Wow, so much time has passed since I last updated this profile and so many comments of yours have come to make sense in the meantime.Rottenclam, the NAD M3 was indeed to weak to drive the Dynaudio Confidence C5, you are right. I replaced it with two Emotiva XPA-1 Monos, which was good in regards to power and bass response, but still not right in upper frequency details for cymbals, etc.. So after 3 years of XPA 1s, I converted to digital amplification with excellent results. The power amp is a dual mono Nuclear NC1000L. It sounds very musical, full of bass and corpus with really nice high frequency extension. For a while I used it in direct combination with a PS Audio PWD MK1. This combo worked really nice, but when it came to classical music I couldn't crank it up loud enough. With very quiet recordings I had to dial up the output volume to 100%, crazy.So I ended up contacting the manufacturer of the amp, who recommended to add a tube preamp into the signal path. Bingo, now the system sounds simply wonderful! Speaker cables are Wireworld Eclipse 6, which sound awesome and full. Interconnects are Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7 and Nordost TYR. Power cord upgrade- Pangea AC 9SE for PS Audio PPP, Wireworld Silver Eclipse for the Mystere PA21 Preamp, PS Audio AC5 for the PS Audio PWD MK2, Audio quest Vodka Ethernet cables for wifi port to bridge and NAS to router,new tweaks  entail Synergistic Research RED fuses for all equipment in combination with the Synergistic Research HOT tweaks for the speakers. 3D Projector Panasonic PT AE7000U with a new 150 inch acoustic front projection screen, which works also as a diffuser panel between the Dynaudio Confidence 5.Result: The Confidence 5 has never sounded better in my space. In regards to Vernneal's comment, I placed them with less toe in which opened up the soundstage in width and depth. I thought I would loose high frequency extension by having less toe in, but was actually surprised that all of the high frequency revelation remained the same, while the mid range and bottom end became even more audible, completing the full spectrum of the frequency range. The Nuclear delivers 1000W on 4 ohm per channel, and no matter what I have said in the past,the Dynaudio Confidence C5 is capable of going way down in the frequency spectrum, it just requires the right gear and I think I finally have found a level of performance that will be hard to improve. But I have been wrong with that in the past, guess it can always get better. And so the upgrade craze will continue. 

arned October 20, 2015 19:07

Regarding the speaker placement my take is that Arned is concerned about reinforcement of the bass and fullness of instrument play since that was mentioned early in the thread as lacking in other speaker placements.

foster_9 May 18, 2012 22:56

I agree w/ Vernneal. Speakers like yours don't perform as well placed deep into the corners of a room like your photo indicates.

mjcmt May 06, 2012 12:58

what brand of your equipment rack? is it build good?

jxzw May 03, 2012 19:06

been there done that- in that position the stereo imaging in my room became more diffuse with a precise but weak bass, that didn't do justice to the corpus of
neither violine nor cello. In the current position I get the full body of string instruments and contra-bass, etc.. I listen mainly to PAtty Barber, Cassandra Wilson, Herbie H. and some ECM JAZZ ( Jon Balke, Tomasz Stanko, etc.) and some classic music.

arned March 10, 2010 01:43

I would try toeing the speakers in a little less and move them a foot forward and a foot more in toward the viwing screen. This should clean up your bass

vernneal March 09, 2010 10:54

System edited: I added my first picture of my home theater set up for those of you who are curious about the placement of my Dynaudio Confidence C5 speakers. They have about a foot distance to the rear wall, less than a foot from each side wall, are angled in to my listening position, and are having about 10 to 11 feet distance between eachother. In this configuration I get the full frequency response from the C5, even the bass has a great presence without the ueber-amplification that everybody believes to be needed for the C5.

arned March 08, 2010 17:03

Hello Rottenclam and sorry for the late response, I haven't been on the threads page for a while due to my newborn son in our live. The NAD is rated at 180w @ 8ohms, dynamic power is rated @ 280 watts at 8 Ohms, 480 watts at 4 Ohms, and 785 watts at 2 Ohms. It definitely has enough power to drive my C5's. I noticed strong variations in bass performance with the use of different speaker cables, and I used some expensive stuff- some of it wasn't working at all despite great reputation, such as Nordost SPM reference- lack in bass, no warmth, no silkyness but very revealing mid range. I am currently using the Monarchy Audio PCOCC based speaker cable with excellent results, despite its low price at 100USD for 10feet here on audiogon. It is a great sounding cable, very revealing throughout the frequency spectrum with fantastic and dynamic bass impulse, which is needed for the C5. Makes me wonder what a thicker gauge PCOCC based speaker cable of the likes from Oyaide Tunami Nigo or PS Audio Reference would sound like. I use Kimber select and Nordost TYR inteconnects now and do get much more details that way than with the cheap Audioquest Jaguars I had before. Cables make a huge difference. The placement of the C5 is very important too for a good bass response- place them one foot from the rear wall. They don't care soo much about side distance.

arned March 08, 2010 15:02

I am curious how your system has evolved. I've been looking into the Dynaudio Confidence 5 speakers and on all the data sheets it says they only go down to 47hz. That seems wrong to me. I would think that they would have much more bass (and good quality bass at that).

How much power does that NAD M3 amp have? I am building a system with an integrated amp that puts out 500 watts at 4ohms (which is what the Confidence 5 drop down to), so I figure that would be enough power.

rottenclam November 21, 2009 09:34

I recently replaced all of my Krell gear with the NAD Master line. An M3 stereo amp and the M5 SACD player. Krell didn't sound right with my Confidence 5 speakers. NAD sounds better, but I am still not satisfied. I also added a PS Audio Power Plant PRemier with a PS Audio Soloist in addition. That made for a better imaging of the sound stage, but the bass performance is still too weak. What to do? I don't want to give up on my C5's,yet!

arned October 06, 2008 18:31

System edited: Just bought a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 5- my dream speaker- finally- can't wait for it to arrive so I can audit them in my HT. I bought a Sony PS3 a few month ago and use it mainly as a Blue Ray video player with 720p resolution over my PT AE 700- I love it. Watched "Casino Royale" on Blue Ray last night- wow-fantastic picture quality-playstation3 is a steal for the money.

arned June 23, 2007 04:20