Hello Dynaudio Confidence 5 fans- it is me again. I managed to get even more out of my C5 by getting a new BHK250 amp and a P15 powerplant from PS Audio, while also playing yet again with the speaker placement in my room. Speaker placement is the most critical element with the C5, especially if you want to hear more bass. I got lucky enough to get a hold of someone at Dynaudio who knows the C5 weaknesses and strength. He said the best success chance to find the right placement in the room is to start with a 5 by 8 ratio, with placing them in the corners of your room. So, start for example with 50cm distance to the side walls versus 80 cm from the rear wall, measuring from the front baffle ( metal plate) of the speakers vertical center axis. You will immediately hear more bass frequency detail. From that position try moving them in 1cm increments from the walls in the 5 to 8 ratio until you are happy. The purpose is to avoid standing base frequency elimination, since the bass moves in waves. Also try moving your listening position to the sweet spot where you will hear more bass. The right placement is crucial for the Confidence 5. Good luck and enjoy

very finicky when it comes to the ideal placement in the room. If you don't place them correctly, they will sound very bass shy. They will reveal the weakness of poor audio recordings without any mercy. But, they will also reveal the quality and holographic imaging of a really good recording.

W.O.W. Having played with hi-end earphone and headphones, I eventually got tired of them and started playing with speakers since 2018. Despite having a pair of proper speakers and a 200wpc class A/AB hybrid amp since 15 years old, I seldom listen to my speaker system. I started a new life in Western Australia since 2018, and met several good music lovers here. I wouldn't call them Audiophiles, since they never BS about how sweet their speakers reproduce female voice, you get the picture. Through them and their equipment at home I got to know how good speakers MIGHT sound like. But I don't rely on that. I mostly rely on the 15 years experience of Violin learning. And thankfully, my mother - who despite knowing nothing about classical music, took me to hundreds of the best orchestra concerts during my childhood. This experience came in handy in my journey playing with speakers later in time. You know the kind of music hifi dealers like to use when demonstrating their equipment? Or the type of music your "Audiophile" friends play when you go listen to the system they proudly own? Jazz trio, sweet female vocal songs...you get the picture. These music just don't work. Not at all. Research shows the percentage of frequency response each music genres cover (between 20hz-20khz). Jazz trio won the last place, revealing less than 50% of the frequency range. Typical female vocal test songs don't do much better. If you play some symphony music, which covers about 85%, then we are talking. While Metal/Rock music sometimes cover more (90%), its usually difficult to tell if the various effect the recording mixer put on the electrical guitar is being reproduced properly.After all, who the hell knows how the mixing plugin they use SHOULD sound like? But if I play symphony music, I instantly know how REAL a pair of speakers sound like. Pair this experience with good measuring equipments and knowledge, you could say goodbye to the whole Audiopool group and start REALLY enjoying good music. This is how I came across C5. The day I saw it appears on a local Hifi forum, i immediately sent PM to the owner and I was at his place 30 mins after he post it. 15mins after that I am the new owner. Despite his place was like a mess in terms of acoustic environment, I knew how REAL each orchestral instrument sound, through the T330D and M560D drivers. Nothing at this price could compare (got it 2nd hand for 4800AUD, about 3300USD). You might get heavier bass, Flatter fre

Bass is shy, no excuse. In my room the bass is -3db at 47hz already. ITS NOT BECAUSE OF THE AMPS! DONT WASTE MONEY ON MORE EXPENSIVE AMPS! Nothing could add more bass to these speakers except EQ. Just enjoy the good airy beautiful mid and treble. Bass is tight but shy, take it as it is unless you are willing to try EQ (not necessarily a bad thing), but mind you, you need about 10db boost at 25hz to make the bass equal to flat response, which might incur lots of distortion.

