I am afraid I must be a dissenting voice-to some extent anyway-about the Concerto. While it is very musical, natural, clear, and all that, we are missing the bottom line-or should I say the bottom end. These tiny speakers cannot hope to produce a truly representative sound from such small mechanicals. It tries, it is taut and tuneful, but the bass is a ghost of what must have been in the original performance. I could be sold on its positive work in the midrange and above, but music does not stop at the midrange.

This speakers sounds wonderful .Too bad I have heard it only with top notch equipments.With Krell, pass labs,jadis gear.
With the $1600 price tag. it is hard to beat.

Sorry for this double positng, but I have been besieged by mails asking where in Singapore are these speakers sold (S$ 1700). My earlier post is
below under JR.

For the distributor's particulars, visit our new website at :

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Quarter/9856/jrtlr.html

and click on the Webmaster's System/System Comments link ...

This is my curent audio set-up: (For Audio and HT)
Power amp: Audiolab (England)8000P- connected to the main speakers
Receiver: Yamaha RXV-2095 (The main pre out is connected to the
power amp. + The R/SR - pre out is connected to the main pre in, in order to get 2 pairs of surr.)
CD: Rotel RCD971 HDCD

Speakers:
Main: 2 Acoustic-Energy A100 (on stands and cones)
Center: 1 Sonus Faber Solo (on cones)
Surr: 2 Mirage OM-R2 omnipolars (hanging on side walls)
2 Wharfedale Delta 30 (on cones at the back)
Sub: 1 Yamaha YST-SM500 (on cones)- in the future I'll buy a REL

Cables:
RF/s-video/video/coax/cabels: Monster Silver
Interconnects: Cabeltalk Monitor 2
Digital: Monster Lightspeed 100
Speaker cable: Cabeltalk4 (all bi-wired)
Center speaker cable: Cabeltalk Concert 2.1 (bi-wire)
Sub-cable: Monster THX
Sur-cable: Monster

Misc:
Acoustic devices: 4 of Michael Green's Corner Tunes

After long auditing I decided to change and ordered for the main speakers the Sonus Faber Concerto.


I changed my previous centre (AE 107) to the Sonus Faber Solo a couple of weeks ago, since then I could not stop using the Solo alone instead of the AE mains. The Solo has such a beautiful sound, that the AE's are a ruin for my ears!

I just can't wait for the Concertos to arrive.

Some months ago I decided to buy new speakers and happened to discover Sonus Faber. There aren´t many dealers in Prague and it was not a simple task to get to an audition. Most of other dealers selling different brands kept discouraging me from buying just SF. Later I discovered that it had nothing to do with the quality of sound but rather with the other stuff they were selling. For a period of about 3 months I auditioned dozens of speakers at this price range and settled on SF anyway. Concerto seemed to fit best and offer the best value for money. I had to make a decision whether to buy Concertino, Concerto or Grand Piano. Concerto came out best due to stunningly clean sound and incredible soundstage. They do need quite a long time to break in! At first I thought there was no bass, but things were getting ever better and despite the fact that I still face an aquisition of a far better amp than the one I have, these speakers now sound great. Even the bass, which was lacking in the first days or even weeks seems to be coming and now I wonder if I really need a better amp (I do, but the improvement due to the speakers is such that this has stopped being an urgent issue). These speakers to my mind reveal their best qualities in classical music and jazz, there are very few other speakers that can do the same job for the same money. All in all, excellent!

Everything - box-like sound, lack in dynamics, way too much sibilance and emphasis in treble, poor soundstage

This speaker does not do much of anything right in my mind. There is way too much in the way of sibilance, and euphonics, this is not a neutral speaker at all. It sure looks good, but is not worth it's price. There are many more monitor speakers out there, that can outperform this one for a lot less. I have tried to like it so much, but it actually makes my ears heart after awhile, and forces me to retreat to my "real audio" room. I have tried repositioning, different elctronics, and different cables to no avail. I wanted to believe these lofty ratings at this site, but just cannot. Even voices - which this speaker is touted to reproduce so well, were just way too sibilant, and also very small sounding. I have not adjusted to the way this speaker sounds at all.

Definitely look elsewhere if you are looking for a well-balanced, neutral, accurate monitor speaker.

Certainly speakers sound really different to different people, so take this as one man's opinion, based on the following equipment & room:

16' x 12', carpeted, 8 foot ceilings
VAC Special Edition Standard Preamplifier
Cary Audio SLM-100 monoblocks
Cardas Cross interconnects and Speaker Cables
Denon DCM-5000 CD Player

Similar Products Used:

Soliloqut 5.3, PSB Stratus Mini, Totem Mani, Tyler Acoustics Taylo Reference Monitor, B&W DM602, Celestion A1, Coincident Triumph

I finally auditioned these today after listening to:B&W Nautilus 805, Hales Transcedence 1, Dynaudio Contour 1.3Mkii.

