it sounds like you have discovered what many audiofiles have..at the end of the day, the physical size of any loudpeaker does come into play when it comes to the weight and authority of lifelike music,particularly in the lower midband and upper bass frequencies. totem manis and hawks do a great blancing act when it comes to refinement+muscle...also castle howards and harlechs,vanderstein 2ce's, and the shahinian arcs. my gradient revolutions do it all in a small room or a large room. i love sonus faber's sound and build quality, but like you have to except their shortcomings and attributes as a brand philosophy which they won't change, and frankly probably don't need to.
Sonus Faber - Final and difficult choice
Dear fellow music lovers,
(Loooooong post below. Thanks in advance to Sonus Faber connoisseurs for reading through it ; I'm facing a difficult purchase decision.)
Brief history : I owned a pair of SF Concertino Home for a year and was completely taken by their beguiling midrange voicing and overall sound, but... ultimately found it lacking in the lower octaves, in both extension and slam (no suprises there, given the design choices for this model). For orchestral music, this translated for me in a reduced sense of scale and authority. And for rock, jazz and techno, the shortcomings were even more obvious ; bass guitar easily sounded constricted, sustained synthesizer notes were not as tight as one would hope, and double bass played at realistic volumes (not overly loud) would simply cause doubling of the woofer and send a scary woosh of air from the ports past my ears...
A year ago, I changed the Concertinos for Dynaudio Audience 122s, hoping for equal midrange virtues with added oomph and tolerance in the bass. I did get the bass, and a very "accurate" midrange... but gone was the magic, the instrumental textures, the stunning realism and palpability, on acoustic intruments and vocals especially.
What to do, what to do...
Back to today. Well, it had to happen : I just have to come back to Sonus Faber, aiming now to find a model that will combine the virtues of the Concertino... with more bass. So here are my choices so far, which must be carefully weighed against the fact that even though my room is medium-sized (16' X 12' X 8'), I am forced to listen with speakers facing the width of the room, not its length, to avoid a nasty room mode/bass cancellation ; this means that I can only sit at a maximum of 8 or 9 feet from the speakers, with them about 8ft apart, and a maximum of 2-3 ft from the front wall, and 2 ft from one of the side walls.
With that in mind, here are my options, many of them available through classifieds.
- GRAND PIANO HOME**. Do I risk bass overload from having the speakers sit only 2 - 3ft from the front wall ?
- CONCERTO, original version on adjustable wood iron stands.
- CONCERTO HOME. (Not currently available in the classifieds, but I would wait for it to come up if consensus gives it the favor over the original version)
- ELECTA AMATOR I (available) or II (not available for now)
- SIGNUM + ulterior subwoofer purchase. Only if the small woofer is more capable than the Concertino's...
My amplifier is a YBA Integre DT, 50-90W, decent current capability.
Your answers will go a long way towards helping my final decision.
Many, many thanks,
Jean-Benoît
Montreal
**About a month ago, I put up post here inquiring about whether the newest Grand Piano was superior to the older model, and received great insight. Special thanks to Hyperion for his advice and in-depth knowledge of the various models - btw Hyperion if you're reading this : I read the description of your "Musica" system, and the qualities you say it has are *precisely* what I'm looking for. Even our musical tastes seem similar, and WIDE-ranging :-)
(Loooooong post below. Thanks in advance to Sonus Faber connoisseurs for reading through it ; I'm facing a difficult purchase decision.)
Brief history : I owned a pair of SF Concertino Home for a year and was completely taken by their beguiling midrange voicing and overall sound, but... ultimately found it lacking in the lower octaves, in both extension and slam (no suprises there, given the design choices for this model). For orchestral music, this translated for me in a reduced sense of scale and authority. And for rock, jazz and techno, the shortcomings were even more obvious ; bass guitar easily sounded constricted, sustained synthesizer notes were not as tight as one would hope, and double bass played at realistic volumes (not overly loud) would simply cause doubling of the woofer and send a scary woosh of air from the ports past my ears...
A year ago, I changed the Concertinos for Dynaudio Audience 122s, hoping for equal midrange virtues with added oomph and tolerance in the bass. I did get the bass, and a very "accurate" midrange... but gone was the magic, the instrumental textures, the stunning realism and palpability, on acoustic intruments and vocals especially.
What to do, what to do...
Back to today. Well, it had to happen : I just have to come back to Sonus Faber, aiming now to find a model that will combine the virtues of the Concertino... with more bass. So here are my choices so far, which must be carefully weighed against the fact that even though my room is medium-sized (16' X 12' X 8'), I am forced to listen with speakers facing the width of the room, not its length, to avoid a nasty room mode/bass cancellation ; this means that I can only sit at a maximum of 8 or 9 feet from the speakers, with them about 8ft apart, and a maximum of 2-3 ft from the front wall, and 2 ft from one of the side walls.
With that in mind, here are my options, many of them available through classifieds.
- GRAND PIANO HOME**. Do I risk bass overload from having the speakers sit only 2 - 3ft from the front wall ?
- CONCERTO, original version on adjustable wood iron stands.
- CONCERTO HOME. (Not currently available in the classifieds, but I would wait for it to come up if consensus gives it the favor over the original version)
- ELECTA AMATOR I (available) or II (not available for now)
- SIGNUM + ulterior subwoofer purchase. Only if the small woofer is more capable than the Concertino's...
My amplifier is a YBA Integre DT, 50-90W, decent current capability.
Your answers will go a long way towards helping my final decision.
Many, many thanks,
Jean-Benoît
Montreal
**About a month ago, I put up post here inquiring about whether the newest Grand Piano was superior to the older model, and received great insight. Special thanks to Hyperion for his advice and in-depth knowledge of the various models - btw Hyperion if you're reading this : I read the description of your "Musica" system, and the qualities you say it has are *precisely* what I'm looking for. Even our musical tastes seem similar, and WIDE-ranging :-)
- ...
- 7 posts total
- 7 posts total