Dynaudio Contour 30i or Sonus Faber Olympica II

Buy the LSA-20 Signature or Statements (available here) and save yourself $$$. No affiliation with the company BTW.  They targeted Joseph Audio for performance, and IMO JA beats both SF and Dynaudio. Or, just pay more. Read the reviews — when reviewers buy the review samples it says A LOT. Best of luck.

Neither

I wouldn't buy without hearing.

I own Sonus fabers and like them - there's a lot of great speakers at 4-6k.

I bought Sonus Gaber Olympica 3 without heating them… I did. Lot of research and had purchased a set of Cremona as a test to verify my belief that SF was the right was to go. It was. I now own a pair of Sonus Faber Amati Traditional.

I was a planar speakers person until initiating season tickets at the symphony, 7th row center. I quickly began refocusing my system on musical and accurate speakers / system. Sonus Faber + Audio Research has improved all of the genera of music and made my system an incredible joy to listen to…

Click on my ID to see my system.

Sonus Faber 👍 They look good also.

@ghdprentice You are braver than I!
I love my Olympica Nova Vs but still think there are many other great options that I couldn’t buy without listening or no hassle return. 

I have been reading The Absolute Sound, Stereophile, listening to high end systems, and upgrading my systems for decades. my theory was swapping SF for my ribbon speakers would change paths to higher overall musical fidelity. I verified my theory by purchasing the used SF Cremona, listening to them for a few days, and reading reviews of the Olympica. There actually wasn’t much uncertainty for me. Sonus Faber for me captures a natural sound like no other. They sounded exactly as I expected in my system. Typically I can read professional reviews and pretty well tell what something is going to sound like in my system, provided I am changing only one thing.

Years earlier I had been out with a friend auditioning systems. I was struck with a characteristic of Sonus Faber I had never heard before. It was a coherency and a unique sound… I could not put a word on it… well, dirt came to mind… not in a bad way (ok, I’m weird, I had no word)… now I would call it organic… natural. Those low end Sonus stuck in my subconscious. They stayed there until I felt the need to make my system sound more like the real thing and less like a studio monitoring system (highlighting details, mastering, and venue as if in a spotlight). They did, put me on a path for far greater musical gestalt (with detail) and away from just senseless detail and slam.


Sorry about rambling. It is interesting to trace this decision back so many years.

Sorry about rambling. It is interesting to trace this decision back somany years.

@ghdprentice — Do NOT be sorry for rambling here for doing your homework and finding your speaker Nirvana. It’s what we’re all striving for here, and CONGRATS!!! on getting there. We should all be so happy!!!

😊👍

The new Contour series, I or non I, are the worst speakers i ever heard. They are able to kill every genre of music. Wrong timbre and Wrong soundstage. I own the contour 60. Since i own them i stopped to listen to music for respect to the music. And, after two years i bought them i'm not able to sell them for half the price and i bought them for half as the official price... that means that after two years i have difficulties to sell them for 25% of the original price. A friend has the old Bose 505 from the 90'... the sound more natural as the Contour 60 and you find them for 300 dollars. 

@daros71 Sorry, but i think you are bullshi*ting.  The Contour 20 have been reviewed by stereophile (https://www.stereophile.com/content/dynaudio-contour-20-loudspeaker) and John Atkison was impressed with the measurements. No flaws were detected, so your claim doesn't make any sense

Celestial Sound, try not to be offensive to people. Being offensive to speakers is different than being offensive to people. Try not to get confused.
Other than that Atkinson probably got a couple of special C20s. This forum is full of people who have had C60's and have similar impressions to mine. Look it up and don't waste my time or hypersound money. Besides, all the reviews of the whole new Dynaudio range are, when it's good, lukewarm. My explanation is that the new administration of Dynaudio, active since 2016, no longer has quality as a priority. I had many Dynaudio speakers before the C60 and i know what i'm talking about.

Years earlier I had been out with a friend auditioning systems. I was struck with a characteristic of Sonus Faber I had never heard before. It was a coherency and a unique sound… I could not put a word on it… well, dirt came to mind… not in a bad way

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No in fact you did put the right word. 
*Dirt* as in muddy.
SF's sound like Mud
1 word defines SF
harsh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HteINBSQNY

@mozartfan bloviates and spews garbage about, well garbage.

I think there is mud in your ears and I am a QLN guy.

@daros71 Sorry, i didn't meant to offend you. I just wanted to say, you can't make a rule from an exception. If new dynaudio series doesn't sound right to you doesn't mean that the speakers have flaw in their design. Dynaudio is exceptional company with rich history and their speakers has been reviewed by many magazines. I had a chance to audition the new contour series and they sounded a bit dark to my taste, but they threw exceptional soundstage with very accurate timber. It's up to OP if he can audition the Dyns and make a decision on his own. 

Dynaudio WAS an exceptional company til 2016. All musicians which listended to my old contour 3.3 was blown away by the tibral quality and soundstage of those speakers. I owned the 3.3 for just two years. I'm not a musician but for some reason i have many musician friends. Some bach fanatic pianists, a guy which lives close to my home which builds harpsicords and sells them to people like gustav leonard, the first viola of the bern orchester, a orchester director which comes in summer to tuscany... All of them have auditioned both my old contour 3.3 and the new contour 60 and all of them have been surprised by the quality of the C3.3 as by the creepy boredom of the C60. Ahh... my C60 got a very special check by dynaudio itself because at a certain point i sent them back to denmark... then dynaudio sent them back to me. That means that the pair i own sounds exactly as dynaudio thinks they have to sound, 100%. Sorry. My two cents are like that. 

After 16 years with Martin Logan SL3 electrostats, I had a pair of Dynaudio Sapphires for five years. They were fine but happily traded away along with a pair of Dynaudio Excite X-12s and a pair of Scansonic MB2.5s (sweet) (all mint) for used Raidho D2s and I never looked back.

After 40 years in this hobby I'd take SF over Dynaudio any day. My preferences have changed. Dynes seem far too punchy now. I want to listen for hours not minutes. The newer Dynaudio models don't cut it for me. Ignore @mozartfan- only one speaker type seems to work for him.

Dyn and SF are pretty different. Likely won’t like both. There is no “right” answer.

@ghdprentice Very nice system.

@keithr You hit it right on the $$

Oz

I would love to know what other gear you guys having issue with the Dynaudio Contour speakers are using?   I have the Contour 30i and they are the best sounding speaker I have had in my system.  I previously had had Harbeth HL5+ and Martin Logan Vantages.   The Dynaudio speakers require a lot of attention to placement in that if they are too close to the front wall they will sound bloated.   They need to be toed in quite a bit,  They also require a high current  amplifier to sound their best.   

the LSA-20 Signature or Statements are terrible speakers, way overpriced 

The Dynaudio is a magical speaker. The secret I found is to have your ear 2-3 feet above the speakers and no more than 6 feet between them.