Cremona M worth it?


This thread has been banned for I don't know why!!!
Reason for my thread is that I want to own a pair myself and I want owners of these speakers to tell us how good they are. I will be replacing Thiels 3.6 with them. I have CJ Premier 350 power. Thanks.
luna

Showing 3 responses by hulskof

No, I think you mean this review by Neil Gader:

http://www.avguide.com/review/sonus-faber-cremona-m-loudspeaker

I'm having the Cremona M's over myself at the moment, after hearing them in four different locations already. I will soon let you know what my final judgement is ;-)
Well, I've been living and breathing with this speaker for a couple of days now, which is not very long, I know, but bear in mind that I've extensively heard this speaker in four different locations already and that first impressions with audio in my case usually stick and stand.
In my view the Cremona M is a very nice speaker, beautifully made and even so to look at. It has great detail and seperation, which according to me are it's best trades. However... I must admit it's not my kind of speaker. It's just too laid-back, too subdued, too reserved, esp. with vocals. I always feel just outside the room instead of inside the concert hall. I've once read in an interview with SF that they reduce the frequency output of the the mid range to avoid listening fatigue and this may very well be the reason for my lack of involvement. There's just always this veil between me and the music, sadly. Furthermore I think it's a bit slow and lacks a bit of dynamics.
Before the Cremona M's I've had the Living Voice IBX/R2 in my home for two weeks and this speaker outperformes the Cremona in all areas, except detail and seperation. It had better and tighter bass, better imaging, more dynamics and much much more involvement. It's more up front, it makes me feel not only inside the concert hall, but on one of the front rows! I must admit I kinda loved the Living Voice apart from their cheap appearance. If you place them next to the Cremona's and had to guess their price range just by their looks, you would say they're 5 times cheaper than the Italian beauty's... Still, it's all about the music and no way the Sonus Faber wins it in that regard.

In short, the Cremona is a nice speaker if you love laid back sound that always stays a little in the background, particularly vocals. If that's not your thing, then don't buy them. I've heard these lady's with Krell, Mystere, Audia Flight, Electrocompaniet, Perreaux, Naim, tube and solid state... The results stayed more or less the same. Hope this helps.
Take it from me that the M's are a lot less colored and warm than the old model was. They are still on the warm(ish) side, but nowhere near as before. It's the laidback character that I have trouble with. I just like a more up front speaker I guess.