superbly defined, deep soundstage and improved tonal balance.

The height of the speakers with respect to the listener was critical. You should sit so that your ears are at the height of the midwoofer, not lower! Apart from that, the C1 Platinum did not cause any problems with positioning and they do not need to be placed close to the rear wall to offer a deep bass (for monitors, that is).
The speakers have low sensitivity and impedance. They need a really capable amplifier to play on the best of their ability. Perhaps not even in terms of sheer power output as much as current capacity. Tiny amps are not welcome here.

THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET
Plastic Dreams
Atlantic/Warner Bros. Japan 8122-71068-2
“Jazz Best Collection 1000, No 6”, CD (1971/2013)

ALICE COLTRANE
Eternity
Warner Bros./Warner Bros. Japan 8122-79598-0
“Jazz Best Collection 1000, No. 9”, CD (1976/2013)

“High Fidelity” readers quite frequently ask me about my particular fascination with albums released in Japan. I always give them the same answer: I’m fascinated by the superiority of their sound, compared to their counterparts manufactured in Europe and the USA, as well as the incomparably better quality of cover art printing, which – especially in the case of “mini LP” releases – are faithful to the vinyl original, from the cover art to the printed material contained within.

A while back, Piotrek Stachowski from the Łódź-based Audiofast audio store asked me whether I’d seen CDs with OBIs, i.e. a band with information written on it in Japanese, in the popular Polish audio-video retail store, Saturn. He said he’d bought some himself and he was shocked by the sound quality. There wouldn’t be anything strange about that, save for their price – around $10 per album (while Japanese editions cost $30 or more here in Poland) and the fact that they are manufactured in Europe, but are intended for the Japanese market.

Intrigued, I made my way to the Saturn store in Kraków, where there was indeed an entire shelf practically littered with CDs like that. The albums included top-quality jazz. I chose two albums at random, paid a total of $14, and made my way home.
I took a closer look at them at that point. Even while I was still in the store I found one box that said “Made in Japan” on it. The rest of them says: “Manufactured in the E.U.”. The discs themselves say: “Made in E.U.”, but also: “Manufactured and Distributed by Warner Music Japan Inc.” right next to it.

It’s all very interesting, because the sound of these CDs is remarkable. I compared it with other Japanese editions that I own (classic CDs, but pressed in Japan) and, to be honest, I preferred the versions I’d bought in Saturn. Their only down-side is that they use the standard “European” cover art and print. The sound is top-notch, though.

I’m not sure what to attribute all of this to, but it seems that the Japanese were personally involved in the process of music material preparation and pressing itself, from A to Z. Perhaps they also provided their own remasters, although that’s not certain. What’s the conclusion, then? It seems that it actually is possible to press CDs of a comparable quality in Europe, to those made in Japan. All we need is a Japanese approach, i.e. all-out and uncompromising. Go get your own copies while stocks last.

Sound quality: 9-10/10

Two-way stand mount speakers usually look very similar. Dynaudio Confidence series from the very beginning, from the first C1 version, was eye-catching with slightly different solutions. The drivers were mounted to a flat baffle, tapering downwards. Driver configuration is reversed, with the larger driver on top. A thick MDF board, to which the drivers are mounted, is cut out using CNC machines and painted black. The cabinet to which the front baffle is mounted is considerably narrower. This gives the impression of lightness. Between the cabinet and the front baffle are vibration-damping parts to mechanically decouple the cabinet from the speakers.

The cabinet is made more rigid with internal braces and strongly damped. The side panels are lined with fairly rigid foam with large chambers and the interior is filled with artificial sheep wool. The cabinet is finished with natural veneer in one of four color types: Mocca, Bordeaux, Rosewood and Piano Black. On the rear panel you can see a very large bass-reflex port outlet, with a long port. There is also a name plate.

The Esotar2 tweeter sports a silk dome coated with a special material to damp parasitic vibration, a dual neodymium magnet and front made of precisely cut and milled aluminum. In the Platinum version, it is black anodized and treated in a special process to give it a silky shine finish. The 170 mm midwoofer basket has a similar finish. Like the silk dome tweeter, the midwoofer is manufactured by Dynaudio in-house. Its cone is made of MSP (Mineral Silicate Polymer) in one piece with the dust cap.

The 1st order crossover network is mounted in the speaker base. It sports high quality passive components, including Caddock resistors. The drivers are crossed over at 1800 Hz. The signal is fed to them via pure copper braid, which is soldered rather than connected using clip-on connectors. The speaker has a single pair of terminals – the hallmark of this manufacturer.

A narrow cabinet forces mounting the speaker to the stand in some way. It is best to use the dedicated Stand6 from Dynaudio, which is bolted to the speaker with four bolts. It is made of an aircraft wing-shaped column (with a drop-shaped cross-section) and has two multi-layer tops with vibration damping material. Speaker cable can be pulled through the column and released from the bottom, improving the system aesthetics. The stand rests on small steel spikes.

The whole stand has a height of 640 mm and weight of 8.4 kg. It can be filled with various material to increase weight. During the review it was filled with 3.5 kg of sand. The stand is available in four finishes: matte silver and black, and high-gloss white and black.

Specification (according to manufacturer)

Sensitivity: 85 dB
Maximum Power: 170 W
Impedance: 4 Ω
Frequency Response: 45 Hz - 22 kHz (± 3 dB)
Weight: 10.9 kg / each.
Dimensions: 200 x 445 x 430 mm