Original Sonus faber cremona auditor again?

After years devoted to planar speakers and years of listening to live music I realized I needed to change speakers… I was struck by the sound of Sonus Faber. So, as an experiment I bought some used Cremona M… this was twelve years ago. I have been hooked ever since. Within a week I ordered some Olympica 3, then ten years later upgraded to Amati Traditional. 
 

While the Cremona were really warm… they did lack some detail. This all changed with the Olympica and forward. While the fully bloomed midrange and articulated bass was still there in later models, the treble was tuned up… not just greater presence but natural and realistic so cymbals and bells sounded completely brass instead of undifferentiated treble.

Matching Sonus Faber with outstanding tube equipment produces the natural / musical sound I have always wanted. 

Congratulations. Im sure they're fine sounding speakers.

I have a soft spot for the SF pre acquisition.

If I had things my way, These would be in my room

Stradivari Homage-they're floating around the $17-20K range. Just not in my comfort zone.

I would consider getting rid of one pair of my Kappa9 speakers for the Stradaveris....but l would need a listen...as far as Sonus Faber goes...there silk tweeters and paper midranges just have such a great sound, warm,seductive, non irritating.....one guy described most modern speakers as being "hyper real"...l know Sonus Faber delivers because my wife and I have coffee every morning in my 2 channel room....we will talk about the days schedule and she will leave after about half hour...l noticed if my Cremonas are on or my Accordos....she will stay in the room until l turn off the system...That's pretty cool 😎 

"I would consider getting rid of one pair of my Kappa9 speakers for the Stradaveris....but l would need a listen"

Serblin was involved in the Stradivari project, so good chance your ears would agree. 

From the 2005  Stereophile review:

"Expensive, exquisitely built, with high-quality drivers and crossover components, and superbly finished with a stylishness of which only the Italians seem capable, Sonus Faber's Stradivari Homage is, in my opinion, the finest loudspeaker Franco Serblin has designed, and the most accomplished his company has built. That was his goal, and he has succeeded."

Right now Arnie Nudell is my hero..how do you get so smart?so I'm keeping my Kappa9 as my full range system..and yes the amplifiers need a fork truck to move..(Mc1.25kw) but l would like to read about Serbin more..these guys are the greatest minds in speaker design..Can anyone add to the list?

I’m with @ghdprentice, except my SF’s are a pair of original Guarneri Homage, circa 2004. 

Endgame.

It is perhaps important to remember that Franco Serblin came to fame as creator of 'small' two way monitors (Extrema or Guarneri are not exactly 'small' but stil...)

Certainly many of his famous designs, made during the years, confirm his mastery in that field of work, Only later in his career and because of market demands, he started to create bigger, more elaborate speakers.

It is no surprise that he made Accordo's (two way monitor) as speaker with whom he reentered the business again   

Had Grand Piano, Cremona Auditor, Auditor M, Guarneri Hommage and now Franco's Lignea.

The only reason I have not taken (yet) the Accordo' is because they have lower impedance than Lignea (which never drops bellow 8ohm) as I wanted to try them with tube single ended amp of lower wattage (30w A class, but they play great even with 15w Leben 300)

Accordo's are fine sonuding speakers, but they are voiced differently than older SF designs. (re Cremona) They can sound great with tubes too (heard them with bigger PL amp) but often they are demonstrated with Accuphase gear. If I had a bigger room, would go for Ktema as my final speaker, before any other new SF designs. Some photos from the factory

I'm certainly not the level of audiophile as others in this hobby...the Accordos might be too sophisticated for me.l get a little nervous when people get near them...the original cremona auditor is plenty of SF for me....l really enjoy getting a rise out of people when they hear a small speaker sound better than there monsters they have at home...one of my audiophile friends who is a singer and l highly respect says "when listening to a new speaker l can tell within 10 seconds if l like it or not"

I have one more thing to say,anyone who is planning on buying a set of Franco Serbin Accordos be prepared to own a speaker that you don't even want a fingerprint on...the bases and grill hardware are highly polished chrome like I've never seen,and the woodwork and leather the same....after setup have white cotton gloves when handling them...

@vinnydabully , if I may ask, what is the rest of your system, on Accordo's?

Your going to think I'm a "hammer head" but ll tell you.

I have a Mcintosh C50 pre,MCD600 cd player..MC1.25KW amps,Blusound vault,...l use 2 electronic crossovers...l play all my monitors rolled off between 120-180 hz...l play them loud and l don't want to hurt them..under 120hz l use 2 subwoofer towers (12) 1000 watt class D 8" sealed,6 per side..under 50 hz there is 4-12" custom sealed subs with radiators tuned to 25hz.powerd by 2 CrownK2's..everything is in phase and level matched...l can switch between all my monitors depending on what l want to hear...only the Accordos are in the sweet spot...l have many other amps l also use...all solid state..l The owner of Quintessence Audio was over listening and he was intrigued enough to stay for a while...its a big room...l like it..lm sorry to say l don't like tubes or vinyl...l like gobs of headroom...

@vinnydabully This is what Franco Serblin has wrote about the amplification for Acccordo's (in case you have not read it somewhere already)

"Let me clarify some issues related to amplification for the Accordo. These speakers have been designed to be as transparent and dynamic as possible. In order to successfully achieve this objective I have used a unique woofer with a long-stroke diaphragm and low resistance bass-reflex loading designed to offer the best impulse response. Although the Accordo can be driven by any amplifier, we recommend amplifiers with low output impedance and medium output power (40-70wpc into 8Ω and 80-150wpc into 4Ω). Too much power may result in excessive cone excursion and deterioration of signal quality. If we use the Accordo with a tube or Mosfet amplifier with high output impedance we may end up with not fully optimal bass control and again encounter uncontrolled cone travel. Needless to say that tube amps are generally not too good in this regard. I personally use the Einstein integrated amplifier which is nice sounding but without bass as good as transistor amps." - Sincerely, Franco Serblin

I can only add that I have heard Accordo's sounding great with 80w tube amp as well and obviously you know what you are doing when using your 'artillery'...

I told you l was a hammerhead....l may tone it down a bit with these Accordos....lm contemplating moving them into a smaller room with some dedicated front end equipment....l seriously try to never play any of my gear close to distortion....l have a garage with Multiple sets of JBL'S for that.

Richard Vandersteen is another Arnie Nudell

I've tried using a vintage Hafler XL600...that is 450x2 into 4 ohms mosfet output. Stereophile called it a solid state that has a unique "tube like" sound. Seems to work very well....lm very careful not to push these...l absolutely don't want to hurt a driver....lm reserving the Mcintosh monoblocks for the Kappas.....l listen in the 80-90 db range is plenty for me...

IMO....My system with all the "artillery " will reproduce a small jazz band with realism in a large room...especially the acoustic double bass guitar...there is always room for improvement...but thanks everyone for the response....