Dynaudio 72SE vs. S3.4

The Contour has much better quality / better looking cabinetry.

One difference is that the 3.4 contrary to previous Contours make use of neo-dymium magnets. On high(er) end equipment the difference in performance may become (more) clear though (at least I heard them ahine and marvel through full Mark Levinon pre-power set-up).

My local Dynaudio dealer/salesman told me they put the previous version Contour tweeter into the 72s because they had alot of them "lying around", and called it the 72SE. The new Dynaudio Focus series uses even newer drivers and crossovers and may represent a better value in Dynaudios. I have the original Dynaudio 70s and while shopping for new speakers compared the Focus 220 to the 72SE and liked the 220 by a small margin. I have not compared it to the Contour sie by side.

The "SE" version of the Audience 72 uses completely different drivers and crossovers. The drivers are from the Contour series. I am curious as to what the difference might be between them and S3.4 as they sound very close to each other to my ears. Not sure if the S3.4 are worth 2X the price over the 72SE.

Couldn't tell you the driver difference off the top of my head, but the Contours are a far superior speaker in my opinion. I thought the Audience speakers were completely pedestrian in terms of depth, stage, imaging and detail. The only pity is the Contours are near four times the price. (Guess you should get something for the higher price.)

That said, I ended up with a set of Spendors which had the characteristics I liked in the Contours but for substantially less. (Still more than the Audience 72's.)