Sonus Faber Il Cremonese Amp Pairing suggestions

I really appreciate the well thought out responses so far! Yes, I chose Sonus faber Lumina V for the natural sound. For my critical listening I have a vast collection of Jazz and Classical music. I have my current setup with perfect speaker placement that creates a realistic almost holographic soundstage at the main listening position. Everyone that hears the system is very impressed by the imaging and detail, especially for $3k speakers. I figured if they sound this great, then the Il Cremonese will be the ultimate experience beyond my wildest dreams (a ton more of a great thing). I got a great deal on perfect condition lightly used speakers that are a few years old, so they should come broken in. I will actually receive them in a few weeks and was trying to plan ahead. I will take the advice of spending time to carefully choose my new gear and not rush into it. I’m relieved that no one said the STR will be awful and I need to replace it immediately!

One factor I’m trying to figure out is whether I really need a lot of watts to make the Cremonese sing. For my Lumina V I tried: Marantz 90wpc, Anthem 170wpc, Anthem 400wpc, then finally the STR 600wpc. They didn’t really start reaching maximum potention until I put then on the 400wpc MCA before getting the STR. I don’t want to make the same, and more expensive mistake with the Il Cremonese, by underpowering them. Still getting great sound quality, but not opening them up enough?

I will look into everyone’s suggestions.....

@soix, thank you for your thoughts and wisdom. I certainly opened up Pandora's box with this purchase. No regrets.... just a new journey with a lot of pieces. From my experience upgrading equipment for the past 1.5 years -- just when I thought it couldn't sound better -- it does.

The Luxman M10X puts out 1,200W at 1 ohm. That does sound like an important quality. Not all the brands publish all of the same specs though so its hard to compare all the stats. Also, there is truth beyond the numbers with how it sounds in your system...

So far, the AVM 90 with its 6 layer board and top of the line ESS DAC really impressed me by lifting the veil off the music and seemingly revealing many hidden details. I've been impressed with its 2 channel and surround performance, but I'm sure separates at a high level would be better. My dad has the Linn Select Organik dual mono DAC ($22k) on order, so maybe I can borrow that and see what it sounds like on my system.

It seems that for amps, and maybe all equipment, its hard to really know what it will sound like until you put it in your home. That would require a lot of buying/selling or someone willing to do in home demos I guess. I can say that I love the Lumina V paired with the Anthem STR and AVM90. It is musical, detailed, imaged well, and not harsh. I can listen for hours without fatigue. I suppose I'm looking for the same experience with the Cremonese. I just want to make sure I'm getting an optimal experience and doing them justice with the upstream gear!

So maybe Audio Research, Luxman, Mcintosh.... it all comes down to slightly different sonic tastes....not necessarily better or worse for the speakers? But perhaps the STR isn't at the caliber of those so it wouldn't quite do them the justice they deserve.

@craig Thank you very much for the thorough and well thought out response. Thank you for sharing your experience and describing the different results with different equipment. I have been extremely happy with Wireworld cables so far. With my current STR amp and SF Lumina V setup, the Equinox 8 OCC7N copper cables reveal a lot of detail and clarity. I find them to be tonally natural and all the instruments sound authentic. I currently run Silver Eclipse XLR from Preamp to amp and they do an excellent job conveying the source information. I'm considering moving up to Gold or Platinum eclipse for this jump in speaker quality to get the best I can out of the Il Cremonese. I will report back after I've tried out the new speakers.