Sonus Faber Grand Pianos vs. Thiel 1.6's

Hi,

Recently I heard Thiels and sonus faber GP's as well as few other speakers, I am looking to replace paradigm ref 100 v2's. I preferred these in following order.

1. Odyssey lorelei - Really nice speakers, great soundstage great imaging.
2. JM lab Micro utopia (old version) - Overall good, best imaging and soundstaging (may be because of being a bookshelf)
3. Monitor Audio Gold ref 60 - Good soundatging, good imaging , may sound bright to some, but eill revel everything.
4. Magnepan 1.6 QR - Great speakers, lacks bass and narrow sweet spot.
5. Sonus Faber GP - Treble is one of the sweetest but lacks the the detail especially in the bass and lower midrange region.
6. Gallo ref III - Too short for floorstander, images are shorter than other speakers.
7. Theil 2.6 (?) - somewhere in between SF GP .. and BW 804
8. B&W 804 - lots of detail no bass, no deep soundstage.
9. Joseph audio 25i - same as above (B & W)

Now all these speakers except lorelei I heard at different dealers with different components (but those were really good), and there is chance that some of them were not set up correctly but still those were HI FI Shops.

Given the choice between Sonus faber and Theil I will prefer Sonus Faber all the time.

Hope this helps, Good Luck !

Thanks,

Milind

If I had to choose between the two it would be the Sonus Fabers all day long! Another speaker that sounds similar to the Grand Pianos are the Soliloquy 6.3s. The Sols are a tad more detailed and have much deeper bass but cost less.
Another sleeper that spanks both of these speakers IMHO is the Eminent LFT VIII. With tight bass,super transparency..it has the dynamics of a box speaker with the speed of an electrostatic. For the asking price I haven't heard a dynamic speaker several times it's price that could do what this speaker is capable of. I have a good friend who dumped a $6500.00 pair of box speakers for these. After hearing the comparison I could only agree.

Good Luck!

I have been hearing a lot regarding Soliloquy, but have not been able to find a dealer in my area with them... so basically, I know nothing about them. I know the Thiels and teh Sonus are completely different sounds, but the nature of each speaker is what draws me towards them. I am leaning towards the Sonus because I have a large room, and with the added base response, I feel I will benefit from their sound. This is not an easy process, but it is certainly educational, as I am just beginning my quest for "Sonic Supremacy!!!" Thank's all, for your feedback.

I find the Thiel 1.6 to be outstanding with the Cary Rocket 88 amp. However, don't overlook the new Gallo Reference 3! roundsound.com, and 6moons.com rave review.

I concur with Lrsky's statement. I have heard both the Sonus Faber GP's and Thiel 1.6 in my system. The 1.6 is too bright and forward sounding for my taste while the GP's are so much musical, smoother and refined in comparison.

I would go with the Sonus Fabers. I own a pair and it sounds great with my Plinius SA-100MkIII.