B&W 705 or Sonus Faber Concerto / Concertino

Hi Gewe21,

" As someone whom has listened to B&W's since 1984. ~ these had a better sound then. ~ And their designs of late at least to my ears sound somewhat colored. On the other hand having listens to most of the Sonus Faber Speakers here in Michigan - Overtune Audio in Ann Arbor - I love these loudspeaker @ especially the smaller ones. The Concertinos are very nice indeed. But if I had the money ot spent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I've no doubt that my last & ultimate Mini-Monitors would be their Cremona Auditors. I love this speaker more then most that I've heard since coming into the hobby circa 1982. Some others to consider would be in my opinion are : Vienna Acoustics Haydn - AVI Hi Fi Neutron Mk. 4s & ProAc Tablette Reference 8 Signatures or JMR Twins Mk. 2 or 3's. all of these are highly musical. Again just an honest opinion which I hope will at least cause you to listen to the others mentioned as well?."

EL34EH

If I can find a dealer that carries them all, I would definitely audience them. Even the SF Concerto / Concertino I haven't audienced, instead the dealer right away steered me to the Cremona Auditors, and they sounded MORE THAN SUPERB !!!!!! But of course, they are way out of my budget @ $3500 / pair. Thanks for your reply, I will definitely audience the Concertino / Concerto and the others.
Others have any opinions ? Does anyone know if Arcam DiVA A65+ would be a good entry level integrated amp ? I prefer this to Rotel RA-02 because the Rotel's a little too "muted" for my preference.

Well I auditioned both of these speakers last year very closely. The SF concerto and concetino are different models, as you know.

I'd go with the SF Concerto personally. But in the scale of things, I didnt find the gaps between these choices to be very great.

The 705s with a good high current amp is what u need, they are thirsty for power, not wattage, but good electronics also.

The arcam is light in that dept, quality amp/sound but not good for 705s, the only good combo i have heard is the rotel 10series.

I played with the naim 5i, great sound , but 705s do need a kick.

Cant speak for the concerto etc.

Im using a classe 70 with my b&w 705 and they sound really full with deep bass my wife allways ask me to turn it down the less than quarter volume. Im using a melos 110 line stage with telefunken tubes and a 400 volt strapping cap I really enjoy my system. Bring your intergrated and have them hook it up so you can hear what they will sound like with you amp.

Choosing a speaker is a personal thing. That I will leave it to you.

However, I would have to chime in on the amplifier selection. Do yourself a favor by auditioning a Naim Nait 5i or better still Nait XS. These amps sound a lot more musical and involving than the Arcam(to my ears) and match well with both B&W and Sonus Fabers. The Classe matches well with B&W but not with Sonus Fabers .

Are you talking about Domus Concertino/Concreto or the older Home/Concert series? Domus is quite different from the earlier models and I prefer the older models. The old ones are both monitors, whereas the Domus Concerto is a small floorstander. I think the Toys and the Liutos have replaced the Domus line. If you are looking new, you should look at those. If you are looking used and the old line, I would definitely prefer the Concerto to the Concertino, for not much more money. The Cremona Auditors are a real step up and the older ones (non M) are pretty available used, at a higher price, unfortunately.