New Guarneri Memento vs. Old Guarneri Homage

Few days ago I had a rare opportunity to directly compare side by side new Guarneri Memento and old Guarneri Homage speakers in the same room with the same associated equipment. I have compared both speakers in my own system so I am familiar how different speakers sounded in my room and could eliminate this factor to some degree. I am glad that I was able to compare both Guarneri speakers, because now I have my own opinion and do not have to rely only on reviewers and dealer opinions. There were many debates about performance of these two beautiful and classical speakers, so here are also my thoughts.

Guarneri Homage is an high-end audio icon. It was introduced in 1993 and became a groundbraking product. Guarneri Homage were created in the most exciting years for our hobby. From my point of view these years were a short period in high-end audio industry when less manufactures existed than now, but their products were better thought out and created with full attention in details – sometimes with truly cost no-object approach. Lest see at Sonus Faber Extrema for example. How many technical innovation and handcrafted art is involved in this speaker. Extrema was priced about 14.000 USD with stands – pricy these days – buy now we have many manufactures who offer worse products for significant more price and more importantly the price is not reflected in materials or technical skills used in the products.

Back to the Guarneri. Both Guarneri have their limitations – both are only monitors and we always should remember about that doing any comparison with other speakers. I like monitors. I have limited space and floorstanding speakers have no space needed to fully breath. I definitely prefer to put smaller speakers with limited bass response in a small or medium sized room than pack floorstanders with too large woofers. I prefer less amount of bass but of better quality than opposite to much bass of weak quality. So both Guarneri are limited in their bass response and peak sound pressure level. That does not mean that they can’t play loud. They can play loud but in rooms up to 35 square meters. In larger rooms lack of bass extension and limited SPL can became an important factors.

Drivers comparison:
With exception of cabinet shape both Guarneri are virtually different speakers. The most important are different speakers used in both speakers.

Mid-bass driver used in Guarneri Homage is a 150mm high-resolution unit from Audio Technology (formerly Skanning) with short coil, long air gap and vented back. It is important to point out that the main driver was from Audio Technology, not from Scan Speak as mistakenly wrote Michael Fremer in Stereophile review of Guarneri Memento in August 2007.

Tweeter used in Guarneri Homage is famous 28mm Esotar - silk dome tweeter from Dynaudio with unique wood (walnut or maple) chamber on the back.

In case of Guarneri Homage the multi-strand oxygen free copper wires were used as an internal wiring. The crossover was the first order unit with 6dB slope and crossing point at 2.5 kHz. Nominal impedance is 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 88 dB. Frequency response: 46Hz-20kHz.

It is worth to mention that technical specifications indicated in Martin Colloms review in Stereophile from July 1994 are a little different than above. Nominal impedance is: 6 ohms, sensitivity: 86.5 dB and frequency response: 55Hz-20kHz. It may be valid only for first productions Guarneri Homages or it may indicate that during production period Guarneri had some kind of factory modifications in the drivers resulting for example in bass response improving.

Mid-bass driver used in Guarneri Memento is a 150 mm ultra dynamic linearity driver from Audio Technology, with CCAW/Kapton eddy current free voice coil. According to Sonus Faber it is dynamically linear magnetic field motor incorporating Kellog and Faraday rings with all moving elements ventilated for resonance free response.

Tweeter used in Guarneri Memento is also famous 25 mm Ring-Radiator ultra dynamic linearity driver from Scan Speak with dual toroidal wave-guide. Here internal wire was silver-palladium alloy sourced from Yter audio – the company created by metallurgist Massimiliano Favella the Franco Serblin son-in-law. These cables were specially created for Franko biggest achievement – Stradivarii Homage and also can be found in new Amati Anniversario.

The crossover used in Memento is also the first order unit with 6dB slope and crossing point at 2.5 kHz. Nominal impedance is 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 88 dB. Frequency response: 39Hz – 30kHz.

Cabinets comparison:
Both speakers have the same shape of cabinet – both cabinets have the same internal volume of about 10 liters and the same width, height and deep. Both are made of the same number of solid wood pieces – in both speakers it is 21 pieces (including back panel).

In case of old Guarneri the cabinet was made of solid walnut. All Sonus Faber top of the line speakers starting from the Amati Homage use solid maple. I suppose that in case of first Sonus Faber speaker that used solid maple (Amati Homage) it was the cost savings move. It was the first serious floorstanding speaker and such large cabinet made of solid walnut would be too expensive. Using maple wood instead of walnut allowed to offer fresh and beautiful red violin finish. After creating Amati Homage Sonus Faber continued to use maple in their Stradivarii Homage and new Guarneri Memento what means that no longer Sonus Faber speakers were offered in classic, beautiful natural walnut finish. In my opinion walnut is more sophisticated and more expensive wood than maple – no doubt about that. Also, old Guarneri cabinet interior walls were damped with proprietary sheet copper and lead tuning elements, which is no longer valid with Memento enclosures. Did the change of the wood used for cabinets affect the sound of the speakers? I do not know, but probably in some degree – yes.

Other distinction is a little different shape of front panels. In old Guarneri – straight without slopping with a little beveled edges around tweeter. Also the speakers in old model are placed plain on top of front panel without recessing. Old Guarneri front panel was made of one inch thick baffle consists of 15 layers of birch multi-ply.

In new Guarneri Memento both speakers are recessed in the front panel and the edges around tweeter are also beveled. These panel seems to be made of MDF.