I left a review for the Dynaudio Confidence 5 here before a couple of years ago...but really felt the need to update my review and comments. As you can tell I kept these speakers all these years and kept on upgrading all other components, always with the intention to get the best out of this old diva. Finally! I found the right amp that makes them sing so beautifully, realistic, authentic and 3 dimensional with bass extension I was not even aware the C 5 was capable of- fantastic! The perfect amplifier for the Confidence 5 is the PS Audio BHK 250. I am using the Mystere CA21 tube preamp with it. Source is the PS Audio PWD mk2, Nordost Tyr XLR interconnects, wireworld eclipse 7 speaker cables and silver eclipse 7 powercords. I am sure upgrading my PWD mk2 to the latest Directstream DAC would get me even a bit better performance and have no doubt that the PS Audio BHK preamp will be an even better match than the Mystere CA21, but for now I am more than satisfied. This old Diva is still capable to play in the top liga, it just needs the right equipment to shine. Well, long story short, if you own a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 5 and think they are shy in the bass or do not play to the fullest of their potential, replace your amplifier- at $7500 USD the PS Audio BHK 250 is certainly not a cheap amplifier, but for what it sounds like and with what authority it drives the Dynaudio C5, it is worth every penny. My 18 year old Diva is singing like never before thanks to this phenomenal amplifier- Thank you PS Audio!

Hard to please Diva! Demands the best quality components you can afford-especially the right amplifier combo is crucial- I tried a lot of different amps over the years- the BHK 250 works perfectly with them.

There is No other loudspeakers that have the Mid Hi sound like the C5 , even Dyanudio C4 & Temptation (30,000$ ) , that my Friends have , not have this mid hi sound , way ? because the ESOTAR soft dome Midrange , that only the C5 & Consequence Model have .
I triade mor the 12 7,000-25,000 $ loudspeakers in the past 14 years , and No one have the Mid Hi of this BEST IN ERTH loudspeakers .

There are two problem in the C5 :

1. They need High Quality current 70W + Tube Amplifier (since sensitivity 86db - 4 ohm )
And not solid state !

2. Since this speakers desing is closed compound box & the bass driver is in the top of the
Loudspeakers , the bass is fast but not so deep as expected from this kind of box , but i can reassure you that in overall , three is no sound like the C5 ever .

by the way , if you want to enjoy from the bass also , you need to place this speakers in room size , no more then 20 - 30 meter square at maximum . In bigger room from that , the bass will be thin !

Of corse you need high quality cables , power cords , and source , but believe me
this is the best speakers ever , today , in the end of 2014 ........

Amir

These speakers reveal everything once you have found the tight equipment to make them sing to the best of their ability. I tried many amplifiers and many sources. Each time I dared to invest into my system it came down to replacing either the speakers or the amplifier, but something always kept me from selling these beautiful tall standing speakers. Boy am I glad I kept upgrading the equipment and cables rather than getting rid of the Dynaudios. The best results so far I achieved with the NewClear NC1000l dual mono amp as the powerhouse in combination with a PS Audio PWD MK2 DAC as the source. Interconnects are Nordost TYR XLR, speaker cables are Wireworld Eclipse 6, and power cords are Pangea AC-9se, both components fed via a powerplant premier. This set up sounds fantastic, extremely clear, spacious and dynamic, with lots of top and bottom end. The amplifier however did not sound loud enough for classical music being fed directly from the DAC with the variable output volume control, so I decided to add a preamp to the system. After some research and talking to the NewClear distributor I decided on a Mystere CA21 tube preamp. Once it had some time to burn in I gave it a critical listening session. No doubt this preamp was the missing element. I am in audiophile heaven and blown away by the sound quality of this set up and how it changed the character of the dynaudio confidence 5 from clean, revealing dynamic, but a bit anemic in the low freqencies requiring back up from my Dynaudio 250 Sub, to being stunningly dynamic, extremely revealing, natural sounding and so big in soundstage with a fantastic bottom extension. Needless to say they no longer require subwoofer support. I am simply amazed how good these 14 years old speakers sound when paired with the right gear. Highly recommend them, they are a keeper!

