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Oct 01, 2023

Review: Dynaudio Contour 60i Floorstanding Loudspeakers

One of the things about big(ger) speakers is they tend to sound, big(ger).

One of the things about big(ger) speakers is they tend to sound, big(ger).

Another thing about big speakers is they can energize a room, or a Barn, like nobody's business and when coupled with amplification that makes them dance they can also startle, delight, and turn a song into an event.

The Dynaudio Contour 60i did all of these things and more, filling the Barn with an amazing amount of music energy that transformed the place into nightclub, dancehall, and unabashed boogie factory.

Dynaudio was founded in Denmark in 1977 and the Contour line first hit the market in 1989, so we’re looking at a speaker that's been refined over a few decades. The current Contour 60i includes a number of refinements of the 2016 design including trickle down tech for the Esotar 2i tweeter including the Hexis inner dome found in the flagship Confidence line and a larger rear chamber as found on the company's Core pro monitors.

The dedicated 15cm MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polypropylene) midrange driver is the same as the one used in the older model, which pleases me and my love of designs that stand the test of time to no end. The 23cm MSP woofers contain a different voice-coil design and a glass-fibres voice-coil former, as first used in the Confidence range and Sub 6 subwoofer.

The crossover has been tweaked along with the multi-layer curved cabinet and solid 14mm aluminum baffle, the latter's shape-ability allowing for the gentle chamfered edge that perfectly matches the cabinet's curves.

Featuring twin ports top and bottom and a single pair of speaker binding posts, the Contour 60i look the part of elegant Barn-filling brute.

The Contour 60i stand over 4′ tall, weigh a call-a-friend to move ‘em 119 lbs. (a piece), and have a claimed frequency response of 28Hz to 23kHz (+/- 3 dB). They come clad in Walnut Wood or High Gloss Black covered in (turn in it up to) 11 coats of lacquer. Of course we all know that Dynaudio makes all of their drivers in-house and the Contour 60i is constructed in Denmark by Dynaudio's master craftsmen. Fit and finish is superb, even at macro inspection levels.

I paired the towering Contour 60i towers with the Parasound stack (review) for mega power (400 Watts into 8 Ohms/600 into 4), the thunderous tube-driven BAT VK-80i Integrated Amplifier (review), and the Cambridge Edge stack (more info) which felt like the happy middle ground in between (200 Watts into 8 Ohms/350 into 4). In terms of favorites, I could live with the BAT or Edge stack, the latter offering a bit more Barn filling power, the former lighting up music a bit more in air. Win or Win. I ended up spending the most amount of concentrated listening time with the Cambridge stack paired with the Mola Mola Tambaqui streamer/DAC (review) with cables from AudioQuest connecting it all, the AQ Niagara 3000 Power conditioner for all powered components, and the Box Furniture "Fallen A’ rack providing chunky support.

Jump On It by Bill Orcutt

You might not think that you’d want, or even need, a speaker as large as the Contour 60i powered by over 200 Watts of Cambridge Edge power to reproduce just an acoustic guitar but a few moments, that's moments not minutes, digging into Bill Orcutt's Jump On It and the staggeringly snappy and rich and realistic sound of his guitar, especially the lower middle registers that excite its wooden body resonating in Barn very much like the real thing, and if you’re anything like me you’d be shaking your head in the affirmative while sporting a sly smile. The Contour 60i sound rich around the middle, fit and full down low (we’ll get there in a moment), with a sweet upper frequency that makes the sheen off the guitar strings as Orcutt works his musical magic positively ticklishly present.

Power plus full range frequency response doesn't just benefit BIG music played at ear-splitting levels, it can also make intimate music jump to life in room, or in Barn, with life-like snap and solidity making for a more physical kind of listening event.

Vietnam's Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective's second album *1 is a blisteringly hot wild ride.

From the liner notes:

"*1", delves into nonlinear surreal soundscapes, presenting a variegated sonic tapestry of collages, glitch, and plunderphonics that embodies themes of love, seclusion, and misunderstandings. Through its chaotic dislocated elements, "*1" conjures both moments of blissful transcendences and cathartic releases that defy expectability and algorithms.

