the sonus grand piano speakers with arc LS15,arc VT100 II, and harmonic technology interconnects and cables are excellent. i like a versatile hifi setup capable of playing pop and classical music.
after tweaking and breaking in the speakers and cables all i have had to do is simply sit back and enjoy music. serblin, the designer of the grand piano is an artist and craftsman!1 rate these speakers five stars.

Good clean vocal reproduction (especially female). Clear and smooth high. controlled and not exaggerated bass. Wide soundstage. Good depth. The imaging gets better while you are standing up. For the kind of money you spent on it, many of these goodies are already bonus.Guys, don't complaint about it's bass, don't compare them with other speakers, compare them with the standard - real concert performance - then you know what bass should really sound. Thumbs up for the price/performance ratio.

I am very satisfy with the Sonus Faber GP. My next upgrade would be Cello Elves. Go audition it and you know what I'm talking about... GP is good, but Elves is one better...

After allowing a 3 month break in period on my GP's, I have decided to submit a review. I have been running the speakers with a Denon AVP-8000 pre-amp(see my review) and Denon's matching POA-8200,8300 power amps. I originally paired the speakers with a Klipsch KSW-12 powered sub. Eventually I replaced the sub with the REL Storm.
As par with other short-sighted reviews, out-of-the-box the speakers don't exhibit exemplary bass. Notice I did say short-sighted. Three months later, the speakers' sound is phenomenal. I spoke to a rep from Sumiko and was told that this was due to to the HIGHLY rigid composites in the cone. This is a speaker built to last a lifetime. What's a couple of months out of 20 or so years?

To understand the broad soundstage, it is best to pick of a copy of Monte Montgomery's Mirror. Monte's a local Austin artist who often sounds he is playing several guitars at once. Through the GP's, his "When Will I" track sounds like the guitar will fly out of his hand. The midrange and definition from the GP's first order crossover provide a magical lifelike sound. You can hear each finger pulling and snapping at the strings. Not possible with most classes of speakers. Standard data is: the better the recording, the better the speaker sounds. Crap in, crap out.

I suppose you can pick up a more powerful set of speakers like the Definive Technologies BP-2000 & 2002 at a similar price, but ...... why? Moving from performance speakers like Definitives and into higher-end like Sonus Faber has been a very rewarding. Originally all I wanted was more volume and dynamics; what I got was a change in lifestyle.

What is amazing about the Sonus speakers is how dramatically their sound changes whenever a changed is made anywhere within the signal path. Change an interconnect, the Grand Pianos notice it; change the output tubes of a DAC, the GPs notice it, and obviously so. When I first auditioned the speakers with different CD players, different Amps, Preamps, etc., this was the first characteristic that piqued my interest: the vast change in the timbre, pace, articulation, and sound stage was dependent on various combinations of components. I reasoned that if a speaker had a superior ability to communicate differences in the signal chain, then it should have an innate ability to reveal the subtle micro-dynamics within the music itself. The speaker's uncanny resolution has caused me to seldom use my CD player anymore. The musicality of LPs rendered on the GP's is dramatically distinguished from CDs. I don't think that the speakers make the CDs sound bad, it is just that they make LPs sound oh, so good!

With regard to some of the comments made previously:
1) the GPs ARE capable of sounding quite poor and 'tinny'; certainly right out of the box, with any new interconnects or new speaker cables, or with any not-quite-broken-in components, the speakers sound very poor (Remember, if there is a weak link anywhere in the chain, the GPs render the aggregate product, warts and all)
2)My experience with the GPs is that they need lots of space around them, though they do not need to be placed too far apart from each other. Be creative and experiment; placement makes a huge difference with these speakers
3)Contrary to what many have said regarding these speakers, I have found that they do not require triple digit power amplification to realize their potential. The quality of the first watt of output power is far more important than watts 100 through 200.

