Best amp for Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario?

Both the Strads and the Amati Homage are old school SF, during the Franco Serblin era. During that time the speakers were know for being very "musical" although somewhat colored. After that, SF went to a more modern, more detailed and more neutral frequency response. That said, I love the old sound. Full disclosure - my main speakers are old Cremona and I have 4 other pairs of older SF, so I am very tied to the old sound.

The Strads are, IMO, are a real step up from the Amati Homage. The Amati are a minor stop up from the Cremona, but the Strads are much better (and twice the price). The Amati was released first (1999), followed by the Cremona (2004), then the Strads (2005). Serbio clearly learned over time. For comparison,

I heard the Strads and the Wilson Alexandra II a few days apart. The Strads delivered the music. The Wilson's had great detail and focus, but, for me, just did not deliver the music.

The Strads are, indeed, an unusual form factor. Serbio always claimed that was one of the main reasons the Strads deliver such a music sound. I would go for the Strads in a nanosecond.

I have not heard the Anniversario. I have heard the updated Cremona and the Elipsa and did not care for either one. They were too lean, without the sweetness of the old SF.

Hi Twilo,

Yes, i have compared the two and owned the SF Strad. The depth of soundstage and bass capability of the Strad is greater than the Amati apples to apples...however, there are several factors one needs to be careful of with the Strads. They require a lot of control to get the bass response smooth and taut...the impedance dips to around 2.7 as i recall during certain lower elements of the range.

I found the Strad retrained the beautiful voice of the SF/Franco Serblin heritage that is the hallmark of this work, and was particularly beautiful (imho) in the Guarneri (which i also owned).

The Amati original was strangely 'tipped up' in the high treble...we compared G to Strad to Amati and there were very specific tracks where the Amati was bringinforwar forward high-frequency information that was more in the background in all other speakers in the room. The bass also could be excellent or faint...lots of factors there.

The Anniversario seemed to ameliorate both issues.

The Strad went beyond the Anniversario in bass, depth and richness of the overall breadth of soundstage and effortless capability. However, many also found the bass difficult to control and keep damped. So while midrange tubes sounded great with them...i eventually found SS Class A worked best (Gryphon).

I loved the Strad and knew at the time of only 2 speakers i would ever 'trade' for the mighty Strads. One of them came my way, the Wilson X1/Grand Slamm, and i took it and have not looked back.

Nevertheless, the Strad is an all-time great in my book. The Amatis equally are an amazing speaker, and with the right amps/electronics will fill most any room with beautiful, rich sonorous music.

all one man's experience. feel free to follow up with any specific questions. hope that is somewhat helpful.

Dtc, Lloydelee21 thanks for the responses.
I saw a pic of these Eventus Nebula speakers and they told copied the Sonus Faber cabinet look.

I meant to say the Eventus Nebula speakers totally copied the Sonus Faber cabinet look.
Here's a pic of the Eventus Nebula speakers.
http://www.prestigehifi.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=2530

Hi Lloydelee,

Hope this email finds you well! And hope you might do me the favour of giving me your thoughts on something, I have had my system together now for nearly 2 years and still love it very much however thought it might be time to start thnking of the next update and wondered what you thought would be the best course. THe system as it stands is my Sonus Faber Amati Anni's 2 X Plinius SA-103 and the Tuato pre amp and Plinius CD 101, the system seems to suffer a but from mains polution so thought sometype of power regenerator might be the first step before any hardware upgrade but if you thought that might be a waste of time then would like to know too. Thanks as always Tim