Silverline Sonata II or Sonatina II

A friend owns the Sonatina II - and they are very good. Haven't heard the Sonata II, but I've auditioned the Sonata III - wow! And I own a pair of La Folia's.

My listening room is 13 x 20...so, if I had to choose, I'd go for the Sonata's.

Alan Yun makes some of the finest speakers available.

Now I can answer from specific experience, because I just picked up a pair of Sonata II's today. Holy moly, as my brother says. They are absolutely incredible. The person I bought them from had the Sonatina II's and said they sound quite thin in comparison. That was also my experience when comparing the Sonatina III to Sonata III. The Sonata's were engaging, while the Sonatina's were distant.

The Sonata II's are extraordinary. The drums have so much body. The vocals sound like they are floating in the room. The key for us was playing around with the interconnects. If the IC's are too muted on the top end, the speakers sound bass heavy and unbalanced. We put some silver IC's on, and pure magic. The speakers disappear in the room, and we cannot stop listening to them!

With our 7W SET amp & with a 40W hybrid, they are simply awesome! Back to the music....

Howard

Ihave the Sonata II, and LOVE THEM! My room is not much bigger- 19 x 13. The Sonatas are a big speaker, and do't like to be right next to the wall, so they do take up space. Having said that, they are a lot less fussy about placement as some other speakers. I highly reccomend them, if you can spare the room. One note of caution- the spikes are very fragile- if you have to move the speaker, walk it VERY GENTLY or better yet, take out the spikes. Don't tighten the speaker binding posts with a wrench either. Luckily I live a quick trip away from Alan's shop.

I added Rel Strata III sub to my Silverline Sonatina II, and seemed to add an extraordinary amount of grace and depth and beauty to the sound. I could swear that the treble and midrange actually sound better in addition to the bass - is this possible? (overtones?)

I like the slim look footprint of the Sonatina II, and so prefer to work with it rather than get a wider speaker. Also I added sistrum stands under the Sonatina II (using brass cups between speaker and stand), and wow, nice difference.

I must say though that the praise for the Sonata in this thread has got me thinking....

Art

I haven't heard the Sonata's, although I own a pair of the Sonatina II's and I think they're great. As with most things, more money will attain an improvement....although with sound, hearing is the true test and no 2 people hear exactly the same. I too run a sub (an M&K MX100) and the combo is thrilling.