Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor old v new

Hi,

I'm also interested on the subject. Someone wrote in some audio forum that the differences between new and former versions were irrelevant; but these professional reviewers seem to disagree:

“For all its strengths, the original had a slightly veiled sound that traded outright insight for overall sweetness. The new version hasn’t lost any of the musicality but is capable of digging far deeper into a recording. You’ll hear more of the layered instrumentation on Ravel’s Bolero and keep hearing more as the piece gains in complexity. Dynamics are stronger and there are gains in speed, punch and agility.”

- What Hi-Fi review

“The Auditor M is a significantly more lucid, tactile, expressive and less visible performer than its predecessor. Individually, the changes are not large, but in combination their impact on the music and its presentation certainly is. Tellingly, CT preferred the original with the grilles in place. Sure enough, they bring a sense of rounded integrity to the mid-band of the Auditor M too. The difference is that that rounding now sounds sluggish and artificial, as well as robbing the sound of immediacy and air. The new version needs no help to seamlessly integrate its drivers, the easier, more articulate response of the bass-mid combined with the extra air and extension of the revised tweeter revealing all too clearly the detrimental sonic aspects of the grills. The Auditor was always an engaging and articulate, warm and inviting speaker; it still is, but the increase in clarity and its micro-dynamic response have given it a new agility, an ability to step away from the music so that you hear more of the artists’ performance and less of the speakers’.

- Hi-Fi+ review

“The disappearing act the Cremona Auditor did so well in the first iteration isn't only repeated here; it gets to be even more invisible than before.(...) the Cremona Auditor is lees amp and room fussy than before. (...) We thought a lot of the original Cremona Auditor, but this raises the game substantially.”

- Hi-Fi Choice review

Nothing wrong with professional reviews... but it would be nice if someone else, having listened to both models, shares with us his/her impressions.

Cheers,

Acab.

Exactly. I've read all of those reviews, and they are all positive. Still, I'd like to hear from someone who put down his hard earned money. I am more inclined to trust the unvarnished opinions I read here.

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.