Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor old v new

Exactly. I've read all of those reviews, and they are all positive. Still, I'd like to hear from someone who put down his hard earned money. I am more inclined to trust the unvarnished opinions I read here.

Well, can't help you 100% since I never heard the old Cremona Auditor, but I heard the new one AND I heard both old and new Cremona florestander. So I still might shed some light on the subject. In a word: I agree with the professional reviewers. The M versions have more clarity, a less veiled sound, they are more neutral than the old version that was too much on the warm side of things (well imo of course). The new ones are also faster, more dynamic, more alive than the old one. (Again I can only compare to the old floorstander, but having read a lot about the old auditor, I think the comparison is justified). I found the old Cremona sluggish, a bit lustreless and too laided back. The M still is not very forwarded, but more so than the old. The only thing about the Auditor M was that they distorted a lot at high volume levels, so they're not really for big rooms I'm afraid. But that's quite normal and logical.
Hope this helps.

I have not heard the Auditor M, but I agree you should be cautious. After the initial reviews I was very interested in the new Elipsa - seemed like a scaled down Strad, which I love. But when I heard them (driven by Chord electronics) there was good detail but none of the magic of the Strads or the original Cremona. We are keeping our original Cremona. My impression is that the new lines are more "modern" in design, which means more detail, more neutral, but less musical. Check out thread 1179827566 on the Cremona M. After comparing them, he ended up with the original Cremona. Seems to me that despite the good reviews there is very little discussion of SF these days. As a firm SF fan (I have 5 pairs) I am worried that the new lines may have lost the musicality that a lot of SF owners have loved and the company may be in trouble.

I must have been typing when Hulskof was posting. Obviously different views - that "warm" sound is appreciated by some and not others. But I think what he liked in the M is similar to what I heard with the Elipsa and did not like. So, we agree on the new sound, just not on whether it is desirable. I certainly do not think my Cremona are "sluggish, a bit lustreless and too laided back". But that is part of the fun of this hobby. Old Cremona's are thought by many to be sensitive to electronics so that may be some of the difference.

You def. have a point there, Dtc. One should always try at home with own gear. I think the person in the thread you mentioned liked the old Cremona better in the end because of his electronics too, that just matched better according to him. As regard to musicality, I'm not sure which Cremona would be better. I guess much depends on electronics again (amp, source), but I heard both on quite a few amps and cd-players, and each time the M was way better (imo of course). I suppose the old one does great things with classical music, but I like everything but classical (unless it's modern classical ;-)) and that's a whole different story. Speed, neutralness, detail... it's all much more needed then, and the M does a better job in all these areas. If this also applies to the Auditor I do not know.