I went to listen to this speaker after reading the gushing review from Stereophile and becoming quite smitten with my Anthem Integrated 1(25wpc). At the time, its 94db sensitivity was a definite selling point to me. I connected the amp and CD player(Theta Miles) and listened to about 8 songs in a large range of musical styles. I have to admit, these speakers are consistent, if anything. The sound was very upfront and the bass was never tuneful. The highs were piercing and the midrange less, but similarly so. Imaging was definitely sub-standard for $2000. The speaker never took on any depth and its hard, polished presentation proved too fatiguing for my taste. These speakers look very nice and are very easy to drive, but the sound is awful given the hype and price. I imagine some syrupy tube eqipment might be in order for these speakers, but why anyone would want to be limited in their choice of other components is beyond me. BTW: Some days later, I auditioned the PSB Stratus Gold i with the same equipment and it was vastly superior in all musical areas(driven surprisingly well by the Anthem as well).

Very detailed sound, nice bass, you're really IN the music.

Really none that I can see. You could argue that this is a
2-way speaker, so it may lack some extension in the bass, but
there is far enough bass for me.

I auditioned many other french speakers while looking for good ones.
I listened to those Farella 402 floorstanding speakers, to other Cabasse speakers (bookshelf ones : Goelette 301,
Corvette 301), Triangle Antal XS floorstanding speakers, JMLab Cobalt 815 floorstanders, and
also some Energy column speakers.
They were all very good (except that the Energy really lacked bass). But none of them offered
the same presence in sound. It was as if you were involved in the music. The Energy also had a good presence
but the other ones where far from that. In the end, I was torn between 2 Cabasse speakers : the Farellas, and the Goelette.
The last one had a very good sound and were far less expensive, but I loved the bass improvement of the column Farellas.
And they were also more beautiful. So after a bargain, I got them with
a small discount that convinced me :)
I bought them with a Denon amplifier (PMA725R), and I already had a Marantz cd player (CD67SE).

Similar Products Used:

None at this level of quality, but I've auditioned other speakers.

I auditioned the Farella speakers with a Creek 5250 integrated amp and a Creek CD player. Generally, the sound was very good. Imaging was good. There was seemless transition from lows to highs. Vocals, chamber music and jazz excelled with the Farellas. I did not find the sound overly bright or up front as others have found.The one area which was not ideal, however, was the bass. The low end was not as tuneful as it could (should?) be. At times, there appeared to be a "one-note" bass. There was no opportunity to play with room placement or to mate the speakers with a more powerful amp. However, with the one reservation about bass, these speakers were extremely impressive.