Sonus Faber Guarneri vs Guarneri Memento

Misinformation galore. Read Fremer's review. The new Memento's have custom drivers sourced from Audio Technology and Scanspeak.

Top of the line Amati and Strad. share these same drivers for the midrange and tweeter. Are you saying those speakers are compromised cost cutting measures ?

Have you ever heard of Ferrari putting their stamp on a car that is inferior than the one they created 10 years ago ? SF being a luxry speaker builder has a reputaion to uphold (not to mention Franco).

Sorry Dave, it fails the smell test. You are suggesting that somehow Fremer, Ken Kessler and the other reviewers are pulling a fast one on us. Ken Kessler has lived with his Guarneri Homages for around 10 years, and if he says the new speakers are better, are you saying he is lying out of his behind ?

Pinkus, Read the review more carefully from Fremer. He states he has not heard the GH's and that the mid-woofer is a Audio Tech in the GM. It isn't... Look at the SF site and see that it is sourced from Dynaudio.In the review MF also states the mid-woofer in the GH is a Scanspeak, it isn't either, it's an AudioTech. Reviewers are not infallible; they make errors just liked everbody else and as for KK-- Well there was a time that he liked the NHT's better than any other speaker he had ever heard! Like everyone, he is entitled to his opinion, BUT I personally do not rely on reviews by audio mag writers as anything more than just cursorary information. I like to use my own ears to determine their sound and that is what you might want to do as well... Before picking up this post again, go and compare the two speakers ( the GH vs GM) and then reply. I know you own the GM and want to defend them, just make sure that your position is defensible prior to posting!

Dave,

I am going to take your advice and listen to the older G. And get back to you.

I am going to leave you with a parting thought. Technology moves on ... what was good 15 years ago can be bettered with modern technology. Excellent designers such as Franco improve their craft over a period of 15 years.

Enjoy your G's.

Pinkus, while I generally agree with your comment about modern technology, this is not an absolute. For instance, most 'philes including myself would argue that analog LP's are a superior medium for sound reproduction than digital systems.
When Franco designed the G, I believe he did so as his
'statement' product next to the Extremas. Today, the statement product is the Strad and then the A Annerversario and then the GM in that order (although some would say the Elipsa comes before the GM, I wouldn't). I also wander if the 'bean counters' and the 'marketing people' at SF don't have more of a say in the product than in the past.
Franco is no longer designing the product and to me there has to be a good reason for that.
I will look forward to your opinion as to the differences between the GH and the GM once you have heard the two.
Good thing it is easyish to sell GM's on the 'Gon. ..:0)

I have lived both cases... old McIntosh (275 in this case) sounded better to me than the re-issue one, old JBLs (L65 or L300) sounded better to me than new models - but the other case also applies, many examples cover this story.

The point is, not always a reviewer has the last word, have you checked their personal tastes and setup?, previous reviews? etc...

I have heard both versions of the Guarneris and I like them both, which is better? depends on the questions above among many others, no absolute terms here...(including this last phrase) :)