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sonus faber grand piano concertos

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dufus

New Member
Hi everyone,
its been a while since i made any posts here, but ive got a question now.

I've recently been lucky enough to get a pair of sonus faber grand piano concertos. these, i hear are lovely speakers, only trouble is im finding it hard to drive.

ive tried it with an emotiva upa-2 and marantz 3300 pre. this sounded flat. replaced the 3300 with the 1060's preamp and had the same result. also tried a musical fidelity preamp 3 (b), which was disasterous. :(

ive now recently acquired an anthem integrated. this is about 2 times the power of the emotiva. it shows, but the speakers sound a bit overbearing and bright. its not warm anymore :(


any suggestions?

thanks

kind regards

dufus :P
 
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I've been playing my SF Grand Piano Home , on a variety of amps. right down to a pair of Antique Sound Lab Wave 25's ( paired with an Audible Illusions Pre-amp) and they performed quite well together. Not too shabby for a low powered tube setup, I was pleasantly surprised with the sound this pairing produced.

The ASL Waves aren't what I normally use to drive them. A McIntosh MC7300 or VAC PA 80/80 are in rotation with the GP homes normally. I wonder if the room acoustics are causing the results you're having?

Have you tried them in a different postion or location within the space or in another room?
 
I owned a pair of the Concertos for a couple of years. They are beautiful. But I had the same problem. I kept reading about how they need very good amplification. I tried lot's of amps but kept coming to the same conclusion. They had warm chocolaty mids, but the highs were out of balance and fatiguing. I eventually sold them.

I actually got a pair of Klipsch Chorus and a Pair of Canton Ergo's out of the Deal. Both speakers outperformed the SF by a mile.
 
Isotonic said:
I owned a pair of the Concertos for a couple of years. They are beautiful. But I had the same problem. I kept reading about how they need very good amplification. I tried lot's of amps but kept coming to the same conclusion. They had warm chocolaty mids, but the highs were out of balance and fatiguing. I eventually sold them.

I actually got a pair of Klipsch Chorus and a Pair of Canton Ergo's out of the Deal. Both speakers outperformed the SF by a mile.
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The "your mileage may vary" saying Couldn't be more accurate when it comes to the wonderful and often wacky world of audio. The good thing is that if you don't like what you're hearing , rest assured that someone else will have a completely opposite experience and will even pay to own what you or I may write off as bad sound.

I owe every piece of gear I own to the psychology of "better". Divorced people find happiness with new partners and sonus Faber speakers get a chance to shine for new owners. With that being said, is anyone here hating the sound of their musical fidelity x-a50 mono amps? Maybe you despise the sound of that citation 2 that others raved about, Maybe I can offer to help by giving them a loving new home right here? it's the least I can do so that you can move on to something "better" for you taste. :) kidding of course... I had a similar experience with the SF Minuetto, a kick in the woofer by an Accuphase P-300 and later the MC7300 changed my mind. They sounded pretty damn good with quite a few of the beefy solid state amps I tried them with. So yeah, YMMV has some real merit.
 
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thanks for the responses. its really helpful

ive noticed, as some of you have mentioned, the mcintosh partnering seems to be very popular with the sonus fabers. however i doubt ill be able to afford one of those so i may consider getting some other speakers.

@isotonic. i could not have put it better myself. ive only noticed a less fatiging sound when volume is increased substantially. this isnt always practical for where i live. i might also sell them. its a pity :(
 
admittedly I'm lost on the concept of "Fatiquing", "resolved", "analytical" and lots of the other buzz terms associated with speakers and audio gear in general.

I am a simple person and it either sounds good and I like it, Fair ( not bad but not blow my mind great ) and Bad, and not as in Bad meaning good, but truly bad. Like.. please .. turn that off. :) there are various degrees of each of course.

Mcintosh is one of several amps I've used with SF speakers so I must be in the minority in that I haven't heard many amps that they didn't pair well with. the BBC LS3/5a models I've heard were way more reliant on "the right amp" to my ear.

I agree that certain amps will have varying effects on the performance of a speaker. one of my favorite short money amps is the NAD 2200PE ( bridged x 2) - even a single 2200PE did a convincing job with the SF models I paired with it.

But then again I think that Canton quinto 510's and EPI M-50's sound pretty impressive for what they are too. hehe
 
Bostown said:
admittedly I'm lost on the concept of "Fatiquing", "resolved", "analytical" and lots of the other buzz terms associated with speakers and audio gear in general.

I am a simple person and it either sounds good and I like it, Fair ( not bad but not blow my mind great ) and Bad, and not as in Bad meaning good, but truly bad. Like.. please .. turn that off. :) there are various degrees of each of course.

Mcintosh is one of several amps I've used with SF speakers so I must be in the minority in that I haven't heard many amps that they didn't pair well with. the BBC LS3/5a models I've heard were way more reliant on "the right amp" to my ear.

I agree that certain amps will have varying effects on the performance of a speaker. one of my favorite short money amps is the NAD 2200PE ( bridged x 2) - even a single 2200PE did a convincing job with the SF models I paired with it.

But then again I think that Canton quinto 510's and EPI M-50's sound pretty impressive for what they are too. hehe
Click to expand...

I'll go with you on the M 50's. :D
 
Bostown said:
admittedly I'm lost on the concept of "Fatiquing", "resolved", "analytical" and lots of the other buzz terms associated with speakers and audio gear in general.

I am a simple person and it either sounds good and I like it, Fair ( not bad but not blow my mind great ) and Bad, and not as in Bad meaning good, but truly bad. Like.. please .. turn that off. :) there are various degrees of each of course.

Mcintosh is one of several amps I've used with SF speakers so I must be in the minority in that I haven't heard many amps that they didn't pair well with. the BBC LS3/5a models I've heard were way more reliant on "the right amp" to my ear.

I agree that certain amps will have varying effects on the performance of a speaker. one of my favorite short money amps is the NAD 2200PE ( bridged x 2) - even a single 2200PE did a convincing job with the SF models I paired with it.

But then again I think that Canton quinto 510's and EPI M-50's sound pretty impressive for what they are too. hehe
Click to expand...

You may be right. it might have a lot to do with my room acoustics and positioning. I have a small room. so i cant do much for positioning. i might just try spacing them out further apart. unfortunately another room is not an option right now.
 
dufus said:
You may be right. it might have a lot to do with my room acoustics and positioning. I have a small room. so i cant do much for positioning. i might just try spacing them out further apart. unfortunately another room is not an option right now.
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How did the alternate positioning of the speakers work out for you?
 
Bostown said:
How did the alternate positioning of the speakers work out for you?
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this is a bit late, im sorry.

It did improve slightly, moved them further away from a wall. much better sounding in the sweet spot.

there is one thing i have realised. It may be the amplification. seems that the Anthem gear is pretty unforgiving of poor sources. im using an el-cheapo dvd player (logik, not sure if that brand even exists outside where live). im working on getting a new CD player or at least a decent DAC. i need one anyway. this may be the problem.
 
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