The diffraction and optical properties of several crystal concentrator configurations which could be adopted in hard x‐ray astrophysical observations are discussed and compared in terms of effective area, focusing characteristics, and overall dimensions. First, a concentrator consisting of a set of circular rings covered with asymmetric mosaic crystals in Laue geometry is considered; focusing is achieved by an appropriate choice of the geometrical parameters and the asymmetry angles. Specific effective areas larger than 600 cm2can be obtained in the energy range 120–190 keV by using Si (422) Bragg reflections in a device with a diameter of 2.5 m and a focal length of 13.5 m. Afterwards, a spherical‐zone crystal concentrator is analyzed where asymmetric Laue geometry leads to focusing. With a focal length of 8 m and Si (422) reflections, the mean effective area in the energy range 100–300 keV is about 6500 times larger than the focal spot while the separation power of the concentrator is of the order of 10 arcsec. Finally, a concentrator consisting of several coaxial focusing paraboloids is analyzed. The surfaces of the paraboloids are covered by mosaic crystal tiles with lattice planes disposed normally to the meridians. By using Ge crystals with a mosaic width of ≊350 &mgr;rad and assuming a focal lengthf=10 m with a total aperture 2&agr;=16 deg, it is possible to obtain effective areas larger than 1000 cm2for energies smaller than about 150 keV. On the other hand, the ratio between the mean effective area and the size of the focal spot in the energy range 200–500 keV is higher than 10 000.