Dynaudio Contour 20 Black Edition

Although I have very much appreciated how the best floorstanding loudspeakers have performed in my various listening rooms over the decades, I have always been most comfortable with relatively small two-way standmounts.

- JOHN ATKINSON

Back in the early 1980s, I got musically moving sound from a pair of Rogers LS3/5a's, which I still own, followed by Celestion SL6s, SL600s, and SL700s, and for the longest time a pair of Bowers & Wilkins John Bowers Silver Signatures. For the past decade, when not reviewing loudspeakers, I've been using either original KEF LS50s or GoldenEar BRXes as my daily drivers. Neither of these minimonitors can compete with big floorstanders when it comes to dynamics, maximum loudness, or low-frequency extension and weight, but both excel at creating a tangible, though admittedly small-scale, image of the performers, allowing me to forget the speakers and become immersed in the music.

A two-way, reflex-loaded standmount that impressed me when I reviewed it in May 2017 was the Contour 20 from Danish manufacturer Dynaudio. The Contour 20 was replaced in 2020 by the Contour 20i, which featured an improved tweeter and a reflex port that was flared on both ends, not just the outer. The 20i remains in production but is now joined by the Contour 20 Black Edition, which recently received an award as the Premium Standmount Loudspeaker 2025-2026 by EISA (the Expert Imaging and Sound Association; see p.136).

The Contour 20 BE

The Contour 20 BE costs $8000/pair compared with the Contour 20i's $5750/pair. With its contoured, black-anodized aluminum front baffle, the BE's cabinet appears to be the same as that of the 20i but is distinguished by its high-gloss black finish. In fact, everything about the new speaker is black, including the mounting plates for the tweeter and woofer and the flared port at the top of the rear panel. This port, like the 20i's, is flared on both its exterior and interior openings, but it has a larger diameter. Matching stands are available at $598/pair.