SF Cremonese Q

Sell the clamp and use the winnings to refurbish the 301.

Recently I listened to the Cremonese extreme and did not find their tweeter hot -- if anything it sounded somewhat recessed, but pleasantly so. It seemed to extend very high and the overall result was coherent, such that I sat back and listened to music rather than search for missing details etc. They were driven by a BFA integrated, source was a top-notch digital front end.

I never listened to the earlier iteration so cannot compare the two... but the musical result is excellent. Your Phaethon will drive them well no doubt.

Thanks, folks.

NoRomance: that's funny...and probably true! Just sold LM speakers and Wavac monos (still have my 2nd system: Spendor LS/35As, AirTight ATM300B, some little cheap streaming thing so my wife can have music in the kitchen while she bakes...), so have some spare stereo $ to go get a plinth, finally. Was looking at a Layers of Beauty maybe, ebony arm board, Iso-Acoustic feet recessed beneath...ideas, ideas.

I sold my house a week before the shutdown here in the Chi suburbs and am sitting in a rental waiting for the market to cool to buy another home, so the time has me reorganizing my thoughts on a "final" system (ha!). The spouse says I can put a stereo in a 1st fl great room for our retirement. But will need it to play all genres of music full-range and something that won't make me gag.

I hate metal domes, ceramic drivers (except Tidals, maybe), et al, and when I hear odd reviewers say its still a "modern" "high resolution" sound on the standard Cremonese, and the newer one basically has the tweeter and a couple side woofers replaced, it makes me wonder about the tweeter in the Cremonese standard (Rockport doesn't bother me, and I liked the Serblin-era SF's, but you'll never see a Magico in my home...no offense, please)

Gregm: thanks for the info. I've watched your responses for years - good stuff. Well, that makes sense. The question becomes: was the standard slightly hot in the highs, prompting the new tweeter, or just something to change to have a new model for the 50 lucky guys who just have to have it.

I heard the Cremonese at AXPONA 3 yrs ago, but the room was dead awful and I wasn't paying attention much (the Aida in adjacent room sounded great), but IF the virus ever ebbs sufficiently (I have one lung, need to be more careful than most...) then I'll head to a local dealer to, of course, hear for myself...haven't done a thread here in over 10 yrs, but just thought some people might be able to help in the interim.

Thanks again for you responses.

BTW, noromance: 301 is hammertone, early serial #, already sorted by Dobbins, in all original state...yeah, will set that up, maybe let go of the simple-in-retirement Thales idea. Or maybe have both!!! And so the illness goes...

Don't pay any rent and buy equip. with that. Our kindly govt. has made all renters eviction proof.

@asa

haven't done a thread here in over 10 yrs, but just thought some people might be able to help in the interim.

Welcome back!

If you like the Serblin era SF's..and I can totally understand why, then why not seek out one of those?  Depending on your room size, the Extrema's, the GH's, or the Strads are pretty hard to beat, IMHO.
I use the GH's in my very small dedicated room, they have so far seen off all other more recent contenders.

Thanks, Gregm!

davey, good points, and I have thought about the Strads. It will be a fairly large great room (at least, that's the plan...) so the Cremonese seemed to fit the bill in terms of energizing that space. When the COVID bubble lifts, I'll head out and take a close listen. Thanks again for your input.

 @asa  Another option for a larger room would be a new pair of Franco Serblin Ktema's. They don't get a lot of press in the US, but are an excellent speaker.

I heard the Il Cremonese recently, non-extreme version, and found them very open sounding unlike the Serblin-era speakers which were far more warm and cuddly. They really are quite different. I didn’t find the tweeter hot and am very sensitive to this - wouldn’t find the need to step up to the extreme. I did clamor for more bass on certain tracks though. Really good speaker though, preferable to Wilson, Magico, Rockport, etc. 

@keithr Keith, you say the Il Cremonese is preferable to the Wilson, Magico, Rockport, etc., which models are you referring to?
The new Wilson Sasha DAW with the right amplification is pretty good...and apparently so is the new Magico A5, although i have not heard it. If the Il Cremonese sounds better than the Sasha DAW, it should be on everyone’s short list.

Thanks, Keithr, for the input. That helps. I'm thinking that I might actually like the silk dome versus the newer berylIium-diamond-micro dust-deposited-in-a-vaccum, or whatever (and that seems to be the new tweeter de riguer these days..). And I also hear what you are saying with the bass on some tracks - the SFs sport 8-inchers, and even though they might have those two others firing to the side, there's no substitute for 10 or 12-inchers; its just physics. But, to be honest, that would probably be OK with me, as I was fine with the three 8-in woofers on my ESP Concert Grands that I used to own. It's room dependent, of course, but, as an old Quad guy, I don't need things to go as low as some other people. The design brief is energizing a largish room with a speaker that is attractive and plays all genres well...so my wife can groove to her 70-80's rock while baking (how I'm weasling them upstairs into the main great room...hee, hee, ha, ha...) but one where I can continue to suck down my Bordeaux while listening to some smoky siren from the 50's...Anyway, thanks again everyone for your help.

Well, gentlemen, a question: the Phaethon's output impedance is 0.5 ohm and I've read that, nevertheless, it's driven many kinda-difficult-load speakers, i.e. Hansen's et al.

SF specifies a min. 100W amp, but cites a 4 ohm load (and no info on dips...).

Do you think the Phaethon drive it?

BTW, folks, bought a Phaeton during the pandemic...one of the worst SS amps I've ever heard. Wow, so unimpressed. Chassis was cheap for $30K too. Popped the top and not much better in there either. What a rip; the reviewers should be embarrassed.

I'm looking again for a pair of ESP Concert Grands...if anyone has a pair out there.

Oh, and had a chance to listen again to the new SF tweeters at AXPONA last year. 

You know, the tweeter isn't "hot" per se, but its more of a de4sign choice to load energy into the highs. I'd prefer a speaker designer to shoot for a balance of projec ted energy top to bottom, but I guess I understand the marketing aspect of it.