This is what happens when you take an award-winning classic and give it a massive upgrade. The very best parts, painstaking measurement and testing, and a pursuit of perfection that some people might deem obsessive Cabinet design that endures The only thing that’s changed about Contour 20 Black Edition’s cabinet is that our admiration for it has grown. It’s the same one you get with Contour i, and there was absolutely no reason for us to alter it. It’s thick, solid, and its shape is great for curtailing standing waves and unwanted vibration. The aluminium baffle is the same, too (other than its new colour). It might look thin, but that’s only the wrap-around portion; the rest of it, embedded in the cabinet, is 14mm thick. High-tech high frequencies Esotar 3 is our flagship tweeter. It appeared in 2018 on the next-generation Confidence, and has quickly become an industry benchmark for high-frequency performance. So much so, in fact, that it now takes pride of place in our M-series professional reference systems, which you’ll find in some of he world’s most important recording studios. The soft-dome diaphragm is backed-up with a Hexis inner dome (below), a powerful neodymium motor and a precision-wound, lightweight aluminium voice coil. Improved bass port The redesigned bass port has been designed to work perfectly with the mid/bass driver. It’s much bigger than the one you’ll see on Contour 20i, and has been flared at both ends (inside and out) to help control air movement. That means increased precision, reduced artefacts and deeper bass. We also took care to make it conform to the cabinets gentle curves – which is more of a job than you might think; it had to work acoustically, too. It was an R&D project all by itself… Sensitivity 86dB (2.83V/1m) IEC long term power handling 180W Impedance 4 Ohms Frequency response (+/- 3dB) 50Hz – 23kHz Box principle Bass-reflex rear-mounted dual-flared port Crossover 2-way Crossover frequency 3600Hz Crossover topology 2nd order Woofer 1x 18cm MSP Tweeter 28mm Esotar 3 with Hexis Dimensions (W x H x D) 215 x 440 x 400mm