This is one of the most sensitive speakers in regards to placement and room acoustic that I have ever used! It also needs the right equipment to really sing. But once you got it all set up right, you will be rewarded and happy for a very long time.
The looks: The Confidence 5 is a beautiful and tall standing speaker with full enclosure- no bass port- that is one of the reasons why the correct placement is so important, but more. about that later. I got lucky on audiogon and got a version with the stunning looking rosewood veneer for $5500USD. The grey metal front plate in combination with the grey textured chassis and the rosewood makes for a timeless and impressive appearing audiophile diva, that wants to be paired with the best you can afford. Like a Diva the C5 wants to be spoiled with high end components, cables and most important power- she is very power-hungry and picky about the sound of your amplifier. Don't even try to feet her an amp below the $2000 USD range, or she won't sing with her full potential.
I tried many amps over a period of 3 years with her- Krell, Yamaha, T+A, Rotel,.etc. I also tried many speaker cables: Nordost SPM Reference, T+A speaker 8, StraightWire Serenate, Kimber 8tc. Anyhow in all cases the most important thing of all was the right amount of power and placement, therefore I want to share with you how I placed mine for audiophile bliss in case you are struggling with your C5 Diva!
She doesn't care very much about distance to the side walls, but wants to be close to the rear wall. My C5 sits with a distance of 38 cm in front of the rear wall, she is angled in toward my listening position,
not with a full on view of her front, but almost, is see a little of the wood veneer to the inner side. Her distance to the side walls is about 30cm at the front corner and 17.5 cm at the rear corner. The distance between the two speakers is about 3.6m, same as my distance to each one of them. They are sitting on their spikes directly on the floor.
I tried to raise them slightly at the front to get more resolution from the Esotar tweeter, but didn't like it after a while and brought them back to their original level.
I am currently feeding her 480watts dynamic power on 4 Ohms with the NAD Master M3 integrated amplifier.
Here is a little tip, use a big fat conduct as a speaker cable to give the C5 as much power as possible. When I used the Nordost SPM Reference speaker cables ($1700USD) the mid range sounded very natural and revealing, but she was lacking bass and high frequency. The fatter the cables where that I used the better she represented the low and high frequencies. The T+A speaker 8 cables made her sound very revealing and precise, but the bass was lacking warmth, and therefore voices and drums sounded clinical. Funny enough my first speaker cable ever, a very affordable but super thick Oehlbach Copper cable, that hardly fits into the holes of the WBT speaker posts, creates a fantastic sounding very dymanic and warm punch in the bass- give it a try- it is a much cheaper solution than investing in the next more powerful amplifier.
Everything else I use is really high end, the NAD M5 SACD player as my source, connected to the M3 via Nordost TYR XLR's. Both M3 and M5 are tweaked with the blue Padis Furutech Audio-fuses. All power cords are PS Audio AC-5 and the cleanest power for everything is fed via my PS Audio PowerPlant Premier. Another great tip, if you own an NAD integrated amp like the M3, you need to replace the cheapo stock bridge between Pre OUT and Main IN with a short high end RCA interconnect. In my case I got a pair of Kimber Select KS2021 with WBT nextgen- the improvement is tremendous!
I hope to have helped some of the frustrated owners of this often misunderstood speaker ( reputation of being bass shy!?- not with the right power and placement!)
Enjoy your Dynaudio Confidence 5 "Diva" and treat her well, she will sing beautifully if you spend enough time to set her up right.

Beautiful speakers with a fantastic sounding mid range.

Hard to find the right equipment in order to drive the C5 to its full potential.
I do not recommend the C5 being paired with Krell components. The sound is harsh and brutal, I am missing the right frequency balance, warmth and silkyness that is typical for Dynaudio.

I always wanted the C5 from Dynaudio since I saw them for the first time on the IFA in Berlin 1999. I had a pair of Dynaudio Xennon 3/75 since 1989 and absolutely loved them, which made me curious about the flagship speaker ( I dislike the looks of the Consequence!). Over the years I paired my Xennons with many amplifers and cables continuously improving their performance. By the time I moved from Germany to the U.S. I had a T+A P2000 AC with a T+A A2000 AC, using a T+A DVD 1210 R as my audio source. The sound was beautiful to my ears, but once I had moved the sound in the U.S. was not the same anymore, maybe because of the 110V on 60hz versus the ideal of 220v on 50Hz for the T+A components. So I sold them except for the DVD player and replaced everything with a Krell HTS and a Krell KAV 500. These components almost killed my speakers. Being unhappy again with the lost audiophile pleasure of the past, I decided it was time to pair the high end Krell components with adequate speakers and finally bought my dream speakers-the C5's. The midrange was a dream right away, but compared to my Xennon 3's the mighty ESOTAR tweeter sounded really lame. I am missing the high frequency spectrum of my beloved Xennons. The base is punchy and hard, but the overall sound is comparably cold and sterile. I am frustrated once more, I know these speakers should be perfect and can only asume that Krell components are not the right partner for the C5 if you are looking for the typical warm Dynaudio sound. I will not sell the speakers because I am glad I finally found a nice pair in palisander rosewood, but my quest for the right components seems to continue. If anybody has any tips in regards to the right amplification with native 110Volt equipment, please let me know.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Xennon 3/75, Audience 122, Audience 62, Krell HTS, Krell KAV 500, T+A A 2000 AC, T+A P 2000 AC, T+A DVD 1210R, Straight Wire Rhapsody S speaker cables, Wireworld silver Eclipse XLR's

