McIntosh Sonus Faber love affair, alternatives?

I think that the reason you have been seeing them together recently is the merger and joint advertising. The dealers now sell both brands so it is easy for them to pair together. That said, I organically ended up owning both brands and am very happy but a lot of components work well with both sf and mc 

I had to move on from all things Sonus Faber... Customer service is the absolute worst. They have a US distributor in MN, Fine Sounds, that is a complete clown car of incompetence and jackassery; just my experience. 

Yamaha NS-5000 does more for less.  Just make sure your amp has at least 400 watts into four ohms. 

Love the jackassery quote! Brings me back to my college days and listening to my Pioneer set up with Infinity Speakers. 

I have Sonus Faber speakers from a dealer out of the twin cities and couldn't be happier with the sound from them from either my Hafler 9290 J-Fet solid state or top of the line Primaluna integrated. The SF's have a mellow sound without fatigue in my opinion, lot's of detail without too much bass. I am anxious to hear the new Sonetto G2 line !