I'm about a month into listening to these Cremona Auditor M speakers. They disappear as well as any speaker I've heard in this space and the tonality is spot on for me. I'm giving props to @Tim 2
Every time I see your room, I ask myself...is there a window behind that center curtain or is it just sound material only? So I'll as you...is there a window behind that center curtain or is it just sound material only?
Yep, it's an egress window in the basement. There are two layers of curtains covering the window. In the window sill there's a large absorption panel which covers most of the glass.
I once owned the original Grand Piano SF released, I probably had them for 6 months back in my serious gear flipping days. They didn't make much of an impression on me but for years my GF would chide me for getting rid of those "sleek little Italian speakers". So indeed WAF seems high.
Great looking room. I wish I had that sort of space for my pair. They really spark up with some volume but in a small room there's a very fine line when room interactions interfere with sound quality.
For a lot of years my system was in a small room, and while it could sound wonderful in there, it could not go loud without compressing. In this 24x28 room, I've yet to overload the room. Setting the speakers out into the room 5-6 feet, and not have them be in the way of traffic is also nice. Maybe I'm used to it, but they don't look out of place 6 feet into the room.
For long years owned Guarnieri Homage (they were from 1996 I was told). They were combined with 2 active Dynaudio Pro Subs and then driven via highpass by 300B SETs (2 tubes per side, 2x16Watt). The 300B were Western Electric, driven by Telefunken Pre tubes. Preamp T+A P10, CDP AMR 77, Tuner Kenwood KT 1100 The cables alone were in the 10000s ... They were in a dedicated sound room, totally freestanding and the room was treated. I have (by far) not heard any better system than that in a private environment. I would have loved to try Stradivari Homage though. I tested the Guarnieri Homage (without subs) against my Harbeth M30, which was a complete disaster for the Harbeth - sold them immediately. My bedroom system (I was a bachelor at that time) consisted of 2 SF Concerto driven by a Pioneer SX 1010 and a Sony 555ES CDP. Already that was pretty impressive. I am not a fan of the new Sonus Fabers though. Since Franco Serblin left the company, they seem to capitalize more and more the brand name. They are not that outstanding any more. Why did I sell them? When you have young dogs, the string design of the stands is uhm not optimal haha (for dog fun it is). Now I changed to be a Tannerd
I love my Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor M and the matching center channel. They match well with Rogue Audio M150 amplification and an older Anthem Statement D2. I do not like the string grills which inevitably sagged and now are permanently removed.
I have the SF Olympica III’s. Absolutely fantastic speaker. We have them in a large room driven by 300watts, and they rock! We also demoed the Amati(?) at the same time, and while I couldn’t spend that much they were jaw droppingly good.
Anyone have Serafino Traditions? How close to the walls can they go? I'm looking for my final speakers, but my room is small. Currently using PMC twenty5 24s. Rich
I have been amazed at the SQ of my GH's for years! They always reflect any improvements upstream and are the best stand mount speakers I have heard, like you state---by far! With dogs, I can imagine a total disaster with the stands...the speaker stand and grill silk strings that Franco seemingly invented are the biggest flaw of the design. They have a certain interesting look, but they are a significant problem for the long term owner...for numerous reasons. ( You mentioned just one example).
I've had the Amati Anniversario's with string grills for years with no problems. There sonically invisible and the perfect grill, imo. My dog and cat was trained to stay away from audio gear.
I am still using a pair of Signums (not so well-known) on dedicated stands in my living room. They sound lovely and look sufficiently elegant that changing them will be a real challenge. I'm still tempted, though, especially by other SF models. I'd really love GHs. Until a few years back I had a pair of Elipsa SE in the mancave, and they were utterly gorgeous speakers. They need more space than I could give them, but they sounded beautiful even still. Despite the reputation for warmth over detail, I found them just as open as the Kharmas I had before them, but with much larger scale and, yes, warmth. I guess the house sound really suits me. My good friend had Amati Futuras at around the same time and they were some of my favourite speakers ever, especially when driven by Jadis JA80s.
Sonus Faber’s were always wonderful but I think that Franco took took much of the soul of the brand with him when he left.
Agreed, the Anniversario's were the last speakers the old master designed and voiced, he left before they were on the market. That being said they still make excellent speakers, imo.
The string grills are a problem from an aesthetic scenario as they age. I don't know anyone who has these that has not had sagging issues and loosening. The string stands do hold up a lot better, If that is what you are talking about. ( I dont think it can be on the Anniversario's). I suspect you have not owned your SF's long enough to see these problems yet....you will.
I purchased them used about 7 years ago, I'm guessing there at least 10 years old, the grills are absolutely perfect at this point. Longer than many nonstring grills last. I've never heard of sagging grills till now. What models did you own ?
Mine sagged and I would stretch to tighten them and retie the little knots then cut off the excess. But it was a never ending battle so now the grills stay off. They are basically just little bungie cords that lose their elasticity over time and seem to just poop out at some point.
This is exactly the problem and a very good description of what these strings are! I have been doing exactly the same thing with my GH grills for about a year or more, and it is, as you say, a never ending battle. This is the only thing with the speakers design that I think really was not thought through very well-- and luckily it is inconsequential to the sound, just to the aesthetics.
Hi Guys! These string grills are only a "problem" with the higher priced modells, arent't they? I'm thinking to buy SF Sonetto II in the future, which have normal grills I think. Do SF offer alternative grills for the Olympica etc? Bye Andrea
From what I have recently read it was a problem with very early models but corrected with later models. After doing some checking I found out my SF are 14 years old, the tension on the string grills is still perfect, I don't expect to have a problem with them.
