Sonus Faber vrs Magnepan

I have limited familiarity with Sonus Faber, but am well
acquainted with Magnepan. Comparing the two is sort of
like comparing a dolphin to a horse. Being a conventional
box/cabinet speaker it will be quite different in sound
from a planar. I've owned a number of conventional speakers
including Spendor, Genesis, Thiel and many others. In my
experience they can all sound good but unlike the planar
sound which is unique. Personally I'm sold on planars but
positioning can be problematic for some. They demand space
behind the speaker (3 feet minimum in most cases) and do
better with more distance to the rear wall.

I love the Maggie/planar sound too. I've lived with the 3.6 and Duetta Sigs for 8 yrs now. Recently I needed a speaker for a smaller room. I went through alot of name brand monitors trying to find something that would work in this room. Nothing worked until I tried the Omega Super 3r. It's the model the owner, Louis, recommended for me. He's a Quad and Maggie lover also. I've had it a year now and am very happy with it. The Signums were on my short list as I heard they can work well in problem rooms, but I found the Omegas before I had a chance to listen, and I've always lusted after a pair of Guarneri's. Good luck.

Hi, I have Maggie 20's ,Divas' ,Extremas , EA1's and SC-V in house. All of the above listed speakers need to be at least 3ft out from the rear wall and 2ft from the side walls to really perform well in my room, which is 23 x 15 x 8. All of them love LOTS of power. Im using 4 x 1000w monos with astounding results. The least expensive speaker being the EA1, used for around 2800.00 The mg20 do a few things well, but imho, the Divas being similar in design principals, are better sounding...Sonus is romantic...Dunlavy sc-v is brutally revealing with the best dynamics of the lot. You may want to consider some of the smaller Dunlavys, to preserve your budget....

If you are opening your search, I have a lot of experience with the Dunlavys (Dunlavy is out of business, by the way).

The edge in dynamics that Sscot1961 reports for the Dunlavy SC-V is mostly due to the fact that it is the size and shape of a football player's coffin (great speaker, but HUGE).

The SC-I is an excellent monitor for the money, but has zero bass below 75 Hz.

The SC-II is much better and only a bit more costly on the used market.

I owned SC-III's for five years -- they are pretty much flat to 45 Hz. in all but big rooms and can go quite loud because each speaker has five drivers.

At the +/-$1,500 used price range, I think the Revel F-30 is more speaker (while they do a lot of things right, Dunlavy used cheap drivers and they fall short of the resolution and detailed presentation of the top speakers).

Good luck.

Hello,

Thanks for all the responces thus far.
I should also note that I am not just considering the SFs. I am will consider everything. The other speaker that I am considering is a pair of Focus Audio Signatre FS-68se. My speaker will probably end up being of the above two, but I will consider everything.

So if anyone has heard both the Focus Audio Signatures and the SF Signum I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts.

I will probably post another thread for people to suggest more options.

Cheers,
Nick