Sonus Faber speakers - what's your experience?

I auditioned Sonus Faber Amati’s with my Gryphon Diablo 300 at a dealer’s showroom. I compared them against B&W 801 D4 (loads of bass and upper ranges too thin), Magico A5 (very thin bass and sounded like a speaker and not musical), Audiovector Arette R6 (great speaker with very energetic and punchy bass), and Wilson Sasha DAW (beautiful speaker and to me the best of the bunch, but ultimately lacking in a fuller and well-rounded and balanced rich sound when playing hard rock). In comparison I found Sonus Faber to be decent, a better midrange than the B&W, but I found them to be a bit uninspiring to me. Could be due to the pairing with my amp, or it could have been the massively over-dampened audition room I tried them in. I thought the bass was very deep and there was lots of it, but it was less energetic than what I was hearing with other speakers, which set the stage for a less engaging experience.

I find auditioning speakers to be very stressful and often futile, due to uncontrollable variables, in particular being at the mercy of dealer listening rooms. It may very well be that I would have loved the Amati’s at home but I don’t know of any dealer near me that would allow at-home tests for floor standing speakers.

@craig , for what it’s worth, the salesman told me that near 100% of their clients who listen to jazz and classical choose Sonus Faber above the other brands they sell.

they are super expensive, you can get way more for less money. 

But $$$ is all relative

I have always like SF,  my Dad has Concertos , Concertinos , and Solo and it's a great sounding g system with music or movies.   Granted they are 20 plus years old but they still impress.   

I was at Fidelis in NH a few months ago , they had some serious SF models on display and the ones that were playing when I walked in sounded incredible.  Sure they were $20k but if you have the right electronics (and money) they are worth it .

oddiofyl - coincidentally, I am considering a trade for a pair of Concertinos for a secondary system.  They'd be used in an apartment primarily for vocal music, some low key jazz, blues and rock and paired with a Martin Logan sub.  I've not heard them, but reviews say midrange is good and SF has a great reputation.  Any experience you can share?  Thanks.