Associated equipment:
Basis 2001 turnatable
Morch 1600 tonearm
Benz Micro MO.9 Cartridge
Straightwire Virtuoso Gold Interconnects
Conrad Johnson Premier 15 Phono Stage (NOS Mullard Tubes)
California Audio Delta Transport
California Audio Alpha DAC (NOS Brimar Tubes)
Sonic Frontiers Line-1 Preamp (NOS Mullard Tubes)
Conrad Johnson Premier 11a Power Amp (KT-90 Power Tubes)
Straightwire Black Silk (Bi-Wire) speaker cables
Sonus Faber Grand Piano Speakers with Stone Stands

Solid reproduction on vocal and string instruments. Beautiful mids. Nice nice looking, easily blends with most living room.

Can sound harsh on the highs if mixed with the wrong electronics or cables.

Have used the SF concerto before so the GP to me maintains most virtues of the concerto with better controlled bass and fuller body.

First I must say that the GPs is one of the best sounding speakers in its price range. High is detail yet soothing if used with the right components. Reproduction of the mid is just sufficiently warm enough, not overly emphasized. Bass is natural not too colored for most audiophile music playback. Imaging is tricky as one need to move the speakers around a lot to get the position right. Once in placed the imaging and soundstaging will suddenly become very lively. As most reviewer mentioned here, minimum distance of 2 feet from the wall is required. The reproduction of string instruments (violin, cello, guitar) is one of the best that I've listened to. Very very close to the real thing!

One draw back of the speakers is the fabric grill. I find that the focus is messed up and the details lost whenever the grills are on. Try to listen without the grills attached when doing critical listening. Biwiring also seemed to make a lot of difference in improving the resolution.

Overall a very musical pair of instrument!

Vocals, imaging, musicality

Power hungry

I began my Sonus faber experience with the Minuettos a few years ago, and for entry-level speakers, they were unbelievable. Sonus fabers have always impressed me with their ability to convey accurate, airy vocals, and sheer musical ability. You are not just getting a pair of speakers, these are bonafide musical instruments. As such, they require specific, and careful placement, as well as an amplifier that can deliver. People whine about the lack of bass, and they're trying to drive these things with underpowered junk. If you invest in quality cables, and a good solid Classe, Krell, Levinson, or other quality amp you will benefit from a most amazing experience. These speakers will faithfully deliver an astonishingly detailed performance every time WITH bass. Not bass that could be confused for twin 21" woofers, but reasonable, MUSICAL bass.

The crowning achievement about these speakers for me, is their ability to change character with each disc you play. I listen to all types of music (opera, rock, jazz, vocal, etc.) and when you play rock, these speakers ROCK. When you play smooth airy jazz, the sound is so intimate, and airy, and detailed you'll never want to go to a club again (this from a guy who frequents the clubs in KC!)

Do yourself a favor: spend the bucks, buy some real equipment and make these great speakers part of your life!

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Sonus faber Minuetto

The best piano & violin producing transducer below USD 3000

do require good powerful amplification

You need good power to push these speakers.. If not , the lack of bass is unbearable.. With the right amplication..hearing is believing. .the depth of the lows is deep and wide.. The extension of the top end is to the limit just short of a super tweeter.. the smoothness, the energy and emotion from these speakers are more than words can tell... I've changed much of my other equipment.. ie. front end, amplifier, cables etc in other to match these speakers. and I must say I am currently getting alot more out of them then when I started. .and I believe there are still room to improve.. they are just so much fun to have..

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extensive listening of B&W,Wilson Beneisch, Wilson Audio, Eggleston Works.

Musicality, accuracy

Low end response

I'm an admitted audio iconoclast (Heavy copper wire is heavy copper wire, guys, get over it!) but over the years have generally gotten grudging compliments for the quality of my ears, even from my friends who genuinely believe that a $600 power cord is worth the money.

With that confession as preface, I must say that these are by far the most musical speakers I have heard in this price range. What do I mean by that? Well, who the heck knows what Metallica really sounds like? Or is supposed to sound like? Likewise the score from (you-fill-in) latest movie. On the other hand, I know--lots of people know--EXACTLY what a lute sounds like. And SF speakers will get you closer to what that lute sounds like than will anything I have heard in its class. The sound is liquid, open, wonderfully detailed, remarkably transparent.

