Sonus Faber Cremona Vs. Dynaudio Contour S3.4

I love the Dyns I have the Confidence 2s and before that the Contour 1.3SE and both of then IMHO give some of the best sound you will ever hear.

I have heard both at two different dealers. The Sonus with an all Krell system 400 wpc the Dyno's with a Meridian front end using the Accuphase 30 wpc class A amp with on board DAC. The Sonus are a wonderful sounding speakers leaning towards the warm side of neutral but I fell in love with them for that, sorry I did not get a chance to rock them since I only had some jazz and blues CDs with me at the time. Piano and vocals were above all the other speakers I have heared recently, they sounded like real music. The dyno's had a very wonderful mid-range but not enough bass slam even compared to the sonus, but again differenct room, different amp, etc. Again I did not get a chance to rock them either. Funny but the B&W N802s on the same system as the Dyno's sounded bad, good bass but not musical at all, maybe the Accuphase amp going against them becuase I have heard them with the Plinius amp and they really sounded very good.

If you like more jazz, vocals than rock the Sonus maybe the speaker if not I do not think either will really rock out as well as some other speakers.

Happy Listening.

I would have to agree with Bigkidz. The Cremona will probably be a better match with your ML gear.

Hi

Thanks for your responses.

Kthomas, what amplification are you running with your Confidence 3's? I was told the S3.4's have a balanced sound and are as good as the old Confidence's.

A friend of mine is running a Krell FPB 300 and a pre (I forget which Krell) with his S3.4's and he finds them a bit bright - although he hasn't had the speaks for long. This is strange 'cos when I was auditioning amps, I thought the Krell was darker sounding then the ML's.

Also, the hard part is getting the scratch for the speakers and then deciding :)

Bigkidz, I did hear the Krells with the Cremonas at a show room and did find the sound a bit on the warm side - which was good for my tastes - I listen to mostly acoustic jazz, some big band, soul, blues, hip hop and pop - not really much into rock but was concerned that it would put me to sleep, as per Kthomas' impressions. With trumpet notes, it was fine whereas when my friend played Miles Davis on the Contour S3.4's on his setup with the Krell, the trumpet did seem on the bright side and slightly grating on the ears. A good balance between the 2 would be good. The dealer tells me that SF should be driven by tubes and he had paired it with the Krell for bass demonstration.

My impressions so far based on what I have heard is that on vocals and acoustic jazz, the Cremona is more warm and musical and the S3.4 is more natural and neutral.

MFish, your review on the S3.4 was why I started listenning to them.

Owned many Dynaudio (Confidence 5, 1.3SE, DIY Gemini) and Sonus Faber (Extrema, Amati Homage, Cremona, Cremona Auditor, Electa Amator, Grand Piano Home, etc) in the past, they both are wonderful speakers. I would vote for Dynaudio if you like to listen loud and have tons of power to drive them, but they can be finicky in system matching. However, if you like to enjoy your music rather than analyzing it, you can't go wrong with Sonus Faber. My current choice is Amati Homage over Temptation or C4, but I would love to have both if money and space allow.

It's hard to choose between dark and white chocolate, it all depends on your mood and craving.

Jonathan has a good point on your associated equipments. My recommendation is to loan the smaller version of both from local dealer to hear system matching. i.e, borrow the Audior and S1.4 home and see which one mates better with your front end.

David