SF Serafino vs SF Elipsa SE

It’s a good question.  I, too, am looking at the Serafina’s, but vs. the Olympica IIIs and not against the Elipsa - which unfortunately, I can’t fit into my very large room for a variety of reasons.  I think the Elipsa’s are voiced more in the long tradition of SF speakers, - a higher performing, more revealing, easier to place speaker than the O IIIs, but generally similar tonal character. 

I actually prefer the newer voicing of the Serafino’s which I find a bit “lighter”.  It’s probably still not a neutral speaker, but it’s very easy to listen to.  The Serafino’s are still warmish in the mid bass, but less so than the Olympica’s, and so I believe than the Elipsa too.  However, like the Elipsa, the Serafino’s are pretty revealing but not harsh and unforgiving.   Both are wonderful speakers.. And, if looks count, can’t go wrong either way, but my heart flutters over the Serafino’s.  Drop dead gorgeous.  Let us know what you decide.
Best,
Mgrif

Thanks for the reply.  A close friend of mine that's a dealer told me today that Sonus Faber is completely dead in the market.  He said you can hardly give the stuff away on the used market.  Not that that should scare either of us.  Probably just the opposite although he said if you ever want to trade out you're going to take a hit.
I have always like SF.  I had a pair of Liutos a couple of years ago that nice.  If I err, it's always on the side of romantic and a little warm.  I'm looking at a bunch of stuff.  I have Wilson Duettes now and am considering everything from Wilson Alexia to Raidhos (which are also cheap) to Focal Scala 2 to the SF speakers.  My room isn't that small (15x20) but it's crappy (only 1 side wall) and I have too much furniture.  The Duettes are really good in less than ideal rooms.  I've read the Ellipsas are as well.  I hear Raidho not so much and I could never manage the 9ft of separation recommended for the Raidhos.
Please let me know what you end up doing.

Interesting - I’ll have to look into that as I hadn’t heard that SF was doing poorly.  I’m in the Midwest with no dealers for >100+ miles.  But, the dealers in Milwaukee and Chicago seem to be doing ok.  A dealer in AZ has so much volume, it’s astonishing (he’s the largest dealer in the world).  I do suspect SF does better in generally more affluent markets..  I also wonder if there’s  some “wait and see” among consumers with the refreshing of the line, it’s new voicing, sumiko’s distribution, etc.  In any case, if that brings down some prices, I’ll be ok with that.  
I wish I could make the Elipsa’s work because I think they’re particularly good.  I have a huge room (20x30) with a vaulted ceiling, all hard surfaces (full log construction) but my system is necessarily somewhat tucked into a corner where I can’t bring the speakers out for proper spacing from each other or the back wall. The footprint of the Elipsa means they won’t work.  My placement situation will always be far from ideal, so I’ll just put some speakers I like and be happy with it.  Since my room is bright with bass suck outs, a little warmer and romantic is just what I want.
I haven’t heard the Duettes, but have heard very good things about their performance in diffucult to place situations. The newest Wilson stuff I really like too but the cabinets will never make it past my wife (or me for that matter). I haven’t heard the Raidho, but have heard the Focals.  And, they’d be too bright and I’ve sworn off metal tweeters (which I have now and am trying to fix in this room).  I suspect they’re great when paired with the right stuff but the SF will better suit my needs.  I’m actually waiting to see if they refresh the Olympica line (which I hear they will next) and that may mean either I can get a great deal on the current, or they’ll move closer to the Serafina’s and that’d be very nice too.
Best,

The dealer that told me about SF being weak had no dog in the fight.  It's a guy I've done business with for 25 years.  He's one of the largest used/demo dealers in the U.S.  We were talking and I mentioned I was thinking about new speakers.  I asked about SF Serafino and Elipsa.  He said he doesn't have any but he's offered them all the time.  He said he won't buy them unless he has a customer for them immediately because the market is flooded with SF.  I don't know about the whole market but you can look on Audiogon and see tons of SF and prices way down from where they were a year-18 months ago.  He said he's been offered Elipsa for $6k and heard they trade privately for as little as $8k.  I think they were $22k retail.