Sonus Faber Amati Futura

I know quite well the Amati Palladio ...

I have heard briefly the Futura which seemed to me completely different:

faster, more neutral with less colour and a better bass

I spent close to three hours in the Amati Futura room at RMAF this past weekend over a couple of days. The speakers were driven with Audio Research DS450M amps and a Wadia cd player. All cabling was from Shunyata. There was also a REL G1 sub utilized both in and out of the system. The room was about 18x20 with the speakers placed on the long wall. There were no room treatments other than a few scattered plants. Overall, this system was one of the most musical and enjoyable at the show. I overheard a few people say it was their favorite room. What was most impressive about the Futura's was their ability to draw the listener in and provide an emotional connection to the music. I brought a favorite cd containing a flamingo piece by Paco Pena. This is a standard redbook cd well recorded and dynamic. This piece starts off with just the guitar at center stage. Through the Futura's you could clearly hear the plucking of the strings causing the guitar to resonate beautifully. As the song continues, castanets suddenly appear at stage left. The Futura's held the castanets in mid air with a dynamic lifelike presentation. Suddenly, at stage right begins the rythmic clapping of hands sounding real and flesh tone. Finally, the castanet performer begins a rythmic stomping of heels and feet echoing loudly on a wooden floor. By the end of this piece there is a lot going on and the Futura's held it all together within a conherent soundstage transportating the listener to the performance. The room erupted into applause when the song concluded, something I only heard in one other room (Ray Kimber's four channel demo of his Isomike recordings). Two guys the size of football players broke into big smiles and commented "that was amazing". During my time with the Futura's there was a consistant small group of us and we put these speaker's through their paces with everything from Metallica to Doris Day, jazz, deep organ, classical, etc... The Futura's were fully up to the task and never failed in their ability to make each type of music enjoyable. They did vocals especially well. These are without question the most beautiful speakers I have ever seen and I have seen a lot, but their looks are equally matched by their performance. Do I like these speakers? Based on what I heard most definately. I have no industry affiliation.

i don't know about these specific model sonus fabers, but in my experience i have never heard a bad sounding pair of SF's whether they were extremas, guarneris, or electra amators (and the EA's were poorly set up at an audio show, which was a double surprise). OTOH the price on these compared to the $24K amati homages is a bit of a shock to say the least, and they are kind of "flashy"
looking over the previous lineups. however, i admit my biases are in favor of a smoother richer sound and i can understand people preferring a more "neutral" sound instead.

I just bought a pair last night and I will have them in my room this weekend. They will be in a very large space (17'W, 11'H, 27'D) and will be driven by McIntosh MC501's so power shouldn't be an issue. :-) I'll report back soon!

After a weekend of listening, tweaking and more listening I must say I'm quite happy with the Futura's. They are not as detailed as my friend's Wilson Sophia III's but I would not describe them as either laid back or euphonic and they energize my large room in a very satisfying way. The bass is well controlled and flat down to 30hz and the highs extend out to the limit of my measurement mic. The most impressive thing about the speakers is the "realness" of the music. Voices sound like voices, not a recording and the musical images are full scale. Large instruments like an upright bass sound (appear) like the full size instrument not a 3/4 scale version. I'm still playing with cable combos and positioning so there is certainly more to be had. I listened for several hours without any fatigue with excellent resolution and detail. On a line from clinical to euphoric with neutral in the middle, I would place the Futura's prestentaion just on the smooth side of neutral (more detailed than any Sonus Faber I've heard to date) compared to the Sophia III's that IMHO fall just on the clinical side of neutral. Oh, and they are BEAUTIFUL to look at!