Silverline LaFolia--anyone heard'em?

I've heard both the La Folia and Sonata II, each with both SS and SET amps. With the SS amp, the La Folia sounded slightly more dynamic, with tighter bass. It is a less efficient speaker than the Sonata II, though, and didn't sound nearly as good with the SET amp--it lacked drive and dynamics. For SET amps, both the Sonata and the Sonatina (which I use) are outstanding. For SS amps, I'd say that the La Folia is a reasonable upgrade over the Sonata II, the difference in performance being commensurate with the difference in price.

Apparently the driver supply problem was solved and the La Folia is in production and has a solid future.

I purchased the LaFolias over the Sonata IIs because they work better with high powered SS amps than the Sonata IIs do. I’m using the Spectron Musician II which is rated at 500 watts per channel. Also, Alan Yun of Silverline told me that with the rear firing woofer, the LaFolias should be placed closer to the back wall (about 2 feet). This was ideal for my room since I don’t have the luxury of placing the speakers 3 to 4 feet out for optimum midrange and imaging. I find them to be incredible speakers with the above mentioned amp. My source is a Cary 306/200 and the pre is a VAC Vintage. Finally, another reason I choose these over the Sonata IIs is that the drivers in the LaFolias are much higher quality. Hope this helps!
Jim

Priz answered correctly ! LaFolias is highly recommended which used hell smooth Esotar tweeters.

Hi. I have the LaFolia and Dunlavy Alethas at my home. Although I have no concrete evidence, I have heard that the focal polyglass woofer was no longer available and so a polykevlar (also by focal I believe) is now being used. I have not heard of any problems with supply of the Dynaudio drivers, but who really knows.

In regard to the Sonata II vs. LaFolia issue, at one point, Mr Yun told me that the Sonata II had more slam than the LaFolia, but the LaFolia was more transparent. After having the LaFolias, I have a hard time envisioning a speaker with more impact or slam in as small and svelte an enclosure.

Compared to the Dunlavy, the LaFolia is more laid back in the midrange (with my gear at least) with the vocalist in plane with the remaining soundstage, while the Dunlavy puts the vocalist and midrange more upfront or forward. The net result is that the Aletha possibly sounds more "you are there" on great recordings (audiophile stuff), but suffers on the more mundane popular stuff that many including me listen to. The LaFolias just sound inherently musical no matter what you throw at them. The Silverlines will also play louder than the Dunlavy without strain and sound better at low volumes than the Aletha (perhaps the acoustic suspension design needs more power to get the acoustic (air) damped woofer going. PS: the "you are there" experience of the LaFolia does take time to evolve and requires over 100-200 hours. Mine are still breaking in each day with new strides in transparency and realism.

SYSTEM:
Fanfare Millenium tubed preamp (no longer made)
Plinius SA 250 MK IV power amp
Electrocompaniet EMC II 24/192 CDP
VPI Aires Scout w/ Clearaudio Sigma into Plinius Jarrah phono stage
Interconnects: Siltech FTM 4 G3 and FTM 4 Gold, or Nordost Valhalla (playing with 1 piece to see its effect, or Acoustic Zen Silver Ref. Mk II.
Speaker cable: Purist Audio Collossus biwire
Power cables: Custom Power Company Top Gun Special and Top Gun HCFi.