CONTOUR 30 STEP IT UP A NOTCH FROM THE 20. OF COURSE, IT STILL TREADS THE SAME PATH – ONE OF HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY, AND SHEER ENTERTAINMENT, BUT IT PUTS IT ALL IN A BIGGER PACKAGE.

We’ve endowed Contour 30 with two 18cm MSP drivers, as well as doubling up the rear ports. What makes our drivers so special? Variable thickness across the diaphragm, for one thing.

It’s made from MSP – a material we developed ourselves, and have been using in our drivers since 1985. MSP gives exactly the right combination of stiffness and damping – which you’ll hear as exactly the right combination of power, finesse, and control. Just what a Contour speaker should have. But, we’ve taken it further: we’ve varied the diaphragm’s thickness across its surface, which gives even greater control over its sound.

And aluminium voice-coils, for another. We can make them extremely light – but also bigger than the old-style copper units you’ll find elsewhere. Lighter weight means larger diameters, which means we can use more windings, which means we have more control over the cone movement. And that translate to more control over the sound reproduction – especially at high frequencies and high volumes.

We also included the ultra-pure, ultra-clear Esotar2 fabric soft-dome tweeter.

And because we’re irrepressible tinkerers, we’ve given the inside a makeover, too. As with the Contour 20 and the Contour 60, the Contour 30 has new baskets to hold the drivers themselves, as well as a new crossover and new wiring. We listened to our old Contours for months and decided we wanted the crossover to serve up even better bass. So, now you can go louder and lower.

Making a Contour without its signature baffle would be all-near impossible. But, there’s always room for improvement. The new baffle is made from a solid piece of aluminium and set into the cabinet. Its chamfer is included in the driver’s basket – which not only looks great, but also reduces unwanted high-frequency diffraction effects for clearer treble, and provides a solid foundation for the drivers to do their work. A solid foundation means improved high-volume performance at low frequencies.

And although we might have changed the cabinet’s shape, the new design tips a respectful nod to older Contours. Look at it from the top; you’ll see the old baffle design in its shape. But, it isn’t just for show – the new shape marries those aesthetics with cutting-edge acoustic physics. Its multilayered construction is extremely well-damped, which means the Contour’s sound goes exactly where it’s supposed to: forwards.

We’ve redesigned the internal wiring and crossover, too You won’t see what we’ve done, but you’ll hear the effect: amazingly clear sound, even off to the sides of the speaker.