Sonic frontiers


Soon I Will be auditioning a Sonic Frontiers line 3 preamp and a pair of power 3 mono blocks. I have Tekton Moab’s and a beautiful pair of Jbl 4435’s. Anyone here familiar with this equipment?

rvito

I bought a used SF Power 2 amp several years ago. It was the second worst sounding amp I’ve ever owned. I so wanted it to work, but it was gone in a couple of weeks.

That said, I also owned an SFD2 dac and that piece was very nice.

I think they will be over priced as is often the case with Power 3 .   I think you could do better for that kind of money with newer equipment .   Its pushing 30 years old 

I had that sonic frontier equipment  about 15 years ago along with the rather unique top loading cd player. I used quad 929 speakers with a subwoofer. I really liked the sound but the amps had a bit of hum. All in all I would not buy them today. . 

I have the following Sonic Frontiers equipment:

 

  1. SFCD 1
  2. Line 3
  3. Line 1
  4. Power 2
  5. Phone 1

All of them have been upgraded by Chris at Parts Connexion to their full extent or almost full extent. Each one is dead quiet.

Some of this equipment I bought new and some I had bought used over 20 years after their initial release. I only replaced 2 of the units so far:

  1. the fully upgraded Line 3 and upgraded to the current Audio Research 6SE (which is slightly more transparent, just as fast but misses out a bit on the musicality of the SF Line 3)
    --- while the AR 6SE does sound absolutely wonderful and does exact more transparency I do miss the musicality of the line 3, was the AR 6SE worth the price? Only because I picked up a barely but gently used one for a fantastic price. Otherwise no, I don't think it was worth the cost to change preamps. Yes, the Line 3 is just that good. 
  2. the power 2 stereo amp to 2 Bryston 7B3 (the Bryston's don't give off the tremendous heat of the large tubes of the Power 2, the Bryston's are a bit quicker but loose out in their holographic nature, both have tremendous mid's and bass, both are very quick)
    --- the power 2 does not hum, buzz or sound bad in any way shape or form like others have said. It is a beast that throws an absolutely killer 3D soundstage, with conviction. The only reason I switched it out was because I didn't want to deal with the tubes and their heat any longer. I auditioned the regular suspects to replace it -- Boulder (way over priced for what it is and in a blind test picked the PS Audio BHK amps and the Bryston's 3 out of 3 times as my preferred sound), Parasound (okay), PS Audio BHK, etc., but found the Bryton's to be almost indistinguishable from their competition, better built and running cooler. (this is specifically the cubed series though I would not have bought the older equipment as I don't think it was as good sounding... the cubed series is a leap beyond their older generational equipment)

The SFCD 1 and the Phone 1 are still operational in my main system and sound amazing... the Line 1 is in a secondary system and sounds as musical as ever.

Hope this helps.

I am using the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 preamp and the Sonic Frontiers Power 2 amp to this day. Both have been upgraded by Parts Connection with wonderful results. I had the preamp upgraded again with Mundorf Silver Gold Oil film caps and Duelund silver foil bypass caps. All other old caps have been changed so both are ready for many more years of service. I can enthusiastically recommend both, just be sure the caps in the amp are replaced.