Well, can't help you 100% since I never heard the old Cremona Auditor, but I heard the new one AND I heard both old and new Cremona florestander. So I still might shed some light on the subject. In a word: I agree with the professional reviewers. The M versions have more clarity, a less veiled sound, they are more neutral than the old version that was too much on the warm side of things (well imo of course). The new ones are also faster, more dynamic, more alive than the old one. (Again I can only compare to the old floorstander, but having read a lot about the old auditor, I think the comparison is justified). I found the old Cremona sluggish, a bit lustreless and too laided back. The M still is not very forwarded, but more so than the old. The only thing about the Auditor M was that they distorted a lot at high volume levels, so they're not really for big rooms I'm afraid. But that's quite normal and logical.
Hope this helps. |
You def. have a point there, Dtc. One should always try at home with own gear. I think the person in the thread you mentioned liked the old Cremona better in the end because of his electronics too, that just matched better according to him. As regard to musicality, I'm not sure which Cremona would be better. I guess much depends on electronics again (amp, source), but I heard both on quite a few amps and cd-players, and each time the M was way better (imo of course). I suppose the old one does great things with classical music, but I like everything but classical (unless it's modern classical ;-)) and that's a whole different story. Speed, neutralness, detail... it's all much more needed then, and the M does a better job in all these areas. If this also applies to the Auditor I do not know. |
Can you give some url's to back you up on this? It's hard to believe the freq. response of the old cremona's is flatter than the new ones. As a matter of fact, I'm looking at some graphics right now and see that the old cremona's have a bump of +3 db between 60 and 80 Hz, a dip of about -4 db between the 80 and 110 Hz, are pretty flat to about 1100 Hz and dive again from thereon (-4 db) to about 10.000 Hz. There they are flat again, until the tweeter starts to roll off at about 12.000 Hz. All in all not very flat. The new Cremona has that same bump at 60 Hz to about 90 Hz and is more or less completely flat after that. Quite a big difference if you ask me.
I don't have the url's at the moment (both are PDF files), so you have to take my word for it ;-)
The new Cremona has a -3db at 51 Hz, whereas the old one has a -3db at 45 Hz, which does seem a bit strange for every reviewer stated that the new one goes deeper and stays cleaner with tight taught bass. So I guess figures don't say everything. |
@Tboooe: the graphics are of the old and new Cremona floorstander, not the Auditor. But I'm sure there are lots of reviews on the net that have that information on the Auditor too.
And if you really want a flat freq. response, have you chequed out the Usher BE-718? That also has a very remarkable freq. response. See for instance:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/speaker-product-reviews/speakers/usher-be-718-bookshelf-speakers-with-beryllium-tweeters.html
And the dozens and dozens of positive reviews on those. |
Pinkus, do you think I'm making this up? The freq. response of the old Cremona in the review you came up with is exactly as I stated. Here you can find one for the M and it's way different than the one you found (different room, different measure method?):
http://www.technologyfactory.be/homepagina.html (see reviews)
But all graphs aside, I would rather have the old Cremona be superior since they're a lot cheaper! But they're just not. They are far less coherent, less balanced to my ears, so we're just have to dig deeper in our wallets to enjoy the best Cremona has to offer ;-) |
I know on paper it seems the M is lacking bass power and extension. But all the reviews I've read (there are some more German and Swizz reviews) say the bass goes deeper and is much better than that of the old Cremona. I guess numbers don't say everything, but I suppose the Cremona, as with almost all speakers in this price range, would benefit from a good subwoofer. I will soon try them out with a Velodyne DD15 sub. |
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I've heard the old Cremona on four different amps, demo'ed by a dealer that has been selling these forever (that knows how to make them sound their best), and I've never heard them other than slow and muddy and overly soft. Granted, I've never heard them with Linn gear, but as I said before: if it's so fussy on which gear it will sound decent with, I'd rather have a speaker that sounds decent with almost any gear.
As regard to treble: many speakers I listened to (varied from Audio Physic Scorpio, via Focal Electra to Wilson Benesch, Living Voice and Thiel) sounded bright (some even harsh) compared to the new Cremona, whereas the old Cremona sounded soft, like a rounded off valve amp. The only drawback for me is the lack of really deep bass (but that's common with almost any speaker of this size) and perhaps the imaging could have been a tad sharper. Other than that: it's pricetag. ;-) |
That's where our opinions differ then. The common Cremona listener won't get the best out of their speakers according to you. To me that's fine as long as the result still is very pleasing. But the old Cremona dissapoints drastically if specific demands (room placement, gear, roomsize) are not met. Which in most cases makes it a lousy speaker to me. How many people have the patience and determination to work on all the specific speaker demands? Most of them will have turned their backs long ago, writing the speaker off. I can't say I disagree with them.
But it's great that someone like yourself did dig deep and found all the answers. |
I don't care much for HIFI-sound. I don't even know what is meant by it. All I know is that personally I have never heard the old Cremona sound other than soft, dark and slow, which to me is not very musical at all. But I must have tried the wrong gear with it (Krell, Audio Flight, Mystère, Electrocompaniet), because according to some they sound terrific. All I can say is: if that is terrific, then 90% of all speakers sound horrible, since they sound much and much brighter en lighter than the Cremona's. ;-)
I guess it's all a matter of taste. |
Hi Pinkus,
Could you somehow mail me this review of the Cremona M? I'm very interested in the whole article. BTW I understand there's also a review of the Mystère tube amp. What's the verdict on that? |
