B&W Signature 805 vs Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor?

Yesterday, I was fortunate to be able to listen to the Cremona Auditor's at my local dealer. This dealer has a custom built single-speaker listening room approximately 18'w x 24'l x 12'h i size. The Auditor was being driven by an Audio Research VT-100 MKIII power amplifier with an Audio Research LS25MKII preamplifier using Wasatch cabling. As a result of this listening session, my opinion of this speaker is 180 degrees in opposition to Michel's statement when he said, "On harder hitting cuts, it fell flat on it's face, lacking dynamics on attacks." While I only had enough time to listen for half an hour, I came away feeling that the Auditor may have been the best monitor speaker that I had ever heard. I listened to a compilation disk which included a fabulous version of Nils Lofgren's "Keith Don't Go." This cut has some of the most exciting pop-rock guitar playing I have ever heard. I was able to hear deep into the recording mix and was astonished to hear the amazing dynamic range of the recording as Nils really lets go with his amazing guitar work, as portrayed through the Auditors. Never did I feel that on hard hitting cuts, it fell flat on its face. Quite the opposite, when the going got rough, I was surprised that the dynamic range of this speaker seemed unlimited within the frequency response of a monitor. That's another thing. When I closed my eyes, I could swear that I was listening to a full range speaker, the bass being that good. Perhaps the Audio Research electronics are a great match with this speaker, as it is extremely important to match a speaker to an amp.

I think that maybe the pair of Auditor's Micheal listened to were not broken in yet. When I auditioned the two speakers originally, I did not really listen to rock. However now that I have had the speakers a while I can tell you that the Auditor can do "Rock" music well. I was completely shocked at how loud this speaker will play.

I listened to "Alice in Chains" with these speakers just to see what would happen and I was amazed. The auditors never seemed like they were breaking up or that I had to lower the volume. This little speaker rocks.

When I was listening it was connected to Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated amp with Harmonic pro 11 cables. I do believe however they recently got them on the floor, so they may not have been fully broken in, or even perhaps not broken it at all.

However, my coment about "fell flat on it's face", might be taken as perhaps a little extreme, I'm not used to conveying my listening in words. However at the time of listening, at medium volume level, when the dynamic kicked in, the feeling was of compression or perhaps the loudness did not increase appropriately.

On the oposite site, when playing louder, I never felt the speaker staining, and it seemed quite effortless.

Perhaps the break in period as something to do with it, or the electronics, again perharps it likes more juice that the 805 signature, or a combination of the two.

The funny thing is, I really wanted those speakers, I hate being mainstream, but the 805 sounded better "to me" in the end for the reasons I stated.

Now this brings up a couple of excellent points. This is a big purchase obviously. And it's so difficult to make a decision in 1/2 or even 2 hours. It takes time to really get aquaited with a speaker, and in a show room, it's hard to not be anxious while listening, and just get into the music, as opposed to listening for certain characteristics. That is typical of reviews in mags, where they go through a check list type of listening. That is one of the reason we should pay little attention to first listening impressions, and the oppinions of people who live with the product (if they have had exposure to other comparable products at least) is more significant.

Further, personal preferences are so subjective, it's very important to take it into consideration. In my case, the way the B&W involved me in the performance was more to my taste, I felt more present. To someone else, the sonus faber does the trick better. Now the hifi shop I go to is owned by a close friend, and so far they told me the sales are exactly half and half between the sonus faber and the B&W. It's just personal taste in the end, a characteristic you cant read about!

Like I said in my original comments, it's a heck of comparisson, with no clear winner before you go in, only after listening to both for some time can you make a choice.

Thank guy's for posting your personal findings above.

Michel