@hbarrel and others. Well the plot is getting quite thick, and I hope the mystery is solved soon. Regarding my original thoughts on Sonus Faber, they were demoing their Stradivari signature speakers with Audio Research mono's at AXPONA, quite the system. I sat front row next to JVS himself for that demo. Other than hearing a great system, it was not a lot of help for me as the scale of the system was just not relevant to my situation.
A few other speaker manufacturers caught my ear. The QLN/Merason/Rossi room was great once again, and was my runner up choice for favorite. I visited the Margules room where they were demoing their amplification and speakers, this was honestly my favorite room at the show. Liquid, beautiful sound. And then, in the adjoining room, Raidho was playing a set of TD-2.2's, also using Margules amplification. I am a soundstage freak, and their system really delivered.
It so happens I ran across a very good deal on a set of Raidho D-2.1's, the predecessor to the TD-2.2's, and a couple weeks later they were in my room. They were quite reserved out of the gate, but after a couple weeks they started to open up. Strange for a used speaker, but it almost seemed like I was breaking them in again. In the past week I have started getting serious about fine tuning placement, and I would call them quite amazing and honestly well suited to my room size sound-wise, thought just a hair on the big side but I could live with them.
But wait! That's not all! I came across a set of QLN 3's for sale regionally, and I figured I would forever wonder if I did not give them a try. I am picking them up this weekend, and the Raidho vs. QLN cage match will begin. The Raidho's will be hard to beat, but the reviews for the QLN 3's are pretty gushy.
I will post an update when I know more.