Dynaudio has announced the Contour i speaker range, the result of a top-to-bottom overhaul of the existing Contour speakers, with new drivers, crossovers, internal damping and finishes coming together in an effort to take the series to new heights.
Like the 2016-launched Contour range, the Contour i is comprised of four models: a 20i bookshelf (£3999), 30i (£6199) and 60i (£7999) floorstanders, and a 25Ci (£2899) centre channel. Each sports a brand-new Esotar 2i tweeter, which utilises a Hexis resonance-defeating inner dome and larger rear chamber to reduce distortion.
The flagship 60i marries that with a new woofer that claims to benefit from a bigger magnet system, as well as a newly designed voice coil that features the glass-fibre voice-coil former that debuted in Dynaudio's top-tier Confidence range. The midrange drivers carry over from the Contour range but now sit inside a new enclosure derived from the company's Core professional reference monitor range.
New drivers naturally call for a new crossover, and the 60i's crossover has been designed to work better at higher frequencies (up to around 300Hz).
The woofers inside the Contour 20i, 30i and 25Ci, meanwhile, gain an updated 'Nomex spider' voice-coil suspension assembly for improved control and performance. Their crossovers have been updated, too.
Lessons learned from the creation of its Evoke and Confidence ranges have inspired new internal damping inside the Contour i speakers' cabinets, and finally the surface quality of the black gloss, walnut veneer and glossy grey oak finishes have been improved.
The Dynaudio Contour i speakers will be available from next month, followed (hopefully soon after) by a What Hi-Fi? review, once we're allowed back into our test rooms, post-lockdown.
In 2018 we heralded the Contour 20 standmounters as class-leading performers at their price, citing their impressive levels of authority, dynamics and insight. Bearing in mind the claimed improvements made to the Contour i range, our expectations are high.
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