Sonus Faber Dominus Grand Piano vs Usher 6831/6731


Today I auditioned some Grand Pianos from Sonus Faber, coming out of mid-range Arcam seperates.

I also auditioned some Focal JM Lab's Cobalt 816s, and frankly I really preferred the $2K Focals to the $5k Sonus. The Focals had more detail, revealed more of the music and seemed to allow the music to sound more natural. It did seem a bit bright without the help of a sub woofer.

In contrast the Sonus Grand Pianos were more fluid, more emmotional, definitely warmer. The soundstage was not as open as the Focals though, things seemed to be compressed in terms of depth of the stage. I honestly just wasn't that happy with them.

All that said, I am wondering how the Usher 6381 or 6371 compares to either of these two? Are the Ushers more revealing like the Focals or are they warmer and more fluid like the Sonus?
toysnob
I demo'd the Sonus Faber Domus Piano's and the next size down. My friend and I really did not like that next size down at all. Congested sounding. The bigger Piano's was teh bee's knee's. But I could not swing $5k. I ended up buying the Usher 6371 speakers. Wow. Talk about getting your moneys worth. These are one hell alot of speaker for the money! They are bigger sounding and more detailed than the Sonus Fabers. So far with my 15 hours owning them they are not as warm. But still very smooth. I havn't spiked or filled them with lead yet. I read thats a must do.
You can check out my thread on AudioAsylum on them.
For half the price of the Sonus Fabers Im really happy.
Yes I have heard the Grand Piano's. They sounded very good, which surprised me because I did not like the electronics driving them. I have not heard the 816s, but did hear the larger/newer 1027's.

I like the Sonus Fabers and the JM Labs (which again surprised me, since I have sorta had a chip on my shoulder in regard to JM Labs. The chip has been replaced with respect) I think both of them are good speakers for the money especially for the price they can be had on AudiogoN. Neither are cheap, but they aren't expensive either. The Ushers, in comparison to the Sonus Faber and the JM Labs that I have heard sounded like a cheap speaker. Everyone has their opinion though.
I had the usher cp-6381 setup in one of the show rooms 2 weeks ago at the montreal audio show.
the models on display in my other room where the cp-(dancer)777mk2 and the x-719,the 8571mk2 was on static display as it was impossible to make it sound good in this rather smallish hotel room.
there was another exhibitor who had the same usher cp-6381 in his setup one floor below me, everyone who came into my room tought""" WOW''' they could not believe that they where hearing the same speakers playing as the ones they had heard one floor below.
When you are in this business its easy to make fast judgement on how a system sound, if the components upstream from your speakers do nothing for the sound obviously you did not do your homework and prepared yourself well.
asociated with quality components that have good synergy
upstream pretty much every USHER speaker will blow away
anything in their price point.
i was driving the little X-719 with 200 watt tube monoblocks and peoples jaws dropped as they entered the room, they could not believe the price of the speakers, the sounstgae they threw..wide and deep in not so good listening environment, same when i drove them the other half day's with the 160 watts nuforce reference 9's.
all in all its not because its USHER that are been driven that the system sounds good, its the total synergy of the system, but wichever way, hear the ushers, look at the finish and theres not much that comes close at that price point...and i mean that troughout the range, from the s-520
priced at 400$ to the AC-20 at 12,000$.
True true. In this months Absolute Audio they talk about these issues during the last show they covered. Take their opinion with a grain of salt because of lousey show conditions. I bought the Usher 6371 speakers and they are simply awsome. Now I want to upgrade my Rotel 5x100 amp to something nicer.
trust me Stylinlp!
you do want to change your rotel amp for something more refined and trust me that you will only gain, the USHERS realy show what real good speakers can do, by that i mean
that you can hear the upgrades of audio gear driving them.
i actualy think that the 6 series from usher is the most tube friendly of all the usher range of speakers.
but my favorite speaker of the usher range is the dancer series cp-777 with beryllium tweeter, they do give away a little bass depth compared to the cp-8571 mk2 but they are a much more transparent and fast speaker,a lot of people overlook these because they are just 1000$ less than the 8571mk2, people think why get that huge 2 way monitor when i can get the big floostander and go a few hertz lower.
the 8571 for a full range speaker of that quality is by all means a killer deal at that price but the bass tends to trail slightly behing compared to the cp-777 wich i find has a crazy tunefull and controled bass and easyer toidrive @90Db compared to 87Db for the 8571.
thats just personal taste tough...let your ears be the judge if you can ever audition both of these head to head.