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merlin said:
Sorry Antonio but you are paying for the finish with Sonus Faber.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to sit and listen to the Stradivari, along with the Amati & Guarneri.

Firstly, they do look utterly gorgeous - more a work of art than a speaker. Sadly on listening, they were just not right to my ears, basically missing out quite a bit of information to present a beautiful sound.

Inflections, ambient clues and low level details were all missing from a £22K speaker. These reappeared when we hooked up a £5K pair of french floorstanders - but admittedly they looked like cheap Argos furniture
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Paying for the finish is fine, you do that when you buy a good car too...

Of those SFs you mention, I would only consider the Stradivari soundwise, but they depend a lot of the associated gear and room, maybe those french speakers where more adequated to the kit and room...

Still, I dont like the looks of the Homage series very much, too flashy, on the other hand, I love the classic simpler finish and looks of both the EAII and Signum...
 
lowrider said:
Of those SFs you mention, I would only consider the Stradivari soundwise, but they depend a lot of the associated gear and room, maybe those french speakers where more adequated to the kit and room...
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Interesting Antonio. have you had the Guarneri and Amati at home and listened at length or are you mainly going by the observations of Hyperion and other AA Afficionados?

With regards to the room, the kit used was Audio Research as employed by Sonus Faber themselves and the room was superb. The only conclusion can be that they are overpriced in purely sonic terms :(
 
merlin said:
Interesting Antonio. have you had the Guarneri and Amati at home and listened at length or are you mainly going by the observations of Hyperion and other AA Afficionados?

With regards to the room, the kit used was Audio Research as employed by Sonus Faber themselves and the room was superb. The only conclusion can be that they are overpriced in purely sonic terms :(
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Guarnieri sound quite good with chamber music, thats all, too "small", the Amati's red veneer look ugly...

Audio Research stinks, never liked any speaker, SF or not, playing with their powers, I know dealers tend to use them toguether, always wondered why... :confused:
 
Now's here's a thing, one of my customers has done some of their prototyping for them in the past, he was pretty sure he thought all ATC's woodwork was done by a company in Evesham?.
What do you Merlin?
 
lowrider said:
Guarnieri sound quite good with chamber music, thats all, too "small", the Amati's red veneer look ugly...

Audio Research stinks, never liked any speaker, SF or not, playing with their powers, I know dealers tend to use them toguether, always wondered why... :confused:
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Right Antonio, but you don't answer the question. Have you lived with the Guarneri or are you just repeating the stereotypical descriptions any of us can read on Audio Asylum?

As for your comments regards Audio Research, let's just say those words say a lot about your expectations (BTW the Power Amp was a big Krell but I won't hold that against them :D )
 
wadia-miester said:
What do you Merlin?
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Tony,

Most small manufacturers have moved to Castle over the past couple of years, they produce a very consistant product.

But all this is boring, I'm waiting for LowRider to admit to never hearing the Guarneri at home :D
 
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lowrider said:
Paying for the finish is fine, you do that when you buy a good car too...
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Not with a specialist, single-minded product like, say, a Caterham for a track car.

If you seriously think Sonus Fabers sound good, you aint been out very much. They do look "nice" though, if you like that sort of Italian fussiness.
 
Utterly Agree.

If you want ultimate performance and the greatest thrill, you don't go buying a Mercedes or Sonus Faber for that matter.

But both do have a market for the less committed, style conscious, enthusiast who is more brand aware.
 
merlin said:
Right Antonio, but you don't answer the question. Have you lived with the Guarneri or are you just repeating the stereotypical descriptions any of us can read on Audio Asylum?

As for your comments regards Audio Research, let's just say those words say a lot about your expectations (BTW the Power Amp was a big Krell but I won't hold that against them :D )
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My hifi dealer, he is also my friend, thinks the Guarnieri are the best speakers in the world, he has a pair in his living room, he is always trying to convince me to buy a pair, so I have heard them enough times with several different sources and powers to have a good idea what they sound like, even in an audioshow he set 7.1 with 7 Guarnieris and 5 big RELs, not my cup of tea...

The Amatis are too big for my living room, and I dont like their colour, anyway, a guy from the local forum has a pair with Krell CX, (before he had EAII), and a common friend says it is the same kind of sound as mine, a notch up in every regard though, he thinks I would like them, but I never listened, nor interested, as they would never fit in my room/style... :rolleyes:

As I said before, I like lively, extended frequency response, dynamic sound, so many SFs and all Audio Research I have heard are not my cup of tea...
 
merlin said:
If you want ultimate performance and the greatest thrill, you don't go buying a Mercedes or Sonus Faber for that matter.

But both do have a market for the less committed, style conscious, enthusiast who is more brand aware.
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I am defenetely less commited to loosing money and time changing car or speakers, or whatever, often, because they are not the flavour of the day or dont function properly after a very short usage... :p

I like to make my surrounds as pleasant as possible, enough garbagge and ugly stuff out there already... :MILD:
 
lowrider said:
As I said before, I like lively, extended frequency response, dynamic sound, so many SFs and all Audio Research I have heard are not my cup of tea...
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As a matter of interest, what is it that you don't like about the Guarneri? I only ask because I thought they were wonderfully transparent if a tad polite (but nothing the JBL's couldn't sort out)

And you need to listen to some proper Audio Research if you don't think it has extended frequency extremes :rolleyes: Dynamic, Rythmic, powerful, with glorious texture, your comments make me think you have only ever heard some very old amps
 
merlin said:
As a matter of interest, what is it that you don't like about the Guarneri? I only ask because I thought they were wonderfully transparent if a tad polite (but nothing the JBL's couldn't sort out)

And you need to listen to some proper Audio Research if you don't think it has extended frequency extremes :rolleyes: Dynamic, Rythmic, powerful, with glorious texture, your comments make me think you have only ever heard some very old amps
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You described the Guarnieri very well ;) , just that you should write POLITE instead, they dont have much bass punch, even mid-bass, and cannot play loud, regardless of the power or subs added, also highs are a bit shy, compared with EAII, at least...

Actually I am told there is a new AR power quite good, as well as some old stuff, but every thing else "stinks", soft bass, soft everything, IMHO...

I heard AR powers, recent models, with various SF, Martin-Logan, Viena Acoustics, that I can remember...
 
lowrider said:
You described the Guarnieri very well ;) , just that you should write POLITE instead, they dont have much bass punch, even mid-bass, and cannot play loud, regardless of the power or subs added, also highs are a bit shy, compared with EAII, at least...
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Thanks. They don't need bass punch, or mid bass as the JBL's do that. They go loud enough, any more and I would upset the neighbours. Your comments on the treble are at odds with my findings, the Guarneri uses the Esotar 330D, the world's most dynamic soft dome, and dropped for cost reasons on the EA11
 
merlin said:
Thanks. They don't need bass punch, or mid bass as the JBL's do that. They go loud enough, any more and I would upset the neighbours. Your comments on the treble are at odds with my findings, the Guarneri uses the Esotar 330D, the world's most dynamic soft dome, and dropped for cost reasons on the EA11
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We have quite different taste with bass... :rolleyes:

I like the xover max 60hz, otherwise it doesnt integrate well, at least using AV bass management, and I find many speakers bass "soft" used this way, not EAII's, about the Esotar versus Scan-Speak, (whatever mine use, they are 3/4" and air cooled, probably very "fast"), beeing better tweeters doesnt mean much regarding relative output compared to the woofer's, probably a matter of xover level and frequency...
 
I dont think Guarnieris will play Nitin Sawhney very well, even with JBLs...
 
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