I bought my SF Concertino and its maching stand for about $1,200.00 six months ago. I think its hard to do any better for the price and the quality of this magnificent mini monitor. I do agree that it sounds better with tube equipment like the TRI 300B Intergrated Amp. that I am using. Now, I just want to try it with REL Storm sub-woofer. I welcome anyone who can e-mail me where I can purchase one. I prefer mail order since I am in Japan but, willing to take a trip in the United States to buy one.

If not the best, one of the very best of the small speakers. I use vintage tube equipment and the Concertino is better than the LS3/5A and Dali Royal Minuet, which are another 2 favorites. A real bargain.

>Yesterday evening a colleague of mine visited my home to listen to some of>his favourite cd's on my system. Now confusion set-in as he played his cd's
>to the laserdisc/dac-in-the-box combination which feeds a mordaunt-short
>decoder one. As you guess this decoder drives several amps (audiolab) who
in
>turn drive SF concertino and solo speakers for the surround sound
>applications. He listened to his cd's using the decoder in stereo mode and
>all other amps switched off. After hearing the combi for something like 3
>minutes he wanted to take the concertino's with him! Althought this is not
>my main listening system it certainly gives the concertino's the
possibility
>to show its great articulation, separation of detail and bass reproduction
>ability. Listening to them like we did yesterday I wonder how SF ever
>managed to produce such outrageously good value for money. Highly
>recommended speaker but it needs a fast and powerfull amplifier to explore
>its true qualities.

Superb neutrality, openness and detail

Bass is lacking

This is a recommendation for anyone who is into a bookshelf for audio listening only. I agree to an early posting that this speaker doesn't have the "wow" factor (say B&W CDM1NT_ at first listening but the longer you play these, the nicer it gets. in short, it grows on you! I would recommend this speaker for it's real wood and leather finnish which adds to it's sound quality virtues. It needs awhile to break this babies in, IMHO, matches well with warm sounding equipment.

Similar Products Used:

Energy C-2

Sounstage and 'Out of the Box' feel. Finish

Slightly bass light. Heard better since

When I bought the Sonus Fabers I was awestruck by the sense of realism they give. I had previously owned a pair of KEF 104.2 and due to a house move found them to be too bass heavy creating a noise floor. The leather and walnut finish is second to none and a beautiful piece of furniture to grace any living room. The only speakers I have heard that match or surpass the sweet treble and clear midrange are the Audio Vector M1,s but then, they are more expensive and, hey, it's all subjective anyway. If your looking for a beautifully crafted musical instument then the sonus Faber Concertino's are for you!

Similar Products Used:

KEF 104.2, Proac tablette 50, Audio Vector M1, Ruark Sceptre, Mission 751.

I've owned the Concertinos for just about a month now. My opinions are consistent with most of those already stated. Image definition is just amazing. Bass is present and tight, but not heavy. Bass freaks will definitely want to supplement their Concertinos. Midrange and upper frequencies are so clear and precise that listening to the right recordings can present an image like I've never heard before.
The only drawbacks are that now I always want to sit in position for the full effect, I find it difficult to use these for background music. The other drawback is that they are unforgiving of bad recordings. Listening to a poorly recorded disk can really be unpleasant. But a great recording can really snap you to full attention!

great soundstaging, very pleasing sound with vocals and acoustic, aesthetically pleasing

not the most efficent speakers around (87 db)

Auditioned several speakers around this price point and thought the only real competition to the Concertinos (for my tastes) were the B&W CDM 1SE and the Vienna Acoutics Hadyn. However, the Haydn's sounded a bit too "cold", and while the B&W's bass response seemed slightly deeper, the Concertinos' imaging and mid-range won me over.

Will summarize my thoughts in the followig bullet points:

- Concertinos are very well suited for jazz and acoustic music. They do an exceptionally fine job with vocalists (Holiday, Vaughn, Krall, Nat Cole, Sinatra, Torme -all sound rich and smooth). Though I find them more than suitable for rock and orchestral, can see why some may prefer to add a sub. No info on their handling of very bass intensive music like hip hop.

- I've heard that these speakers tend to do well with warmer systems - "British" solid states and tube equipment. Could be the case as I use a Musical Fidelity amp and they work very well together.

- Project a large three dimensional soundstage. Sounds trite, but with most decent quality recordings, really does sound like performers are in the room with you.

- They're not very efficient (87dB. The more power you can drive them with, the better they'll sound (I have 150 WPC into 8 ohms, and am very pleased with the sound). Demo'd some less powerful amps with the SFs and while they still sounded good, the added power really expanded soundstage and made bass more palpable.

In this price range, they are defintiely worth an audition. And they make a handsome addition to your room decor.

Similar Products Used:

replaced a 30 year old pair of Altec Lansings

Very sweet sounding speakers with beautiful finish. Plays most types of music well except for real hard rock. Still, I would rather spend an extra few hundred bucks on a Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkII.

smooth highs...excellent soundstage...great imaging

great fit and finish...the leather and wood on these speakers are truly classy...they actually look like expensive speakers...the sound is very smooth and the imaging is precise...at first i was worried they were to bright...but after break-in and adding sand to the matching stands the sound has benefitted immensely...although expensive, the stands are highly recommended...they actually increase bass response...again incredible fit and finish for the money...

Similar Products Used:

kef Q35...boston vr-m50...mirage frx7...psb image 4t...paradigm monitor 7...

you experience music

limited bass, low sensitivity

You experience all the emotion and excitement of music when using these speakers. There are many speakers that can provide high quality sound and the Concertinos do. The soundstage is wide and precise. Highs and mids are smooth and detailed. Bass is limited but tight and controlled. Overall balance is very good. They just go beyond being excellent sound transducers and are outstanding messengers of music.

Velodyne VA-1012x subwoofer
Audio Refinement Comlete integrated amplifier
Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD player (doubles as CD player)
Analysis Plus speaker cables
DH Labs BL1 interconnects

Other speakers auditioned (until I heard these, I loved the B&Ws, all models, in the showroom):

B&W 601 S2
B&W 602 S2
B&W 603 S2
Energy e:XL26
Infinity IL40
KEF Q35.2
Magnepan 1.5
Mirage OM-14
Monitor Audio Silver 5
NHT SuperTwos
Paradigm Monitor 7
Polk Audio RT2000i
PSB Image 4T
Vandersteen 1C

Similar Products Used:

NHT SuperZero
B&W CDM1 NT