Sonus Faber Concerto & Concertino

I owned the Concertino years ago, and was considering the Concerto before I bought the Concertino. The Concerto was a bit more explosive, more detailed, and had better bass, but I couldn't afford it at the time, so I got the Concertino. The Concertino was a very nice speaker--warm, relaxed-sounding, decently detailed, good soundstager. I sold it because I thought it wasn't dynamic or detailed enough for my tastes. Beutiful speaker, though, and if you can find one for a good price, you definitely could do a helluva lot worse.

Look for a pair of Sonus Faber Extrema speakers. They will end your search.

I have a 7.1 system composed of Concerto mains and center and Concertinos (Walls, the wall mounted version of the Concertino) with a REL Stadium III sub. powered by a B&K 507. My basis for comparison is a 2 channel Mark Levinson, WATT/Puppy 7 system. While obviously not in the same league as that system, the Sonus Faber system is extremely musical, easy to listen too, no fatigue and an extremely good value. Consider that the entire 7.1 system is approx. the cost of the WP7s.

I have listened to both speakers in different demo setups and was strongly considering the Concertinos a few years back. Very musical and involving (more so than the Concertos IMO), pleasant, nonfatiqueing sound. Not the last word in resolution though. I believe they are less sensitive to the faults of the front end and amps than a lot of their competition, which can be very important if your system tends to by harsh, grainy, bright etc.
Good luck

I have owned both the Concertinos and Concertos. I had such great results with the Concertinos I mistakenly upgraded to the Concertos just looking for a fuller sound. This ended up being a mistake. The Concertinos are truly a wonderful speaker and are capable of some real magic when properly paired. ( I was using an Electrocompaniet ECI-3 and a Sony XA7ES for my source via a Balanced Connection)

I ended up selling my Concertos and now own Grand Pianos and could not be more happy. They remind me more of the Concertinos but a much bigger version of them. As far as harsh and grainy, I have NEVER heard a Sonus Faber speaker sound that way. Must be a terrible match of equipment. The Concertinos are a wonderful speaker. Good luck!

Chris