Sonus Faber Cremona Vs. Dynaudio Contour S3.4

Those seem like two really different speakers - I would think that even the most significant preferences you have would make the determination.

I'm a long-time Dynaudio owner, tho I haven't owned / heard the 3.4's yet. I owned the Contour 1.1 monitors and the Contour 3.0 floor-standers. I currently own the Confidence 3's. I have read great things about the 3.4's. I wonder about the new Dyn's, however - they have done a lot of work around dispersion patterns with all of their new speakers, and they're very revealing. However, I home-auditioned the Special 25's, and while they're immediately impressive, over a long weekend of listening I was less sure that I'd want them for the long-term. They have the fastest tweeter I have ever heard, but I don't think the sound was nearly as full or deep or big as the Confidence 3's convey. The 3.4's, while using a different tweeter (the 5.4's use the same tweeter), may achieve a better balance. I loved the 3.0's I had, and I'm very tempted by the 3.4's or 5.4's - I just wonder if Dynaudio hasn't started down a path of producing a sound that is "impressive" over accurate.

The Cremona's I heard briefly at a high-end dealer in NYC. Wonderful looking speakers, but very laid-back compared to what I want / like. Driven by an all-BAT system. However, if you listen to classical / chamber / acoustic jazz / vocalists and the like, they may well be the better choice. I listen to rock / blues / jazz, and also do HT in my combo-system. The Cremona's would not do it for me, which is complete personal, not an indictment of the speakers.

All choices in life should be this tough, eh? :-)

This may help you on the Dyn S34 side of things:

My Review

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.