Sonus Faber Guarneri vs Guarneri Memento

you probably know I am a SF fan too, otherwise I would not have owned so many SF speakers in my life. all Franco's works are masterpiece.

I owned GH briefly, it was a speaker I always wanted to own for its look, sound, and reputation. it was overall more coherent than Extrema to my ears except the lowest extension and weight, but GH's ability, or lack of, to play at decent volume in a medium size room had me sold them very quickly. I don't listen loud, but GH just does not move enough air. so as sweet as the midrange is, GH did not work for me. Esotar1 is a fuller sounding tweeter than most, the lower treble is quite full body so combined with the Skaning woofer, the sound was very sweet and addictive. if I have a smaller room, I think I could have lived happily with GH.

On to GM. the new drivers are more dynamic. I am not only referring to macro dynamic which GM does better, micro dynamic is also improved. devil is in the detail, GM protrates details very effortlessly partially due to better micro dynamic. the new woofer also does midrange texture better, I just heard more of everything and Sonus Faber's strength in reproducing string is best reproduced by GM. when you said a certain magic was missing, maybe GM is just not as sweet, not as full body, or not as "colored". I am not saying GM is neutral, my Aerial 20T is much more neutral in comparison. but GM vs. Amati Homage, Extrema, Cremona, or GH, I will rank GM as the least color.

I can live happily with either speakers, but if I have to choose between the two again, I will pick GM for having better balance of sweetness and neutrality. Amati Homage vs. Amati Anniversario is similar in that sense. as good as Amati Homage was in midrange and up, the new one was better w/o sounding like a Wilson Watt/Puppy and that's progress in my book.

Semi,it is interesting that you mentioned the size of the room. My room is very small which probably has something to do with how well the GH's integrate in the room.
I cannot support much bass in the room and of course the GH's don't really do much below 50Hz's.
We AB'ed the GM to the GH in my room and while the magic in the mids was lacking, the GM did offer a little more bass response, we all figured it began to break up about 45Hz's or so.
In your bigger room, that might be valuable and possibly your GM's may go even lower. I am not a headbanger, but I also realize that music has a fundemental in the bottom octave and a certain reality that comes with being able to reproduce the lowest octave at reasonable volume with little to no distortion. The Amati A's or the Strads are probably much better in this regards than either of the G's in a larger room. (But not so good in a small room like mine)...It really is "horses for courses".

I am in the process to change (again) my amps from Gryphon to Jadis (I have done this two times now) - and heard the GM at the dealer show room with exactly the same Jadis JA50 that I am currently testing at home.

I heard the GM there and really like the presentation, great speed, coherent and great timbre - but lacking bass. Next day I hooked the JA50s to my system (GH based) and heard a very similar presentation - correct timbre- attack BUT more coherence in the low registers and a better ensamble of the whole musical reproduction.

Keep in mind that room were of a different kind (my dealers showroom is 30% larger than mine) and full of other equipment and speakers - mine is a dedicated room.

Two grains of salt to the discussion which I am enjoying a lot!.

Flg2001, I think the Jadis amps are a great match for GH's.
The only question is if they have enough drive capability.
You might also consider Joules and Lamm's. I also recently heard BAT amps with them, not bad at all but not as good as the Jadis.
Again, this subject is very room dependant.

I totally agree Daveyf - I am a big Gryphon fan, but in this particular case with my current room and sources - the Jadis brought more musicality and refinement to my system.

I kept the Jadis DA50 Signature for the moment - but after hearing what the JA50 Monos did, I am after buying them shortly.

Curious about the DA88S thou....