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$10,000 Speaker Recommendations?

Greetings all. I am looking for new loudspeakers as part of a total system upgrade. My budget is $10,000 give or take. Musical tastes are pretty eclectice from hard rock to orchestral, but my most critical and enjoyable listening is to jazz and acoustic music - particularly female vocals and stringed instruments (think Suzanne Vega, Nora Jones, Dianna Krall, Allison Kraus, etc).

I have a Mark Levinson 383 integrated amplifier served by a Rotel 1072 CD player (the CD player will be replaced after the speaker selection). Current loudspeakers are Sonus Faber Concertinos supported by an REL Strata subwoofer. I still love the sweet musical sound of my SF's but now (after 8 years with them) have the good fortune of being able to make a major upgrade.

One wrinkle to all of this is that I currently live in Shanghai, China which means my selection and ability to fully audition is rather limited. I have access to Sonus Faber, Martin Logan, and B&W (and several European brands I am less familiar with) and have been considering the Cremona, Guarneri Homage, Summit, Ascent i, and 802's accordingly.

My listen room is rather large approximately 8 meters x 6 meters (25 ft x 20 ft) So I am probably moving away from monitors on stands to a floor standing full-range speaker(though I have heard that the Guarneris support a much bigger room than their size would suggest)

Any thoughts or wisdom from this group?

Thanks so much! Brad
bradleypeacockba28

Showing 2 responses by branimir

branimir
236 posts
 
Hi, Brad. Since you like Sonus Faber sound( as I do ), I will concentrate on them. Your room is big enough to support Stradivari Hommage and Amati Anniversario, unfortunately they are currently not in your budget.
Cremona is better than old Concertino in every way possible. New Guarneri Memento( replacment for Guarneri Hommage from January 2006 ) is also worth waiting. But, since your room is big, Cremona will more easily fill it with sound( more bass as well ). Also, your No.383 is powerful enough for both of them.
Happy listening!
branimir
236 posts
 
Brad,
Only in-home auditioning will tell how your room will react to Guarneris. If you have a good dealer try to compare both speakers for yourself in your room. I have to admit that the biggest room that I heard Guarneri Hommage was 7m x 5m and my feelings were that it was too big for them. If you go for Guarneri wait new Guarneri Memento version, it will be a lot better. Cremona will support your room easily, it has more bass and is able to play louder. On the other hand absolute coherence and midrange magic are on the Guarneris side( especially new Guarneri Memento ). My opinion is also based on sound without sub. Sub is for me something like a diversion on Guarneri coherence( even Sonus Faber sub )...
Regarding non-audiophile fingers both speaakers sound good with grill in place( in some cases better without grill, it will depend on other gear in your system ).
Honestly, choice between Cremona and new Guarneri Memento for your room is a tough one... Both speakers are excellent so, call is yours.
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