Paradigm S8 vs. Sonus Faber Cremona M

Sonus Faber + Bryston = Heaven!

Sonus Faber + Mac = NOT Heaven....

What's your budget now?

Sorry folks. I have to weigh in for the S8s. Their FR is ruler flat. I also agree with the comment above that the S8s sound best with the right equipment. I drive mine with ARC tube equipment and they sound terrific.

The S8s have been reviewed by many respected reviwers, e.g., Mark Mickelson, over the years and the S8s have garnered terrific reviews and high grades. Don't be fooled by price. Paradigm custom designs and builds all their components, except cabinets, in house to their exacting specs.

Paradigm also drops a ton of R&D into the S8s, which gets spread out over a huge product line. I doubt other "specialty" manufacturers can possibly achieve the same economies of scale.

I do NOT find the tweeters hot, maybe because I use ARC tube equipment. I concede that equipment synergy is important, but don't blow the S8s off just because of price. Many a reviewer has stacked the S8s against speakers costing multiples more. Also, Steven Stone did an "unscientific" survey of the top 25 speakers last October. The S8s came in #7, which is damn impressive considering the competition, some of which costs in the 6 figure range.

Finally, I acknowledge that the bass can drop off a bit, but I supplement my S8s with a Paradigm Servo sub woofer. Trust me folks, it has caused me tons of marital problems because pictures fall of the walls and dust shakes out of the ceilings, especially when playing Norah Jones.

It's your choice and I respect that one has to trust their own ears. All I say is that close your eyes and forget the price. Then listen with a little intellectual honesty and don't feel guilty if you wind up spending less. As usual, just my humble opinion.

I have owned SF Concertinos and the build was great until one day pulling my Mit cable out pulled my binding post out! Sumiko would not cover it even though it was under warranty! Good thing my local dealer stepped up to the plate and repaired it for free!
It took trying different cables and several amps to make it sing. A Classe 100 watt Cap100 did it. Finally bass and speed to match the fine vocals. After several years sold it to get a more wife friendly looking system...Kef then guess what Paradigm! When I had the SF it was my 2 CH system and I had a separate 5 ch system. Now I just have 1 system a good looking Paradigm Millenia 200 setup. It took a tube/ss Peachtree inova int amp to tame the tweeter yet maintain the speed of the speakers.
Do I miss the SF? Not really. I also had the Paradigm Millenia Ones great sound too. Had to sell at more than half off retail. The SF sold fast with hardly any depreciation. Bought the Millenia 200 as a floor model for over half off. Point? If you go with Paradigm consider used or a demo model etc. Hope this was helpful since I had both brands and like them both. Though not exactly in the same league as the speakers you're considering.

Thanks for the update Gregg. My last post to this thread was 2 and 1/2 years ago. There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then. I think I upgraded my Paradigms to v3's and upgraded my ARC gear too. Not sure what the snapshot was back then, but I think I switched-out my older ARC gear for the Ref 5 SE, Ref 150 SE and the Ref CD-8.

But I think the biggest game changer was the DEQX PreMATE. Too much to say about the DEQX in this thread ... but for now, the gizmo corrects (tames) time alignment errors caused by the S8's high order x-overs and driver placement on the front baffle. In addition, it does room EQ corrections. I cannot overstate the impact this gizmo has had on my rig.

If you want to learn more, there's a thread titled "Is DEQX a Game Changer," or something to that effect. IMO, the answer is YES.