There are also a subtle differences between masking covers. Both are stringed design, but never Memento’s cover has bottom and top metal plates with cut edges instead of rectangular ones in old Guarneri. In Memento the bottom plate is opened allowing the waves from bass driver to radiate with ease. In both Guarneri top plate is solid. I did not found differences in sound with and without covers installed, but top plate of masking cover may affect propagations of tweeter driver.

Stands comparison:
Old Guarneri Homage is positioned on straight stand, new Memento sits on the slanted stand.

The old stand is about three centimeters higher and measure 98 cm with base. First run Guarneri Homage were offered with stands even few inches taller, but it was intended for larger interiors and I am not sure if higher stands are still an option.

Both stands have base made of conglomerate of grinded and mixed together natural marble and some kind of resins. Is it the best material that could be used for this purpose? I do not know. It is the material which is easy to manufacture and costs saving. It was especially important with Memento stand where the base is slanted. Let’s imagine the same base made of metal – how more complicated it would be in processing compared to conglomerate that can be die-casted already in the trapezoidal shape. Original base have small drawback – it cannot accept any kind of spikes or other regulated height support that would allow to position the speakers on uneven floor – for example on the carpet. Other Sonus Faber from their top line like Amati or Stradivari have such functionality.

Functional comparison:
Old Guarneri Homage had binding posts that could accept bi-wiring. Mementos binding posts can accept only single wire speakers. Also the shape of back panel is a little different in both speakers. I prefer the shape of back panel and binding posts from new Mementos. In old Guarneri binding post could be operated with wrench in Mementos only by hand, but the shape of old back panel makes connections harder to operate especially with larger speaker cables. Also the separation of binding posts is too small and in case of speaker cables with large spade connectors it is the risk of short-circuit the spades. Also the bass reflex opening if positioned at different height in both speakers.

Appearance comparison:
It is also a matter of taste. Old Guarneri were one of the most beautiful speakers in the world. Now after many years of use some flaws can be scored easier. In some cases, when speakers were operated in direct sunlight conditions, the color of the walnut became burn off and lacked their intensity. I also seen pairs where clear high gloss finish become foggy in some areas. How it would be in case of new Memento speakers – is the used materials were improved – time will say.

I must say that I like the look of old Guarneri, however it does not fit all interiors. As for new Guarneri I did not seen the Palladio finish – so I cannot comment. I have seen Red Violin and Graphite. I must admit that I prefer Graphite finish, however red Violin is also beautiful and more eye-catching in the first look. Red Violin is more room dependent and a little to “carrotisch” to me. There is also too much contrast between red enclosure, black pedestal and light gray base.

Graphite finish is more subtle, more eye-catching and definitely worse looking on the pictures. But in real word if you have black amplifier, black turntable and other black equipment it may fit easier to the whole system. Graphite is also less room interior dependant and for me is more sophisticated. It looks like a black pearl :-)


Sonic comparison:
I must say it right from the beginning.
As a Guarneri Memento owner, I am really surprised how good the old Guarneri Homage are. If I have had the opportunity to directly compare both speaker before purchase the choice would be very hard. Both speakers are great, but for my ears old Guarneri have better midrange and better top-end than new ones. I am especially impressed by treble performance of the Homage. Trebles were more airy, with more sparkle and timbre. Midrange was more sophisticated and subtle than with Mementos. Also whole presentation was more liquid and homogenous. There is only one weakness for me in old Guarneri. It is a bass performance. As I mentioned on the beginning I am not a bass freak, but Guarneri Homage had a little too less bass for my taste. Some instruments, like a piano for example, needs a adequate weight to be presented properly. In old Guarneri during some piano passages, a little left hand heft was missing. In my case in longer term use it would be disturbing. With this exceptions other instruments like acoustic guitars, violins and metal percussions were simply magical. My review sample was manufactured in 1997. If there was any factory upgrade to the drivers causing bass extensions, the newest productions pairs may sounds fuller. I also found that transparency and clarity of Homage was better compared to Memento. There was also a little more harmonic texture and decay of notes seemed to stay a bit longer and could be heard more clearly. Overall I found the tonal balance in Guarneri Homage was shifted toward midrange and treble compared to Memento. The silky smooth old Esotar seems to be truly hard to beat performer.

Memento in direct comparison in no slouch either. Overall tonal balance is shifted toward low end and the bass performance is much improved compared to the old Guarneri. Memento is also more dynamic speaker. I would describe them as a fuller, full bodied and more complete speaker than Homage and thus they easier may be considered as a contender for floorstanding speakers. Also I think that Memento is more universal speaker, but in my opinion it was not possible to maintain the homogenous and quality of trebles from old Guarneri. Thus I think that no one speaker is a clear winner here. So I cannot agree with some comments that new Guarneri are a trash and only the old ones are good and cannot agree with comments that new ones are better in all aspects.

If someone can find old Guarneri in perfect conditions for about 5-6 grand and have limited room this speaker is a truly bargain and also a classic icon. If someone is looking for more universal speaker and considering small floor standing model – new Guarneri may be a ticket.

If I have to choose today again I think I would pick up Graphite Mementos, but I would miss a little magic from old Guarneri. Definitely both are top-notch speakers.

If sometime the third generation of Guarneri shows up I hope that engineers of Sonus Faber will be able to mix the mid-bass driver from current Mementos and new Esotar2 from Dynaudio. I also hope that a natural walnut finish would be back available as a choice or as a special edition option. That could be extremely interesting speaker.

Regards!
Milimetr