Sonus Faber Cremona Vs. Dynaudio Contour S3.4

Hi

Pendulus: My amps are 331 power and 380 pre. I thought the 3.4 was the safest to go with as fearing brightness I thought the Esotar 2 may be too revealing after reading Mfish's review comparing that and the S25.

Kthomas: My friend is using a FPB 200 C as well with a KRC preamp - what preamp are you using? I had suggested to him that it perhaps needed a tube preamp but he said that that would void the power amp warranty. What cables are you on? He has a real mixed bag - Naim Audio NACA 4 spk cables, Cardas Quadlink 5 C interconnects mostly and a Straightwire Virtuoso run between a ML DAC and the pre, all balanced. I told him to check the cables as the Straightwire may be bright. I thought the Naim's may be OK as the Naim sound is fast and bright anyway with the cables meant to tame this.

KeithR: was the pre you were referring to with the 400Cx a tube pre? If so, you would perhaps agree with my guess that a tube pre would smooth out the highs?

Hi

It could be break in you know. There are posts on Audio Asylum specifically mentioning break in for the Contour S3.4, with the poster saying that it needs at least 100 hours otherwise the treble is bright.

I am not a whiz with posting links otherwise I would have posted the link for you.

I'd say a tube pre would help with Krell stuff but you may need to be careful with impedance matching.

You may find this interesting:

DynS34 DaliMS4 Plinius9200

Hi I’m using ML gear 390s/380s/23.5 with Valhalla speaker cabling and CZ Gel interconnects and the sound is great on my Dynaudio C2s. not bright at all. I just purchase a 1-meter pair of Valhalla interconnect which were place between the CD Player and the Pre-Amp. And the only thing different in the sound is that the voices sound more natural and the highs are very detail, not bright, more fuller and extended. I’ve only had the interconnect for a few days and I do need one more to go from the Pre-amp to the amp. But to my ears the sound is great.

Yes, the Hovland is a tube preamp. I have heard this combo numerous times at Singer in NYC. Krell has high impedance, so works well with tube pres (amp does have to be altered for tube pres as i recall). I wouldn't say it smooths out the highs, but that the midrange is fleshed out wonderfully. With the Krells rock-solid bass, a nice combo.