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Focal diablos vs Dynaudio focus 380 PLEASE HELP

Curious as to what peoples thoughts are comparing these. I know they are both totally different animals but im having a very hard time deciding weather a pair of super high end mini monitors with a JL fathom 12" subs, is a better choice for a wide variety of music vs the dyns (also paired with 2 f112's). The dyns would be able to get me the SPL over the focals, but they probably aren't as smooth, not to mention almost half the price for the setup im considering.. Any thoughts would be most appreciated! The electronics used would be a classe cap2100 and cdp 302 for the focals (roughly $10,000) Or Bryston 4bsst2 with bp 26 and cd1 for the dyns (roughly 18,000 used)
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Showing 2 responses by nvp

nvp
317 posts
 
$7.5K should be more than enough for buying a pair Confidence C2 speakers
which should be much better than the Focus you are considering. Regarding
Bryston electronics, they certainly work fine with Dyns, but IMO there are quite
a few other combinations that will work better. Plinus and Simaudio are among
the most popular, Musical Fidelity (their big integrated KW 500/550, TRi-Vista
and NU-Vista) will give you a full worm sound with good detail and powerful
bass, Accuphase will work even better.

Regarding your desire to reach 115 dBs in your room. My advice would be to
take care of your ears. They do not grow back and/or regenerate. 115dB is
extremely loud.

Finally, I would like to corroborate what Elviukai said, i.e. Focal Diablo (also
Micro Be) are much easier to integrate with a sub. Dyns speakers, with their
powerfull low end, are more difficult to integrate seamlessly (at least this is my
experience).
nvp
317 posts
 
Drubin, my experience is that older models from superior lines (e.g. Confidence
mk1 models) are almost never outperformed by newer models from inferior
lines (e.g. new Focus models). This is especially the case with companies like
Dynaudio. I have never compared the Focus 380 and the C2 mk1 speakers.
However, I have compared the Confidence C1 mk1/mk2, Contour S1.4 and
Focus 160 monitors. If the amp is up to the task (i.e. drive appropriately
Confidence speakers) then to my ears there was no contest C1 mk1/mk2 >>
S1.4 > Focus 160. I see no reason why this situation will change when
comparing the floor standing models from these lines. Finally, I realize that
many might prefer a speaker with more bass (Focus 380) over one that images
more precisely (C2 mk1).

Dave, one should never buy a speaker for its tweeter. It is the midrange that is
important. The Focal and Dynaudio speakers sound very differently as their
designers had very different goals. With Focal the focus is on transparency and
speed, whereas with Dynaudio the focus is on the music. That is, Dynaudio
speakers have a more relaxed presentation and a much more fuller midrange
(and bass) than Focal speakers.
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