Looking for thoughts on Sonus Faber speakers


Looking for a smooth natural midrange and high end...particularly regarding the human voice.  I enjoy detail...but don't like an analytical sound.  I think most tweeters today are fatiguing.   I enjoy the overall presentation of Harbeths...but want more low end.  I have had one audition of the Sonetto V's and was impressed...but what else might I consider?  

 

Greg S.

gsieg

Would agree with jjss49's assessment. Auditioned (among others) the R7's and liked them but chose the Sonetto III's due largely to my preference for the SF's perceived less forward treble. I run them with a pair of subs and love them. Next upgrade will likely stay in the SF family. Good luck!

I think the KEF / SF comparison is important. A bit of forward treble comes off as more detailed... but it has a cost on realism. Real music (acoustic) has all the detail as presented by SF, but not the bit of extra forwardness. It is the naturalness of the SF that allows you to fall into the music instead of being held at a distance.

 

 

I think the pairing is very key, I tried the Sonetto at home and didn't work well with my amp

IMO, there are basically two different sounds to the SF camp. The original speakers designed by Franco Serblin are to my ears more accurate to the sound of live voice and strings. The newer sound, after Franco, are more forgiving of upstream error and are easier to implement. The original Homage series are a high point that i dont think SF have quite managed to get close to again.

Incidentally, has anyone heard of the new and upcoming reissue of the Stradivarius release?

@ghdprentice

this back and forth reminds me of conversations i had at some past hifi shows with certain dealers and importers... we spoke about speakers like harbeths, classic spendors, vandersteens etc, as being speakers that more experienced audiophiles tend to come back to, after trying many of the more modern, super high end heavily marketed options that maximize ’resolution’, ’speed’, ’slam’ and all those wonderful super-fi traits - the old stalwarts, like those above, including sonus fabers, are indeed speakers that music lovers come back to after they’ve tried pretty much everything else, so to speak, speakers that allow many of us to come ’full circle’

i was thinking about this notion, and while it is true for those of us who play/played, grew up around, and were thus much exposed to acoustic music, live voice, orchestral, or symphonic music with simple or minimal amplification, it also struck me that most younger generations likely have very different sensibilities based on what they have experienced as ’real music’ ... ’live’ concerts at coachella, outside lands, rock concerts, modern r&b, rap, electronica and so forth - a totally different age, completely different sense of what sounds right and/or ’live’ as baselines -- while amongst the younger generations there are some with serious/classical musical training (not meaning to be perjorative), what we have come to respect and love as a type of sound is now but a tiny sliver of a minority, and ever diminishing...

still, it is fun and heartwarming to see a thread like this with folks expressing interest in the type of sound that sonus fabers create