Полочная акустика — Dynaudio Contour 20i

The Contour 20i is the smallest two-way design in the Danish Contour i range by Dynaudio. It is the i-generation update of the earlier Contour 20, and Dynaudio revised the tweeter, the woofer suspension and the crossover for it. The cabinet uses a black aluminium baffle that is chamfered and set into the enclosure, and bass reflex loading vents through the back panel.

Key specs that matter

A 28 mm Esotar 2i soft dome tweeter works with one 18 cm woofer with a cone of Magnesium Silicate Polymer, or MSP, a material Dynaudio makes in house. The two drivers meet at 2,200 Hz through a second-order crossover. Dynaudio lists sensitivity as 86 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m, rated impedance as 4 ohm, and IEC long term handling reaches 180 W. Frequency response is 39 Hz to 23 kHz within 3 dB. The bare cabinet measures 215 mm wide, 440 mm high and 360 mm deep, which grows to 396 mm of depth once grille and feet are fitted, and each speaker weighs 14 kg. Finishes are Walnut Wood, Black High Gloss and Nordic Silver.

Engineering and use context

The Esotar 2i is a development of the older Esotar2 tweeter. It gains a larger rear chamber for more effective damping and adopts the Hexis inner dome already used in the Confidence and Core ranges, a part placed behind the main dome to reduce resonances and flatten the frequency response. On the woofer the MSP cone, the lightweight long-throw aluminium voice coil of large diameter and the vented dual-ferrite magnet system carry over, but the spider behind the cone is new. It is an asymmetric aramid fibre design with ribs of varying width, which Dynaudio says gives finer control over cone excursion. The crossover was simplified for this generation. Its impedance correction circuitry was removed, because the revised driver materials are said to manage linearity on their own, leaving a cleaner signal path between the terminals and the drivers.

Pairing

With a low rated load and a sensitivity figure quoted as a voltage rather than at 1 W, the Contour 20i calls for transistor amplification that is comfortable with low impedances and can supply generous current. Low-powered valve designs and small amplifiers built mainly for 8 ohm loads are less suited to it.

Alternatives

Another Dynaudio stand-mount is the Legend, a two-way design with an Esotar 3 tweeter and a 15 cm MSP woofer in a hand-built natural rosewood cabinet.