Sonus Faber vs B&W

Why did you go with the Concertos in lieu of the 805s??

I listened to both (12/2000) at innovative also and the 805's were simply better. The Sonus speakers were much more reserved, witheld high and low detail and sound stage. The only Sonus that I have been impressed with are the Gunneri Homage but they are considerably more expensive and space comsumming. When you listen to each make sure that the speaker cables are equally matched.

I'm wondering if you're referring to the GP's new version (just out recently) or the previous model (with the stones). I'm a Sonus fan, though to be fair, I haven't had a real chance to demo 805's. The new GP's supposedly offer a richer depth, and better fullnes to the mids & highs, as well as much better power handlin, utilizing a slightly larger tweeter & 2 mid/bass drivers (equal size, diff. Xover points), compared to last year's 2-way design--additionally, they're supposed to substantially improve over the modest bass response of earlier model, which in my opinion was it's only real deficiency . I STILL love the older models, though...phenomenal clarity, superb imaging, and MAN they look cool...especially with the stones. New ones are bigger, and still look beautiful, but I miss the unique look of the stones under them. I'm actually on the fence whether to grab a pair of new ones (potentially better sound) or look for a killer deal on the earlier models. Let us know what you decide.

The Concerto is much better then the 805. It has much better bass, with the Concerto I don't feel the need for sub. The Concerto's are much more life like and smoother and more detailed. The silk dome tweeter of the concerto lets it capture more of the air in recording. I thought that the 805's tweeter was much too bright and did not match smoothly with the rest of the speaker. You always seemed to be able to hear the seperation of the sound between the drive units. The 805 is a good speaker don't get me wrong, but the Concerto is a great speaker. Both seem very easy to drive. I happened to have a 400 watt Classe Ca-401 at the time, so power was definetly not a factor when I reviewed either of them. BTW I've owned both, I sold the 805s to go for the concerto's and to this day think that Sonus gives you more bang for the buck then B&W. Plus B&W have huge mark up on their prices. I was able to buy my pair for 75% off retail BRAND NEW the first time I walked into a store. The store also happened to be the biggest B&W dealer in North America, so prehaps they get special discounts.

Do you mean that you paid only 25% of $2000, i.e. $500 for your N805 brand new ? If this is the case I'll probably make some money by buying a few pairs and then re-sell them in Audiogon......