brilliant sound,deepstage,

deep bass

After almost one year of listning to them I can t find any
reason to change this speaker.Better warmer sound then Thiel,maybe not so analytic..Vocals ,jazz,classial,great sound like the Singering singing in my room.
Now, I m looking for subwoofer to hook on my Jolida 502 A,and see ...
Tested with
CD Rotel 991
Jolida 502 Tube amp.
Audioquest bi-wire Midnight + ,Speaker Cables
Audiofille CD-s

Similar Products Used:

Thiel CS 2.3 , Dynaudio SB 5-Home-made,With Passive Bass, SF Electa Amator 2,

Good bass for it's size, great styling, overall nice sound

Muddy on the low end, bright on the high end, when compared with Dynaudios

I listened to these with my Denon amp, in my living room
(Love those home auditions, how else can you really
judge a speaker?).

I put these on first, listening to Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Morphine, Steely Dan, XTC, The Replacements (The gamut of my tastes).

Ok, so they sound great. Lot of bass for the size. Best
speakers I've ever had in my house. Particularly nice on
horns.

Plus, with this beautiful cabinet design, I'm sure I've got
a winner.

Then, I hook up a pair of Dynaudio 1.3mkIIs. Wow. Ok,
forget the Concertos. No comparison.

When I went back and forth, it became obvious that the
Concertos were muddier in the low end, brighter in the
high end, and nowhere near as rich in the mids as the
Dyns.

Still, the Concertos were nice, easily winning against
my old NEAR 15m's. It they retailed for, say, $1200-$1500,
I'd buy them. But at $2k, they're not in the same league
with the Dyn's at $2400.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio 1.3MKII, NEAR 15M

Fatigue free listening, great midrange and highs, soundstage

Soundstage, transparancy, bass

This will basically be a copy and paste from my Concerto GP review, with some added info.

What? Soundstage under strengths AND weaknesses? Well, out of all of the speakers I listed above it probably had the second best soundstaging, so it was very good, but was not equal to the amazing soundstaging of the Audio Physic Tempo IIIs, so this was probably the eventual downfall for the Concerto for me. As you can see from what I listened to in my search for a new set of speakers, I have done my homework. The only two brands I wanted to listen to but couldn't (because there are no dealers in Oregon) were Dunlavy Audio and Dynaudio. Out of all of the speakers listed above, there were only four sets of speakers that satisfied me, and the Concertos were one of them. They are definitely my top choice for a mini-monitor, but I didn't have to restrict myself to only looking at monitors. They have a fantastic midrange, and great treble. I love screaming treble, but I found most of the speakers above that are suppose to have good treble (e.g. B&W Nautilus series) were too harsh and I found it very difficult to find an acceptable volume to settle into due to the ringing treble. Not so with the Concertos. They were one of the most natural sounding, neutral speakers I auditioned, and they beat the pants out of the B&W Nautilus 805s.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to audition these with as good electronics as I did with the Concerto Grand Pianos, so a direct comparision will be difficult. However, the Concertos seemed to offer everything that the GPs do, just not as good bass. If I hadn't found the Audio Physic's, my choice may have came between these two Sonus Fabers, and I would have done a better direct comparision, but since I was planning on adding a sub anyway, perhaps the Concertos are a better deal than the Grand Pianos. I also like the Walnut finish better than the piano black, which is all the GPs come in. For the size of the speaker, they do put out as much bass as you could expect, and it's very good sounding bass. I definitely would add a sub to them for a full range sound though.

When it came down to it, I just enjoyed the Audio Physic Tempo IIIs more, on every single level (though they are $1100 more, but may not need a sub right away). However, if I didn't know about the Audio Physic's, I'm sure I would be very happy with the Sonus Fabers. I was getting depressed after listening to all of the above and not finding anything that really got me excited. The GPs and these were the first to get me excited about my nearing purchase. They are wonderful sounding speakers and I would definitely recommend them to people. Out of everything above they are one of only three pairs that are going to get 5 stars from me (and the Concerto Grand Pianos are the other). If you enjoy their sound, you should also audition the Thiel and Audio Physic speakers. The Audio Physic Spark III (floor standing, $2000) and Step ($1800 monitor) are the two in this price range and I imagine would best these already great speakers. If you're looking for an even smaller monitor, you should consider the Concertinos by Sonus Faber. The Concertos are a lovely speaker, and really look cool too (I love the leather).

Associated equipment:
Krell KAV-250a Amplifier
Krell KAV-250p Preamplifier
Krell KAV-250cd/2 cd player
Mid Grade Audioquest cable

Similar Products Used:

Sonus Faber Concerto Grand Piano, Avalon Avatar, PSB Stratus Goldi, B&W CDM7SE, Silver Signature, B&W Nautilus 801, 803, 804, 805, Thiel MCS1, Thiel 2.3, complete Martin Logan line, Magnepan 1.6, Magnepan MG3.6R, Vienna Acoustics Mozart, Beethoven, Joseph Audio RM22si, RM25si, Totem Acoustic Forest, Vandersteen 2Ce Signature, 3A Signature, NHT 2.5i, some $3,500 Linns, Audio Physic Tempo III... and a few others

For this price, I think this are the best speakers I found in the market. The sound is bright, clear and with the necessary power. Voices sound very good.

the coccertinos are too bookshelfish.concertos are their best of the sonus speakers for value. the signums are slightly better if you want to pay a lot more.these concertos are fabulous, except they have little power, and that is what makes them finicky about room placement.let me give you some advice, get some b&w cdm1se speakers.

beautiful midrange, wonderful highs, unbeatable build quality, price and looks - in piano black.

Require good system matching - sound muddled with low end amplification and source components.

Matched properly, the Concertos are very hard to beat within their market segment. If acoustic music or vocals are your genre of choice, look no further.

Listening to the ultimate Jazz Vocal recording, John Coletrane and Johnny Hartman, the Concertos pull the listener into the music, and present a rich, palpable sream of lyrical splendor.

There are quite a few quality contendors in this price range, but the Concertos definately lead the pack. It is important, however, to have true audiophile equipment driving them, as they will immediately show faults in any low end product.

Associated equipment:
McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe Rev A
Anthem Pre-1L - NOS Valvo Tubes
Theta Miles CD
Audioquest Cables
Vampire/Homegrown Audio interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Totem Mani, ProAc, Dynaudio, Alon petite