Angelic one minute, positively fiendish the next, *1 jerks, swings, throbs, and pulsates with electronic glitch and earth-shaking bass and the Contour 60i played the role of perfect reproducer for every last ounce of this album's manic energy. Loud, louder, and louder still, the Contour 60i are easily capable of shaking every loose bit in Barn with seamless force from tippy top to subterranean bottom, while shining with angelic light when the music calls for it, a Faustian bargain played out in Barn.

Live at Montreux Jazz Festival from Anna von Hausswolff finds the Swedish organist and singer-songwriter in top form, performing a range of music from two of her albums, The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with a full backing band. Organ, electric guitar, bass, synthesizer, percussion and drums join von Hausswolff on vocals with her sister Maria singing backup. This is high drama, angels and demons embattled.

From the liner notes:

The distinctive music, as captured across five full-length albums, comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power.

Howling into her uppermost registers with the band smashing away on "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" creates a kind of mad beauty and the Contour 60i prove capable of intensely physical impactful magic that tossed and turned me and my emotions like a skeleton in a cement mixer. Powerful, moving, magical energy. Once again I found myself reaching for the Cambridge remote to raise the level to overwhelming, with the Dynaudio's sounding perfectly solid, stable and always ready for more.

Tirzah's Colourgrade from 2021 is as much about sounds as it is about songs. Whistles, low end growl, rumbles, detached voices swimming in a sea of reverb, all buoyed by an addictive and sneaky driving beat like the faint rumblings of a distant train buried deep below ground. Here, the Contour 60i really shine, with their wonderful sense of refinement and scale, reproducing the smallest sound and largest growl with equal dexterity and force. More than many a speaker that has graced the Barn, the Contour 60i sound rock solid, as if the sounds filling the volume of space were themselves physical things capable of pushing the furnishings around and rattling me to my core. Physical yet delicate, forceful and fully formed.

The sound image, where the recordings called for it, was vast stretching in every dimension but perfectly defined by all of the things responsible for its creation. Tirzah sounding positively dangerous hovering above the noise, growl, and glitch of Colourgrade.

From the Dynaudio website:

If you have a bigger listening room – or if you just like to play it loud – the Contour 60i…is your new best friend.

I’m pretty picky about selecting best friends and I have a bigger listening room to fill. Occasionally I also like to play things loud and the Dynaudio Contour 60i endeared themselves to all of my musical moods, making the Barn come alive with the sheer power and grace of music sculpted in air. I ran through most of my rowdier favorite test tracks from Marc Ribot and The Ceramic Dog's "Midost", Boris’ "Absolutego", Show Me The Body "Spit" featuring Princess Nokia, Raime's "Coax" that rattled the Barn to its core, and Nuha Ruby Ra's "My Voice" that's never sounded more badass and bouncy. The Contour 60i deliver full scale music from the deepest depths of electronic growl to symphonic splendor with an assured unshakable force.

Another thing the Dynaudio Controur 60i do is move a lot of air as music energy, making the listening experience capable of conveying danger, excitement, and surprise. When taken in as a whole with plenty of power to drive them as loud as you ever care to go, you can think of the Contour 60i as a front seat pass to music's full force, grace, and power.

Dynaudio Contour 60i Floorstanding Loudspeakers Price: $12,000/pairCompany Website: Dynaudio

Specifications

Segment: HomeRange: Contour iType: FloorstandSensitivity (dB @ 2.83V/1m): 88Lower Cutoff (Hz @ +/- 3 dB): 28Upper Cutoff (kHz @ +/- 3 dB): 23Box Principle: Bass reflex rear portedCrossover: 3-wayCrossover Frequency (Hz): 300/4500 HZCrossover Topology: 2nd orderTweeter: 28mm Esotar 2i with HexisMidrange: 15 cm MSPWoofer: 2x 23 cm MSPWeight: kg 54,3Weight lbs: 119 6/8Width mm: 255Height mm 1330Depth mm: 420Width inches: 10Height inches: 52 3/8Depth inches: 16 4/8Width mm incl. feet/grill: 343Height mm incl. feet/grill: 1359Depth mm incl. feet/grill: 454Width inches incl. feet/grill: 13 4/8Height inches incl. feet/grill: 53 4/8Depth inches incl. feet/grill: 17 7/8Grille: BlackBaffle: Black Aluminium