Krell or Classe Integrated for Sonus Faber Concert

I love the concertos, and I also love YBA. I don't own either, so that's based on store auditions only. I would also add the Sim I-5, though, if you want a punchier, bigger sound. The YBA is silky smooth and wetter; the Sim faster and more tart. A chacun son gout.

I own Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home speakers. They have the same tonal balance as the Concertos, with a slightly lower bass extension. This means the Concertos are great speakers.

My absolute worst match was the Sim Audio I-5.I really don't know what all the fuss is with this machine, looks nice but it's not very musical. It made the Sonus sound bright and thin,even in the midrange (and the Sonus, like most italian speakers are midrange champs) pretty awfull. Tried a Magnum Dynalab MD-208 receiver, ( with apparently a Sim Audio amp inside) - even worse ( the class A rating from Stereophile is a joke on this, maybe an ''B'' for value, but certainly not ''A'' for sound quality ).

A very nice match was is Electrocompaniet EC-3. Not bad is the Musical Fidelity A-300. Best yet is the Sonic Frontiers Power 2 and line 2 combo, but it's way too expensive !

The best solution so far: Any nice quality TUBE integrated, from the Audiomat Arpège to even these inexpensive antique Sound Lab integrateds...they make the Sonus Faber sing...Hope this helps !

Hate to tell you but the bright, thin sound is part of the sound of the Sonus Faber Home series of speakers. They are voiced for home theater and their character is very different than the Classic series. The Sim I-5 (and the Magnum Dynalab) are a very neutral sounding amps but you will never mistake them for tubes. But like you say, the Home series really do need a warm tube amp to sound their best and with the proper match (Cj/Rogue) they can sound pretty good.

Of course it is more costly but...hearing the Concertos with a McCormack RLD-1/DNA 225 combo with AQ Coral and Granite wiring was simply fantastic.