Alan Sircom

To achieve this constant directivity, Silent Pound uses a 25mm compression driver tweeter flanked by two 160mm midrange units in their own enclosure. This meshes perfectly with the drivers below. From the front, everything appears normal, and you might mistake it for a regular floorstander. Then you notice that the Challenger II loudspeaker is barely deeper than the magnet assembly behind the driver basket. That’s because the company’s specially made 300mm bass drivers operate in an open baffle.

With the all the dust from the first High-End Vienna now settled, what happened? Despite doom-and-gloom from many in the industry, the show stemmed any declines seen in the Munich attendance figures. Increased international visitors – in particular ones from the US and Asia – were especially welcome. And, while those increases were comparitively small, given the negativity surrounding the change in venue put about by some pundits, some positivity is well received.

Don’t let the traditional appearance of the Dynaudio Contour 20 Black Edition fool you. Yes, it belongs to the Contour line. The physical similarities to the Contour 20/Contour 20i it is based on are obvious. However, that’s like seeing a race-prepped Rallycross car and thinking it’s the same as your VW Polo. This is not your father’s Dynaudio. From the outside, aside from the all-black appearance, the Contour 20 Black Edition features an Esotar3 soft-dome tweeter and a new 180mm MSP woofer.