Any info on new Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario?

Semi-I think you will love 'new' Sonus Faber sound. As I said I ordered Anniversarios and I will get them in 3 weeks time... My wife and I had a chance to audition it few days ago at our dealers. IMO new Aniversario is most emotional and beautiful sounding of all upper high end speakers. System was: ARC VM220/REF3 and Theta GenVIII/Compli. Regarding drivers in Anniversario tweeter is ScanSpeak( much modified and build to Francos specs ), midrange is Audiotechnology( danish company ) and bass units are 8inch versions of Strad drivers. In person Anniversario is more beautiful then old Amati, at least to me.
My wife liked their sound more than Stradivaris! I agree with her! Strad has grander scale( a little bit ) but, image precision and coherence is on Anniversarios side. Anniversario is warm and fast sounding speaker. Old Amati is inferior in every way, IMO. My friend from Italy also decided to swich to Anniversario after direct comparison in his home with old Amati. I know that you might be personally attached to your Amati Hommage but, simply speaking Anniversario is far better speaker. Choice of amp/pre combo will be important... I choose ARC system( REF210,REF3,REF CD7 ) for Anniversarios. Some other tubes will also work nicely-Jadis(more romantic sound),new VTLs etc. Some solid-state as well like Krell or Boulder and new DartZeel. In fact Sonus Faber use at the factory Berning 270 and Krell FPB350Mcx when they evaluate sound of their speakers( I heard a rumor that these two were used on voicing of Stradivari, Anniversario and new Guarneri Memento ).Did you had a chance to audition new Anniversarios?

Hi,
I'm from Italy and I apologize for my limited English, but as owner of Amati Homage i like to share in few words my impressions on my listening session with Anniversario, by a dealer.(not in my set up)
Well, from an aesthetic side I like a lot more the Homage, the back side is more elegant and refined in construction. ( I guess more expensive too to build) Binding post are also better located and built, imho. Not to mention that with Anniversario you cannot tune the bass extention, and so the while sound, by partially closing one of the rear port.
On the sound now, Anniversario seems to be a bit faster in the bass section but lacks the liquid and rich midrange of Homage, where lies, to me, the magic of this speaker. I listen to a very good hi end speaker but without emotion. Highs were well defined and never strident, not different from Homage. Soundstage is a lot wider and deeper in my set up but this is due to room and electronics. I have to say that my system is different,(and better to my ears) so these are just impressions. I'm ready to change my mind if got the chance to have the two in my room.
Dealer system:
Mc Intosh "second" from top line, sorry don't remember the numbers. Source Accuphase 57. Furutech top line cabling.
My system.
AA Capitole mk2
Supratek Cortese
Plinius Sa Ref
Argent Pulsar S cables

ps I have got a brief listen to Stradivari too, another story.....not comparable at all with Anniversario, IMHO.
Sandro

Well, since Almas findings are quite opposite from mine few things need to be cleared. 1)Three different persons that I know and trust in thier findings have almost the same opinion as I do and all of them are switching from Amati Hommage to Anniversario. 2)New Anniversario is more expensive to build then old Amati. Call Sonus Faber, that is the fact( terminals on old Amati is WBTs, on Anniversario costum build for Sonus Faber-same as on Stradivari). 3) Anniversario is more modern sounding than old Amati but, also emotional sounding speaker. Some people maybe won't like them more than old Amati but, I bet they will have more fans than old Amati.
Of course, all of this is IMHO.

The only thing "need to be cleared" to me is :
Argent Pursang S , not Pulsar.

Sandro

Branimir and Alma, please don't use this thread as the battle ground. We are here to help each other by giving your opinion, not saying who is right or wrong.

I am sure everyone will agree sound & look are very personal. I can't comment on the Anniversario sound since I haven't heard it. But I do know I like the old styling better. Another thing that puzzled me was the weight of the Anniversario, it weighs 25 lb lighter than Amati Homage EACH! I haven't compared the physical size of the two speakers, but I assumed they should be close. 25 lb is a lot of weight to lose and I don't know how Sonus Faber pulled it off.

As for cost, no one except Sonus Faber finance depart will know the exact figure. But general rule of thumb is topline WBT binding post is about as expensive as it gets. I also own Cremona, binding post on that is like a toy in comparison. Woodwork is both time consuming and costly, both required world class craftsmanship. But what happens inside the speaker is a mystery unless someone volunteer to take out the drivers to compare. I know Amati Homage has very extensive damping inside using copper plates, not sure about Anniversario.

I do hope Anniversario is as good or better sounding than Amati Homage to keep Sonus Faber in the prestige league. But as I already mentioned, I have owned most of the top end Sonus Faber in the past and Sonus Faber continues to move away from its "house sound" generation by generation.

But my check book will be ready if Anniversario proved to be as good as it claimed.