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Amp for Sonus Faber speakers

Hi. I have received some very useful information on these forum's in the past, so I hope to receive some useful feedback. Thanks in advance !

I have a pair of Sonus Faber Grand Piano speakers (the version from about 5 years ago - not the new Domus version), and had been using a Jolida integrated amp 1501 with them (tube pre-amp section)and they sounded great. However, I was having some problems with occasional buzzing and could not isolate the problem, so eventually decided to sell the amp and replace it with a Pathos Mk 1 (version II). With the new amp, it sounds like someone has stuffed a towel into the midrange drivers. I am not referring to a subtle change. The change in sound is dramatic, and they do not sound good.

I have spoken to a few dealers who give me simple answers ... like, the Pathos amp is a lousy amp (doesnt seem to be true according to the large volume of reviews I have seen), or the power is too low (70 watts vs. 100 for the Jolida).

I'm not sure what the problem is but itis clear that the amp and speakers are not a good match. The Sonus Faber dealers in NY seem to recommend Ayre (seems ok), or Hovland (too expensive). I really dont want to experiment with buying and selling amps too many times so I though I would put this out there to get opinions of anyone who has used these speakers and what they felt worked great with them.

Thanks again in advance !
Mark
markny
ryder
1,690 posts
 
I've owned the Sonus Faber Grand Piano speakers and have used Plinius SA-100Mk3/SF Line 1, Classe CAP-100, YBA Integre and Krell KAV-300i to drive them. Out of all, I felt the Krell was the best match in bringing out the detail, slam and dynamics of the Grand Pianos (although the 300i was unrefined and harsh in character) due to the forgiving nature of the speakers. The GP's sounded lacklustre with all other amps.

Your mileage will vary due to listening tastes and preferences.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Yeah, the GPs need a lot of clean power also. Look at Rowland.

Dave
jman
99 posts
 
No offense to anyone here intended...but you should join sonusfaberclub.com as it's restricted to SF owners only. There is a guy there very passionate about his Grand Piano's and system matching, I'm not sure which version he has but you'd get some good suggestions there.
davemitchell
253 posts
 
The Domus Grand Piano does not at all require big solid state power. I can't speak to the older version though. We get excellent results with ARC 50-100 watt tube amplifiers. They even work well off the 8 ohm taps, meaning that they are pretty benign for a 4 ohm speaker.

Also, the Sonus Faber Musica which is their own house amplifier is only 50 watts per channel.

What is more important with the Sonus Faber speakers is placement and set up. They are very room reactive. Using Sumiko's "Masters" set up technique results in rather startling transformation from where users generally plop them down in the room or arrive by trial and error.

I am a Sonus Faber dealer
rudge
76 posts
 
I am using two Pathos integrateds with the concerto domus and they sound great. The midrange is outstanding. The Sonus Faber aren't power hungry. I just like the Pathos so much, I thought two would be better than one. I have heard my speakers with just one integrated mk3 and they do sound good. Maybe your integrated is defective. Pathos and Sonus Faber should be a great combo. Rudge
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