Driven by more
The drivers are the same precision units you’ll find in the passive Confidence 20, optimised for active.
There’s the Esotar 3 tweeter, of course: our flagship high-frequency driver that made its debut in 2018 with the next-gen Confidence launch. It has a 28mm precision-coated soft-dome diaphragm, backed-up by the Hexis resonance-defeating inner dome. In the engine-room is an aluminium voice coil that minimises weight for improved transient response, plus a powerful neodymium magnet system for increased sensitivity and stellar dynamic range. There’s also a large damped metal back-chamber for lowering resonant frequencies and improving clarity.
It's such a good tweeter, in fact, that it’s used in our M-series main monitors – which take pride of place in some of the world’s most important recording studios.
The 18cm NeoTec woofer also has a neodymium-based motor (which incorporates an ingenious venting system for optimised air movement). Its aluminium voice-coil is wedded to a glass-fibre voice-coil former for optimum stiffness, and it’s fronted by our signature precision MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) cone.
And while it might seem a little bit peculiar to start waxing lyrical over holes, we trust you’ll indulge us if you’ve read this far. That’s because Confidence 20A has seen a leap forward in bass-port design. Yes, a bass-port is just a hole. But this an engineered hole. An Exponentially Shaped Dual Flared one. Confidence 20A’s ESDF port has an end-to-end exponential shape that almost totally eliminates noise. It means you get vastly improved bass performance – which, of course, influences everything else up the frequency range. Think more precision to vocals, more clarity to strings and (of course) more weight to the thumps and bumps.
You might not be able to see it, but it’s been an incredibly focussed effort by our engineers – and one they’re rightly very proud of.