Sonus Faber Musica intergrated amp users feedback

is he really a hi-fi dealer?

Stay with your setup! Your dealer is probaly trying(very hard) to sell Musica to you... Since Sonus Faber just introduced new Guarneri Memento it will be better to wait and compare your Guarneri with new Memento and upgrade. It makes a lot more sense, IMO. And Sonus Faber is not using just Musica for voicing thier speakers!

Well if he'serious then he should loan you a Musica to use for a couple of weeks in a home trial. That would make your trip worth the while and give you a definitive answer.

i too have sf guarneri's and took a chance in buying a musica amplifier- someone posted photos of the interior of the amp on audiogon awhile back, and i was really impressed by what i saw. plus, i liked its simplicity, implying (perhaps) that it was built with one object in mind- great sound with a minimal expenditure on extra features that would add to the cost. anyway, the amplifier does sound very good (very smooth and balanced), and looks elegant as well. it lacks a remote control of course, or pre-out jacks, or any balanced inputs, but it does have two pairs of speaker connectors for biwiring. as you already said, comparisons to your tube mcintosh gear is apples to oranges. but if you're concerned that the musica isn't true high-end (admittedly sonus faber doesn't market a comprehensive line of electronics), i strongly feel they in fact knew what they were doing when they put their name on this particular piece of equipment. not that, having owned rowland/levinson gear, that i wasn't somewhat leary (in the beginning) of the musica amp myself. it would be interesting for someone to do some comparisons with some other solid-state integrated amplifiers under-$5k and see how it does (let's say, against a rowland concentra perhaps). i would guess it would hold its own, at least in most areas. btw, my (used) musica cost me $1750 incl. s/h.

Good point FF! For retail price it may face some competition, but as a used market item, it is VERY HARD to beat on sonic "symbiosis" with the G.