S.F. Cremona vs Wilson Benesch Curves

I have heard both the SF and the WB speakers, but in different settings. Both are involving and satisfying. The Cremona is definitely a "voiced" speaker, whereas the WB is more objective. The Cremona sounds more like music to me.

However, an 845 amp isn't enough for the Cremona. You'll get sound, but the speaker just won't get out of "hifi-ness" realm. I was lukewarm on the Cremonas until I heard them on McIntosh MC501s and then again driven by McIntosh MC1201s. Yeah, $16,000 of amplification on $8,000/pr. speakers. The 501s were the tipping point for exceptionalism from the Cremona. The MC1201s made the Cremonas disappear. You can't really get the potential of the Cremona using modest power and less than blockbuster (in quality) amps.

Phil

I heard them both recently. I like the Cremonas built (wood finish) and size (Curves is shorter). The Curves is very nicely built as well. It maybe small for floorstander but it did not lack in sound stage. I was amazed by the amount of music coming out of this short little speaker when I first heard it. I believe that the clarity and soundstage and overall perfomance is better with the Curves. Wilson Benesch is not as well known but they make awesome sounding speakers. Good luck and have fun.

I was considering both of these speakers but after hearing the Cremona's with a McIntosh tube amp the search was over.
I'm sure the Curves are great speakers, I have the WB Circle turntable (you guested it-Circleman) and am very happy with it. This was my first exposure to Sonus Faber and the music just sounded effortless, flowing and very seductive. What I notice first was how much I was enjoying the music instead of going into the audiophile checklist. I think they will appeal to a person who is more of a music lover than the audiophile. I know my comments are not as objective as you may have wanted but when a speaker/system
gets you excited about your music that's what it's all about and what brought us to this hobby in the first place. I think the Cremona's are pretty easy to drive but quality is more important. I have them in the graphite
finish and they are beautiful. These are fun speakers, they are worth taking a long drive to hear.

I think Cremona is a speaker which will leave an era in this hobby as years goes by. If you like music you'll like Cremona and Cremona is a steady value. WB also good speakers it depends your music flavor I picked SF flavor.

I have not heard the Cremona's but can attest to the high build quality and sound quality of the WB line of speakers (from the ARC's to the Chimera's). I actually just bought a brand new pair of ACT's myself.

The Curve's are fantastic. The only negative is their lack of lower octave. If you don't require bass below 45Hz, then I can highly recommend the Curve's.

OR...

There are a pair of curren model ACT's available on 'Gon right now that you can probably get for under the $9K asking price.

No brainer in my opinion.

Best of luck.