Tonalität, Bühnenabbildung, Neutralität, Auflösung.

Braucht sehr gute Elektronik und ordentlich Verstärker-Power.

Was für ein gigantisch guter Lautsprecher! ich hatte jahrelang eine Contour 3.3 und war immer zufrieden bis auf eine Überhöhung im oberen Bassbereich, die nicht zu korrigieren war. Nach einer Umstellung meiner Elektronik von einem Accuphase E-406 auf eine Vor/End-Kombi mit C-2400 und P-450 wagte ich den Umstieg auf die Confidence 5 und habe es nie bereut! Im direkten Vergleich wirkt die Contour 3.3 zunächst dynamischer, was sich aber bald als Vordergründigkeit entpuppt. Die C5 ist weitaus differenzierter und offenbart einen Detailreichtum und eine Bühnenabbildung, die zu Tränen rühren. Die Klangfarben sind absolut authentisch (als Musikkritiker weiß ich, wie Instrumente klingen), die Contour wirkt im Vergleich fast etwas geschönt. Der Bass reicht sehr tief herunter, klingt straff und profund, aber niemals aufgebläht und der Frequenzgang ist, im Vergleich zur 3.3 absolut linear. Es gibt Boxen, die "größer" klingen, aber kaum authentischer. Ich habe viel gehört (B&W, Thiel, Martin Logan etc.) aber die C5 ist der beste Lautsprecher, den ich bisher gehört habe. Verarbeitung und Optik sind ein Traum. Fortschritte in der Elektronik reicht die C5 sofort durch. Letzte Woche ersetzte ich meine P-450 durch eine P-650, eine wirklich "große" Endstufe, und Auflösung, Bühne, Dynamik nahmen nochmal deutlich zu. Wer über sehr gute Elektronik verfügt, sollte sich die C5 unbedingt anhören!

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour 3.3
Accuphase DP-67
Accuphase C-2400
Accuphase P-650

1. Disclose every detail with ease. 2. Excellent spatial sensation. 3. Very easy position. 4. Elegant shape of course.

1. Not just need a very good power amplifier but also a very good "high gain" pre-amplifier. 2. Expensive in Taiwan.

Do not consider these speakers if you just want to buy a fancy decoration. Do not buy it if you could not stand classical music more than 60 min. Do not listen to it if you just need a background music for dinner. In my limited experience, the Confidence 5 may be the best sounding speaker in the world. It will bring you a whole new experinece to enjoy the music from vocal, jazz, chamber music to the fff symphony. But I could not sure whether it will fit special effect or rock music. It will bring you the most elegant string vibrations in the air. It will make you believe that you are in a live concert or a live play in a pub. It will force you to listen all your CD/SACD collections again for all the detail you had lost before. But the drawback is it need high quality equipments (not always high price) to drive, from CD player/DAC to power amplifier. It may be the ultimate speakers that worth to own but be careful if you hear a flat and dead sound from these speakers when your audio gears or the environment not totally compatible with it. My concurrent equipments: Power treatment: PS P500 Source: Krell SACD standard Pre-amp: Sphinx project II MKII, Transcendent Ground Grid and Audio-King Model-9 (Taiwan's local company http://home.kimo.com.tw/audiokin/audioking.htm) Power-amp: Bryston 7BSST and Theta Dreadnaught II Cables: VDH, Acapella, Furutech, IeGo, Bona, ...........

Similar Products Used:

B&W M801 MKII.................

Build Quality A string sound is best quality. Tight Fast Bass

Low Sensative

These are the best speakers I've heard for two channel use in the my home.

Similar Products Used:

ProAc Response 3