The Sonus Faber sound is, of coarse, dependent on what you feed them. They are coherent from top to bottom and are overwhelmingly musical. While earlier models had a notable bit of warmth, newer ones are pretty neutral. When I compared the sound of different speakers in the same price range, I concluded the incredible finished exterior is free.
I think they do all types of music well.
About ten years ago, I realized there was something wrong with my end goal, my steps improved the sound quality, but I wasn’t sure it was getting better. My problem had been that when I improved my system, one kind of music would get better and several other kinds would lose something. So I started listening to live acoustic music, Jazz, and classical mostly. Immediately some Sonus Faber speakers I had heard years earlier that had stuck in my mind for there unique sound (not good or bad… just very different) popped into my mind… this response was very strong.. especially for a random audition years ago. To test my theory I bought a used pair of SF Cremona. I was shocked… that was it… the real sound of music. I dumped my ribbon speakers (I had been a planar guy for decades) and ordered a pair of Olympica 3… from the first shipment that was currently on water, going to the West coast. They were way better than the Cremona. I was very happy. The character of my system took a huge jump towards musical. Much better rhythm and pace, top to bottom coherency.
Over the next ten years I slowly swapped out components, moving toward better components that sounded more natural. So, instead of each move giving better imaging and more slam with a cost to something else. Each move, made all music types better, technically imaging and bass got better also. This had been what was missing. My system sounded more musical with the SF and each component change just made them better. Finally my electronics were better than the Olympica, so I move up to Amati… wow, did that make an improvement. My system actually has more detail, images better, and has better bass than ever before. Only, the details don’t stick out at you… they are there, just in the same way as they are there in real live music. It is easy to chase obvious sound characteristics and loose the real point… music. For me Sonus Faber you get it all in appropriate perspective. And the simple gorgeous fit and finish is free.
My audio guy prefers my system to any he has put together or owns. He occasionally will come over to evaluate flagship components.
