Sonus Faber Sonetto V’s Thoughts Requested

Doug. Thanks for your kind words. As you are aware I am a Sonus Faber fan for their sound characteristics. The same ones that you identified as your own. So from that perspective they are a great match sonically. Given the tier they are in, they should provide a great boost in sound quality across the board once they are broken in… at least 125 hours. Remember this if you buy them… it is so easy to get really excited and start drawing conclusions too soon. Also, I would definitely not feel bad about liking them because they look good. The nice thing about Sonus is they sound fantastic and look as good. You get much less grief from your partner as well. 
 

I am firmly in the camp of starting an upgrade cycle with speakers. Even if it is years before you can upgrade your amplification you can enjoy much better sound now, and another big jump later. 
 

The Arcam has enough power. Sonus are not power hungry, although when powered by solid state amps they can benefit from more power. I power my Amatis with 70 wpc (although it is tube) and I can turn them up far louder than I can stand without loss of dynamics. Sonus has a house sound, natural and musical… it is distinct as you pointed out. 
 

Anyway, sounds like a great choice.

I definitely do not consider myself an audiophile

Yeah you are, or you wouldn’t be here asking the good questions you ask. Thanks for the nice words BTW. I’ve already put some thought into this but could use a little more info — what’s your budget and are you looking new or used, and can you be any more specific about what improvements/sound characteristics you’re looking for other than just some more warmth? Just wanna make worthwhile/appropriate recommendations. Thanks for any further info.  I’m just gonna let the kenjit comment pass BTW.

If bass is not that important to you, why not a bookshelf SF model?

@overthemoon - Thanks for your input. I was hoping to hear from someone who actually owned or spent some time with the Sonettos.

@ghdprentice - Thank you sir for your time and comments. I did know that you have and love your Amatis. I think i may m

not have been clear on my original post. I actually own KEF Q750 at the moment and was looking for input on if spending the money to move up to the Sonettos would be just that, a move up in SQ. It sounds like you think going to the SF house sound and their musicality would be a move in the right direction from my entry level KEFs, despite your bias. 🙂

@soix - Thanks for your time and input as well. Somehow I thought you might want more info than i might be able to coherently give. I do struggle with some audiophile vernacular. I was thinking of you when I put down the warmth etc. comment in my OP. Ha. I did like the SF sound that I heard with the Amatis, but they are quite a few steps above the sonettos. @ghdprentice mentioned the word musicality, so I think that works. I dont want speakers that are so accurate that mediocre recordings are somewhat difficult to listen to. As you know, most recordings are not considered great. 

I'm not really looking for other options in my 4 to 5k max budget, so much as I was looking for info regarding if the Sonettos in particular, which I seemed to be fixated on, is a real step up in SQ vs. My current Q750s. If it's not much of an upgrade I might stay put, despite loving the sonetto's great cabinets.

@grislybutter - Thanks for your reasonable question. These will be going in my main room which is fairly large, is open to the kitchen, and has 12' ceilings. While bookshelfs can be fine indeed, I never quite understood standmounted bookshelfs in a bigger room when they essentially take up the same footprint of a floor stander. As I mentioned, I find them quite attractive and while bigger is not always better, a beautiful cabinet  and a bigger sound seems to be my preference.

Thanks again, guys.

I'm not really looking for other options in my 4 to 5k max budget, so much as I was looking for info regarding if the Sonettos in particular, which I seemed to be fixated on, is a real step up in SQ vs. My current Q750s.

Well, I may just disappoint you here.  I had a not great experience with SF’s earlier entry-level Venere 2.5s so maybe I’m a little jaded and no doubt the Sonettos are a significant improvement, but 3-way speakers that weigh only 50 lbs. sends red flags my way that echo issues I had with the Venere speakers.  Despite the lute shape those cabinets resonated and were uncontrollable with their upper bass resonance in my room, and I’d be concerned about similar cabinet issues with the similarly lightweight Sonettos.

So, what would I recommend?  Hands down and given what you’re looking for I’d go with these Usher Dancer Mini Two speakers for several reasons.  

- For about the same price you’re getting custom drivers manufactured by Usher that include the same diamond tweeter as in their $40k flagship speakers — what???

- They go down to 28Hz vs  38Hz for the Sonettos

- They weigh a substantial 92 lbs. versus the Sonetto’s 50 lbs. indicating a much more substantial and inert cabinet

- They have gorgeous cabinetry that’s at least on par with the Sonettos

- Usher speakers fly way under the radar and are in my top 5 of best speakers I’ve heard, and they offer value that’s off the charts for the quality you get relative to most others — read the reviews.

- This seller offers a 30-day return period if I’m wrong

https://soundapproach.com/usher-dancer-mini-two-tower-speaker-pair.html

Sorry to go off the reservation here but couldn’t help it cause given what you’re looking for this is what I’d do so had no choice.  Best of luck in whatever you choose.