Sonus Faber Electa Amator III vs. the Bowers and Wilkins 805 D4?

Congratulations! Enjoy.

Good choice.   Enjoy

Congrats on an excellent pair of speakers!  What you heard is exactly why I’m not a fan of B&W speakers — it’s a sound I can certainly respect and appreciate for what it is, but I don’t love it like I love several others.  I just happened on this mini review by Jeff Fritz at Soundstage who made these his reference speakers.  If I’m not mistaken I believe his prior reference was the Vimberg Tonda that’s well over twice the price and a much bigger speaker, so this is quite a statement and endorsement.  Enjoy your new gems!

https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/opinion-menu/1062-the-sonus-faber-maxima-amator-listening-experience

The Maxima floorstander actually takes up less room than either bookshelf on stands, yet puts out a room-shaking low C which is 32.7 Hz.  And hands down, the most beautiful speaker I have ever seen!  

Congratulations -- I'd love to hear those ! 

I doubt I'll ever be able to afford the Maximas and even if I could, their weight would hardly be practical but I'd love to hear them.  

Thanks for all the responses gentlemen!  In the meantime I went to a dealer in Ann Arbor, MI.  They didn’t have the SF Electa Amator III but they did have the SF Maxima Amator floorstander on demo. Same drivers as the EA III, but completely different cabinet and crossover.  After an hour I bought them.  All the beauty, texture and resolution of the Bowers and Wilkins 805 D4 without the hyper-detail.  They are more power hungry than the 805’s and are rated at 4 ohms.  Which is great as my Luxman L-590AxII does 60 WPC pure Class A into 4 ohms, and 165 WPC as it moves into Class A/B.  So Jeffrey, plenty of power.  The Maxima floorstander actually takes up less room than either bookshelf on stands, yet puts out a room-shaking low C which is 32.7 Hz.  And hands down, the most beautiful speaker I have ever seen!  

@ghdprentice 

I see. Thanks for the explanation.

They were perfect for what I was looking for at the time. That move made a big jump in the right direction and exactly what I expected. I find that for me it is a target that I am zeroing in on… I better understand the target the closer I can get to it. So, I am always learning. Over the last fifteen years I don’t think I have gotten off the path as I have earlier… but been carefully navigating the line towards real fidelity to live music. It is a pursuit where you may never get there but you can get so close it doesn’t matter.

So, if the Cremonas were perfect with SS amplification, why did you eventually move to tubes? 

No, I was not using tube amplification when I bought the Cremona.

@ghdprentice 

Were you already using tube amplification at that point?

@stuartk

I first heard Sonus Faber speakers several years before the SF made the change in their sound. They really turned my head. I couldn’t quite get my head around what made them sound so unique, I wasn’t positive it was good… it was not bad. But the memory stuck. A couple years later I had theorized Sonus Faber had sounded exceptionally natural and real. I read all about the change in sound that SF had made, it had just happened. So as a test, I bought a used pair of Cremona M speaker that I knew were made before the sound change. Within a day, I knew this was the right sound and ordered the just released Olympica 3 thinking with the greater detail, they would be perfect… they were.

B&Ws are difficult to drive, and they will eat up that Luxman. I am speaking from experience. If you go that route, you will be ok with the mids/highs, however you will not have any bass at all. 

They are clear and sound big.  Excellent bass for a small enclose.  They are paired with a McIntosh MA 8950    You should try to listen to a pair , it’s an expensive proposition to buy either so if you can demo it’s worth the effort. 

@ghdprentice

I’ve found references to the Electa Amator II being more traditionally voiced than the III.  And what I've read is consistent with what you say about the Guarneri Homage. 

I’m curious -- did you become a S. Faber aficionado before or after the shift to greater neutrality?

@oddiofyl

"Beautiful sounding" is subjective. It would be helpful to know which sonic attributes constitute beautiful to you and in tandem with which components.

I recently set up a pair of Electa Amator III for my Dad.   These speakers are special.   Beautiful sounding , build quality is off the chart.   Haven't heard the latest B&W 804 but I lean more toward the SF sound anyway....

I don't think you can go wrong with the SF.

I think the change in Sonus Faber house sound (to be more neutral less warm) was about fifteen years ago? I think.

So I used an AI. The output must be verified… it’s usually good.. but can be very wrong.

1. Guarneri Homage: This iconic speaker was first introduced in 1993 and has gone through several iterations since then. The original Guarneri Homage is highly sought after by audiophiles and can fetch a high price on the second-hand market.

2. Electa Amator: The Electa Amator was first introduced in 1995 and is another classic Sonus Faber speaker. It features a 1 dome tweeter and a 6.5 mid-bass driver in a compact cabinet.

3. Guarneri Memento: This speaker was introduced in 2000 as a special edition of the Guarneri Homage to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary. It features upgraded drivers and a more refined cabinet design than the original Guarneri Homage.

4. Extrema: The Extrema was first introduced in 2002 and is a unique stand-mounted speaker that features a curved cabinet design and a 1 dome tweeter and a 7 mid-bass driver. It was designed to provide exceptional sound quality in a compact package.

5. Toytown: The Toytown was introduced in 2003 and is a small stand-mounted speaker that features a 1 dome tweeter and a 4 mid-bass driver. It was designed to provide high-end sound quality in a small, unobtrusive package.

I love the B&W sound, very accurate with tons of color. I think speakers are the most personal selection of all equipment. 

@OP As previous posts have said and well described the differences between two quite different sounding loudspeakers. Although harder to find in the US, it would be useful to listen to a pair of Harbeth M30.2XDs as a point of comparison. And for a bit of a wildcard, also, a pair of Kef LS50 Metas - much less expensive but very good value.

Both are a touch bright at the top end. The Sonus Faber has a dip in the upper mids where B&W has a peak. My local shop as both in at one point but not side by side. I walked away thinking both were pretty colored.

I would take the comment about the Joseph Audio Pulsars to heart. I have not heard the pulsars but they get consistent prays. I would make seek out a demo. 

@soix 

Excellent suggestion 

...So does S. Faber even make a stand-mount with their older, "traditional" presentation???

@stuartk Unfortunately I have no idea.  I think @ghdprentice might be able to give you some helpful insights on that if he wants to chime in here.  

@soix 

...So does S. Faber even make a stand-mount with their older, "traditional" presentation???

One review I recently came across of the E. Amator asserted it had a "smiley face" EQ profile. I subsequently watched a review by that Canadian dealer Adrian who compared the E. Amator to the D. Hertz Eva. According to his characterizations, I got the impression it was the latter that would seem to offer what I expected from the E. Amator.

Those are very different sounding speakers so I’m a bit surprised you didn’t clearly prefer one sonically over the other even in different systems.  I’ll just say I got to compare the original Joseph Audio Pulsars to the 805 D3s and to my ears the Pulsars excelled in virtually every parameter so maybe put those on your list as well.  They also probably split the difference sonically between the two you’re currently exploring.  FWIW, and best of luck.

Make sure you listen at the right volume for your habits. Listening very loud or too softly may prejudice you one way or another. The B&W’s prefer to be listened below the tweeter axis so this can also impact what you’ve heard.

A very personal opinion is that the SF is much smoother and better balanced speaker than the B&W with a wider sweet spot. If that’s what you heard in the store you are not wrong.

If you use either with a sub consider plugging the ports as you’ll get lower distortion and sub matching.