Sonus Faber Alternatives That Offer Similar Sound and Performance, your expertise needed!


First of all, let me set the stage for this discussion. I have owned a pair of Sonus Faber Olympica III's for some time now, and love the sound of these speakers. And not only the sound, but the build quality, the appearance, everything about them. I only wish they could have been available in the classic, beautiful violin red color.

I made what was perhaps a mistake, in retrospect, in recently listening to both a pair of the Amati Futuras as well as it's recent successor, the Amati Tradition. The Futura's were in the home of a new friend, the Traditions were auditioned for myself, and a friend, while I accompanied him to the local premium audio seller. As I noted before, I am extremely happy with my Olympica III's. However, upon hearing both the Futura's and Traditions, they both exhibited everything I love about my Olympica's, but just more of all of it.   And, very importantly, I heard the Futuras in a setting that virtually duplicated the size of my own room (13x15x8) , and seating position distance, so I know they would work.

Unfortunately, the Amati Futuras sold at $36k a pair, and Traditions go for $30,000 a pair, and an average of $18.5k and $17.5k used, respectively . I now really desire to move up to either the Amati Futura or Tradition, for the duration of my listening life,  and, at the same time, get that wondrous red violin finish I've always dreamed of owning. Even give how much I am a dyed in the wool Sonus Faber fan, I simply have to  realize I will not ever have the necessary funding to allow me to make an upgrade to either of these, which are the next step up in the line. The maximum  I could manage to spend, is $11k, to upgrade. I realize this would buy me an older model from Sonus Faber, but their sound characteristics are quite different from that of the newer models that began with the Olympica line, the Futura's, etc.  

The truly frustrating thing is that, with other speaker brands, you do sometimes come across a real steal which allows you to upgrade more than substantially. Recently, I found a deal for a friend who is a Von Schweikert enthusiast that allowed him to move up three models in their line, at the cost of $8000.00 for a pair of speakers that originally sold at $29,000.00. Six months ago, another friend found a deal on a pair of $30k B&W speakers for $10k. Yes, these were older speakers, but none the less brilliant performers regardless.

So now we come to the real discussion point. It's clear I cannot, and will not be able to afford what I want from Sonus Faber, what other brands, and potentially older speakers, would provide a similar sound that could likely be found on a great deal, used, in the kind of price range I can afford? Perhaps the answer is nothing, but I at least have to ask. Your opinions, expertise and thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
nightfall
NOTHING sounds like a Sonus Faber!Your going to make the same mistake made by countless audiophiles.Your going to try speaker after speaker trying to find a sound that is only available from SF..My advice is stick with what you have and keep saving.
If that isn't doable you might try contacting Fritz speakers..He seems to have the ability to source pretty much any driver available and may be able to build your dream speaker for your budget...
nightfall
Sonus Faber Alternatives That Offer Similar Sound and Performance, your expertise needed!
We had a big all day session a pair of Quad ESL 57’s with a Decca Kelly ribbon from 13khz up.
We replaced them with a pair Sonus Faber Amati’s using the same amp and source, and I thought to myself this is like the 57’s clone. Naturally the Amati’s could go a few dB louder if needed which we didn’t need.

Cheers George
How about this?  I'm guessing your speakers sound at least somewhat similar to the Futuras from the mids on up and that a lot of the difference between these might be in their bass capabilities?  If that's the case, I'd add a couple good subs with some EQ and maybe you can recreate most of the Futuras on the cheap.  A couple SVS SB2000s would only be $1500 and get you down to 19Hz and maybe a used DSpeaker dual core 2.0 around 600 bucks could possibly bring you very close to your ideal -- minus the violin Red finish of course.  Anyway, just another thought FWIW. 

I went from a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona Ms to Harbeth 30.1 Monitors on stands and an REL S/5 SHO sub.  Kind of like going from a supermodel to a librarian in the looks department, but they sound much better.  If I had the space, I’d consider Harbeth 40.2s. 

I’ve not listened to them but Focal is replacing the Scala Utopia v2 with the EVO and I’ve seen one dealer selling them for $19,999, that’s $14,000 off!  Those are some stunning speakers that are incredibly well reviewed. 
chrisaz, I've actually heard the 40.1's in a quite small room in a nearfield setup and they were outstanding. I strongly suspect you could make them work in your room.