opinions on sonus faber please

[jamesCoupe]

I'm thinking about looking for some new speakers and have noticed 2 different pairs of these on central audio. There's the concerto GP domus and the cremona. Does anyone know how these woud compare to the sound of my OB1's? And how well do they handle bass?

If i go ahead, my budget will be about £2k and i'll be looking for second hand. I've had floorstanders for the last 15 years as i've always found they handle the bass better (with some of the genres of music i listen to), but could be swayed back to standmounts. I like my bass to be deep and tight and the overall sound to be well integrated. Any suggestions of speakers to have a look at?

cheers

[Mike P]

Hi James,

I really like Sonus Faber speakers having had Cremona Auditors and now using Guarneris. The Guarneris are really superb speakers - probably the best speakers I have had in this room.

I have heard that the Cremonas all though good have a lot of bass so if that is what you are looking for they will probably suit well. The stand mounts do not lack bass and image exceptionally well.

Regards,

Mike

[JANDL100]

Deep, taut, textured, room-throbbing bass?

I strongly recommend you check out Vandersteen speakers. Bryfiero hasa pair of the 'baby' (but still floor stander) 1CE - astonishing bass. And the rest of the freq range is pretty damn good, too.

They are an open baffle design, which means they give a slightly diffuse soundstage rather than laser-edged pinpoint imaging. If that's to your taste, they are fabulous speakers and great vfm.

Alternative AudioHERE are advertisinga pairof the next model up ex-dem .... Vandersteen Audio 2ceSIG Walnut Ex/Dem Was £1774.00 Now £875.00

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I've heard SFs at Shows, and they can sound fab. But they lack (in my limited experience) the fantastic bass capabilities of the Vandies.

[Rikcardo]

Hi James

I tried the SF Cremona Auditor at home before moving to Spain they are good but the bass wasn't as good as the shahinians super elfs, but when I picked up my heed canamp I listen to a pair of Totem Forest they really are Great speakers and BASS in bucket fulls, couldn't believe how they do it for the size of them well worth a listen with your Densens IMO, But at £2800 New was over by budgetand were inShahinian Arc ex Demo territory at time( if I hadn't moved that is what I would have now Arc's !)

Also listen to some Focal J M Lab Chorus 826 V at around £1250 IMOare also worth a try (only reason I didn't buy them is the size to ship over here as I was running out of space!)

regards Rik

[Neilb]

I own both Domus Concertinos and Original Cremona Auditors. The former are excellent speakers (which take a while for the sound to really flesh out) but probably aren't what you're looking for as they're a little petite for your bass requirements. The grand pianos apparently aren't great allrounders. Better suited to acoustic/classical/jazz etc. They say the bass is a little uncontrolled and lacking tightness. The concertinos don't have this problem and work great with a sub. Thats worth a try if you want bass without the huge boxes.

Cremona auditors need no introduction. Take a listen. Good all rounders, good enough bass. Take a little too much driving for my liking. It's their onlyweakness IMO but on every other level they score very highly, highly enough in fact for me to be considering moving onto the Auditor M's.

Sonus fabers offer (I feel)almost unequalled pride of ownership at their price levels. They're not cheap but you're getting beautiful pieces of audio furniture you can cherish for a long time to come and will hold their value comparatively well. Wife/GF friendly too which is worth a lot.

The other speakers I'd look out for if you want high end compacts that give bass are Wilson Benesch Arcs. At 14-1500 quid second hand they'll kick lumps out of most comparatively priced floorstanders.