These are very similiar to the Hales. Nice detailed sound, not fantastic imaging or soundstage (the Nautilus 805 wins that). Bass extends deeper than others, similar to the Hales...actually this is where I found some flaws also. These want to be larger speakers than they are...the bass tends to go deeper but also a bit bloaty and soft.
For me the ranking: B&W, Dynaudio, Hales/Sonus tied. Dynaudio is very accurate and crisp...soundstage isn't as full as the B&W however.

Jim

Allows you to simply enjoy the music for hours and hours, especially jazz and classical.

For those who love a room filled with in-your-face rock n' roll, this speaker is not for you.

What can I say that others have not already stated - the more I listen to these speakers, the more I can't believe they're mine! I can listen to them for hours (and I do every night)without any sense of fatigue. The bass has actually surprised me -- it is much better in my living room than it was at the showroom. I feel I can take my time before purchasing the REL Strata subwoofer I had intended to match with these. I have the Concertos matched with a Rega Planet and a Classe CAP80 with Kimber Silverstreaks interconnects. No buyers regret here.

First I little history. I have owned no less then 4 pairs of B&W over the past 10 years, most recently the Matrix 805's, I have also had a pair if ADS and a pair of Kef Ref 2's(I am embarassed to admit).
I had searched for my new speakers for about 6 months, all the while thinking I would end up with, what I thought were the best, B&W. In fact I eventually placed a deposit on a pair of Naut. 805's in the Red Stained and began to wait for "30-60" days. Round about the 7th week I poped into my dealer for some listening. I had only previously nibbled on the Sonas. But this trip I spent some time with them. In fact I was allowed to take them home for a couple of days. When I went to return them on tuesday morning, while standing there, my Naut 805's had just arrived vis UPS! I bought the Sonas.

I don't know if I was ripe for a change, or if I have "turned a corner" in my musical tastes or if I am just getting older. But the Sonas have retruned me to the pure enjoyment of "listening". Now, when I think of B&W I think of a "tool" and the Sonas are "instruments". You are correct, I can no longer hear the "grain" of Holly Cole's voice. Is that good? Is that bad? That is conundrum of the audiohile. But for now, I cannot recommend enough the Concertos. For me thay have given my spirt a lift.

Base? Not much. But I also purchased a REL Strom. Between the 2 I have out done the sound and presence of the Grand Piano's for about $500 less. The REL bolsters virtually every step in the tonal range. It is no small event that I went with the REL/Sonas combo over the Grand Pianos'; I was completetly "anti-sub". There was no way you could convience me that I sub could out-do a compareable floor model. This sub has blown the doors of the competition.

I invite any emials for questions.

I have heard that the Sonas were very equipment sensitive, maybe, I did realize that at home they were not as open as they were on the Classe set up. But not much less. My Stuff: B&K Ref 10, B&K ST 1400 SII, Rega Planet, Tera Labs through out. Stands Lovan Ballet II.

Design, appearance, adjustable stands, clarity of voices, imaging, just enough bass to balance sound

Too Much Treble - overemphasized by these speakers

I really expected to love these speakers. I do enjoy them in many ways, but after thorough break-in I have found them to have a very "tinny" sounding, sibilant, overemphasized treble that actually tended to cause significant ear discomfort with listening of 15-30 minutes. I will eventually alter my associated equipment, opting for a tube front-end. I am using them with a Nakamichi AV-10. The Nak allows them to play with a wide soundstage, but I could not bypass the tone controls as I would have liked. I must turn the treble down nearly all the way, and turn the bass up 1-2 past neutral to be able to listen for extended periods. Every bit of treble in any piece of music is given to much life and causes a treble imbalance.

Otherwise I felt the midrange and bass from this speaker are excellent for the room that I utilize them in - the bedroom. The build and design are incredible, and could not be better.

Choose associated equipment carefully - System matching is paramount.

I feel this will still be a musically satisfying speaker for me if I make the following alterations:
1) Tube source (CD Player)
2) Switch to "warmer" sounding speaker cables, like Cardas Cross, instead of the DH Labs Q-10 which I am currently using, which I believe to emphasize treble (with silver component).

I did try this speaker in my living room set-up with a Parasound AVC-2500 pre, Bryston 4BST amplifier, and Nordost Superflatline Gold bi-wired. The speakers continued to overemphasize any treble.

Bottom line : 1) Audition before buying, with similar associated equipment, 2) Tube gear more likely to provide musically satisfying experience in my opinion, 3) Use with Sonus Faber stands, as these proved to provide the most controlled bass, 4) Warmer sounding, less analytical, and less treble empahsizing associated equipment is the best match.

OF NOTE - NEW VERSIONS OF THE CONCERTO AND CONCERTINO ARE NOW ON THE MARKET. Changes include upgraded drivers, and other internal components, similar outside structure, and single binding posts (no longer bi-wireable/bi-ampable).

Similar Products Used:

PSM Stratus Mini, Totem One, Totem Mani, Tyler Acoustics Monitor