Dynaudio Contour S5.4 vs Focus 380 vs ...


Hi

I have been scratching my head over following question:

If offered to buy one of the following speakers for the same amount of money, which one would you choose?

Dynaudio Focus 380 (new)
Dynaudio Contour S5.4 (demo model)

The latter is the more expensive in the range. HOWEVER, the 380 gets generally extremely good reviews, and there are not so many reviews of the Contours to be found. Also, they are the older model.

How can the differences be expressed?

To make things more complicated, for a thousand Euros more, how would the Confidence C4 non-signature (used) stack up?

These speakers are clearly top of the range but does this hold true for a 10 year old model, non-signature, used?

Please advice..... I love the 340 sound, and am a firm Dynaudio believer but will not have time to go listen to them, there is no place to do so, nearby...

PS context: all this will be driven by a Linn Klimax system.

(Renew DS/KK dyn/KCT/dyn)

thank you so very much.
rusty75

Showing 3 responses by mikey8811

Without hesitation, the C4 if it is within budget and your amplification can drive them.
From experience, you do get gains moving up the Dynaudio line even if you are comparing older higher models to newer lower models. Whether the gains are commensurate to the price difference is something you have to judge for yourself. The Confidence line is in a different class altogether than the Contour line. Even the Confidence C1 is a better speaker than the higher (and larger) Contour's albeit not on an all around level (read low frequency extension) because of its fewer driver configuration and its smaller size. The older Confidence series models ie. Confidence 3 and Confidence 5 are better than the current Contour series but very hard to drive.