Sonus Faber Guaneri Homage or Extremas?

This thread cracks me up...we have the OP deciding on a pair of speakers without seemingly hearing them and how they interact with his current gear and room. We have Rwwear posting how inefficient the Extrema's are...which in my experience is very true! Then in a recent thread on another forum, we had another member trying GH's and Extremas with a low powered SE amp. Wherein, when said amp failed to work well with these speakers, he decides its the speakers fault and buys something entirely different. Folks, the GH's and the Extrema's are two VERY different speakers! Depending on your ancillary equipment and taste, they will either work for you or they won't.
But without an in-home trial...or at least the ability to hear both speakers for yourself, all else is just meaningless, IMHO..:0)

I concur with Daveyf that a home trial is the best way forward, or at least try to listen to both speakers if possible. Both options are excellent and a lot of factors as mentioned earlier(associated equipment, room, listening preference) will come into play when deciding which one is more suitable.

To balance out the enthusiasm on the Extrema, here is a short excerpt on the Guarneri Homage on page 4 of Stereophile's review
http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/487/

It's rare to find a speaker that's truly balanced—with a tonal, harmonic linearity that extends from the upper bass to the high treble. In this respect, the Guarneri eclipses the other Sonus Faber designs. The bigger models, particularly the Electa Amator and Extrema, will play louder, are more dynamic, and have better, deeper bass; but rarely is a speaker as truthful to its source as the Guarneri.

Well the fun is about to begin as I have both speakers in the house and i'm going to start evaluations. What a pain!

Exciting Mal, let us know.

Mal, please do tell us what you think of the two...However, please remember that the speakers will interact with your up-line gear and that this will, IMO, color the speakers in a way that you may or not like. The Extrema's need a lot of current to shine, the GH's less so, but still need an amp with good stick up front. My main point is the synergy with your other gear and room, is going to be a factor in your opinion of the speakers.