Sonus Faber Il Cremonese Amp Pairing suggestions

Once again @soix +1

I am powering my Sonus Faber Amati Traditional with an Audio Research Reference 160s in triode mode… so 70wpc and can play them louder, many times the volume I would ever want listen to without loss of dynamics. If tubed amp… then I would not worry much about the wpc, unless very low.

A word about Luxman. If you are looking for natural / musical, this may not be the brand for you. They have great specs for power but have a very limited midrange and very poor rhythm and pace. Listen to the brand for sure, many people love them, but make sure you feel it is complementary to your system. To me McIntosh is in one end with accentuated bass and midrange and a real lack of detail and Luxman is on the other end with accentuated treble and bass, lacking in musicality and midrange bloom. You are right, best way is to try this stuff in your system.

@soix

+1

Wow. That is fast upgrading. Congratulations. You have some word class speakers there. I completely agree with Soix. You want to let them break in and more importantly, you need to understand what your system sounds like so you can make good decisions. With these speakers, if carefully paired with appropriate and synergistic components and with the proper room treatment you can have yourself a world class system.

Songs Faber are very natural / musical sounding speakers. I have had three pair. They have a very known synergy with Audio Research components and Transparent interconnects and cables. Assuming you want a natural sounding musical system... meaning realistically recreating the musical experience... as opposed to accentuated detail, treble and bass which is very common to make them sound really dynamic (the salt, sugar and fat of the audio world). Then an ideal pairing would be Audio Research Reference 6SE preamp (yes, you need and want one... this is a whole discussion that has happened many times, no need to rehash here), and Audio Research Reference DAC9, and ARC Reference 160s or 160m monoblocks. This equipment is of appropriate quality to complement your speakers. You can see my system under my user ID.

There are other sound types. Like Holographic... if that is what you are going for, you start with Wilson speakers. If rock music with a kick to your chest is what you are looking for then one would start with B&W speakers and maybe Macintosh components. 

Hopefully the kind of sound you are looking for is what I described. Then you are on track.