If there is one thing audio reviewers like (other than wine, women, and song, of course), it is recommendable products that stay in production for years. And years. I reviewed the original Confidence C4 in 2003, with a follow-up by Wes Phillips in 2007, so it was with some surprise that I encountered the speaker at the 2012 CES. Except that this was the new Signature edition ($22,000/pair), which has a revised crossover, a high gloss finish (that is difficult to photograph :-), and a new coating on the Esotar2 tweeter's soft dome that is said to give a smoother, more open sound. With a standard finish, the C4 costs $20,000/pair; the C1 stand-mount has been similarly improved, with the standard version costing $7700/pair, the high-gloss Signature $8500/pair. Dynaudio is now offering its speakers with a 10 year warranty!
Driven by a T+A player and Octave tube amplification, hooked up with StraightWire cable, the C4s offered a big stage on my recording of the Jerome Harris Quintet playing Duke Ellington's "The Mooche," with Jerome's acoustic bass guitar sounding well-defined and and with good bottom-octave weight, and with Billy Drummond's cymbals very well-differentiated. I have to say that with so many speakers available at two, three, or four times the C4 Signature's price, $22,000 starts to appear a very attractive cost for a speaker of this quality.