Re amplification: They require considerable power, especially to cope with rapid transients. Not bazillion-dollar electronics, just good, clean watts.

Re bass response: Depends on what you want to listen to. If you demo your system with Terminator 2, they won't have enough. If you choose a string quartet, you'll be happy, happy. I don't find that they mesh terribly well with the couple of subs I've tried with them (Velo).

These speakers are perfectly at home in a room with a good piano in front of the window and a celtic harp in the corner. Gut-thumpers should look elsewhere.

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Paradigm, KEF, Vandersteen, Thiel, lots of others

Lovely sound, realistic presentation, beautiful finish.

None yet.

This is the new model (purchased June, 2001), cosmetically much the same but easier to drive than the previous incarnation.
I must say at the very start that my listening is mainly confined to "early music," especially lute, harp and other plucked-string instruments.
I have never heard better presentation of these instruments from a loudspeaker. I'm sure there must be others out there that can equal this performance, but I've not heard them. Certainly, they make my previous speakers, Tannoy S10s, sound hollow in comparison. I have owned speakers by KEF, Wharfedale, Boston and Celestion also, but none come close to this superlative quality. Several recordings I had given up on, for being flat and lifeless, now spring to life. An older, seemingly hard-edged recording, Hopkinson Smith's performance of lute works by Dufaut, now sounds altogether sweeter and more natural.
These speakers are yet to be fully broken in, but even now, are a delight to listen to.
Orchestral reproduction? Perhaps a touch more bass would not go amiss (breaking in?), but this doesn't concern me. More important is the wonderful handling of brass and strings. Voice is reproduced with real quality.
Bravo Sonus Faber!

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Tannoy S10 Saturns

Image is detailed without being overly analytical

Position sensitive and need a lot of breathing room

Very happy with these speakers using CAL DX1 as a transport, CAL alpha DAC with NOS Mullards, CARY SLP94 pre-amp with NOS Mullards, NAD 208 power amp, synergistic audio phase II looking glass wires up front, phase II kaleidoscope wires to power amp, transparent audio speaker wire (20 foot run), REL Storm II set at 33 Hz. Upgrading the electronics made a huge difference. The earlier comment about garbage in, garbage out sounded on the mark. I plan on upgrading to synergistic speaker wire in January. The power amp is next on the list!

I was hugely disappointed when I hooked up my new GP's, having listened to a set of well broken in demo's for several weeks (where I bought them you keep the demos until they come in!!). Tinny, no base, splashy mid-renge. Break-in was a big part of the answer, but only part of it. I called Sumiko and spoke to Stirling. He explained the proceedure they use to position the GP's. Place then flat against the back wall and then pull one of them out until you hear a strong bass. This is the first base mode. The midrange will sound harsh and lifeless. Pull it a bit further from the wall until you hear a bass that permeates the room. This is the second mode. The amazing thing is how the midgrange changes, becoming astonishingly real. There is a third mode, with its own characteristics, but I can't get there with my room geometry.

I tried the stones, but in my room they raised the speakers too high to get a decent mid-base. I ended up using Black Diamond #4 Pyramid Cones on #3 The Pits. This gave me the right height with the rigidity and isolation that the stones give. (Black Diamond sells adapters that allow you to screw the cones into the stands. Use the caps that come with the GP's to make them rigid). Cost is about the same.

I read an earlier review that described the soundstage of these speakers as more detailed, but smaller. I find that the size of the soundstage changes a lot with the recording. Some fill my 13 foot wide room completely.

One last note. If you are using a sub, these speakers lack the all-too-comon hump around 125 Hz intended to trick your ears into hearing a deep bass. They are quite flat down to about 40. This makes it possible to integrate a top sub seamlessly into your sound.

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DCM Time Windows, various ProAc, Vienna Accoustic Mozart