Tír Na HiFi

I don't rate them really, although we are down to margins mind and personal preference of course, I haven't heard the newer Olympicas but the Serblin designed ones are reputed to be better, the Sonus's do look great for sure but I think the sound isn't top notch imo, you must remember also the EAIIs are a classic design but are nearly 20 years old although the drivers are still available through Absolute Sounds London at a cost of £220 per woofer and per tweeter, I paid less for my current Art Deco 8s than I got for the EAIIs and I think they a more engaging listen.

Diapason wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:11 pm Actually, having never heard the Electa Amators, how do they stack up to modern speakers, especially from the SF stable?

You must have heard them at my house: I had Electa Amator IIs until I got the Kharmas. They were lovely, but a bit relaxed in the upper octaves and not as detailed as the Kharmas. I wasn't actually thinking of changing at the time, but Cloney's offered me the Kharmas to try and then I couldn't go back!

Funny enough, SF are supposed to be good on WAF, but Kilda hated their looks!

Were they Electa Amators? Aha!!! I always liked them in your system, Ciaran, and was always surprised at how well they filled your big room.

Thanks to all for the responses.

With regard to the ad on MARKETPLAATS.

I will pass this advertisement as it looks dodgy to me. The guy is only on marketplaats for 7 months, there is no feedback, no previous sales and he does not try to sell it anywhere else like on any audio forum. Besides they are too expensive.
There was another pair sold over the weekend there too. In this case I was contacted by the advertiser after my initial phone call, who had preferred to sell the speakers and stands locally which he did. He only confirmed that they were sold. He kept his CONCERTOS GRAND PIANO which originally were much cheaper than ELECTAS as he likes them more due to overpowered bass in Electa from passive radiator????

I agree that those speakers are not best, and agree that there are better speakers out there and I wish I had a chance to listen some of them with my gear and in my place to have wider picture. But this is impossible. We had to take the risk.
For me as for many other people too interested in audio it’s just another step in the journey to look for the sound that would bring me closer to live performance.

I’ve been through few other speaker brands, some were better for analysing recordings, some for relaxed listening , some were capable of blending both, and right now I feel like SF are best to combine this 2 worlds. There is definitely soft and pleasant, unforced nature to old SF. They are not like modern speakers which are technically advanced but not very musical. SF so far seems to be very musical, have beautiful natural tone (sort of wooden tone). Best with vocal, small jazz sets. They also throw big soundstage and are able to disappear like no other speakers that I heard for relatively smallish amount of money. I am 100% Italian now with the rest of my gear apart from the cables, and I think the Italians understand what are the vital pieces to build great overall sound.

Right now I have Concerto’s with stands (which will be for sale soon) and think that by getting Electa’s I will get same type of speaker but more matured, allowing me to look deeper in to music with more detail.

……..still waiting ;)

Regards
Maciej

It's a pity I didn't still have mine you could've had a listen, something funny about the overwhelming bass alright, although good there's only so much you can get out of a 6.5" driver! What amp have you got Unison Research?

patbarrydub wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2017 2:39 pm It's a pity I didn't still have mine you could've had a listen, something funny about the overwhelming bass alright, although good there's only so much you can get out of a 6.5" driver! What amp have you got Unison Research?

It is indeed. While ago I would consider them as old fashion and too laid back. I was tired to pay too much attention to details, rather than to be soaked by music which I am now. That’s how we progress through our musical preferences. They are constantly changing. This can be again only temporarily and I will miss the other side soon I guess again.
I am running Concertos with 55W Graaf GM50 KT88 based tube amp with good results. Obviously it could be better!

Diapason wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:57 pm Pair just popped up in Slovenia?

http://audio-markt.de/_markt/item.php?id=7954837752&

Hi,
I just noticed you are extremely lucky to have few systems. At the end of one of them is SF Signum which are similar size to my Concertos.
What are those like? Did you ever have a chance to compare them against Concertos?
Maciej

I am indeed extremely lucky to have a few systems, and the Signums are one of those hifi classics that I don't think I'll ever sell. I've never compared them with anything else, to be honest I borrowed them on trial and decided I was buying them before I even got them out of the box. They sound beautiful too, with that classic SF relaxed gorgeousness coupled to a fair degree of openness and a surprising amount of bass. They're basically the sort of speaker you could listen to all day and all night with neither fatigue nor boredom setting in. They don't have the incisiveness of more modern designs, for better or worse. I'm actually wondering what they'd sound like with a few more watts... ;)

Just checking the new price for Jadis DA50S and lo and behold a pair of these for sale Maciej

https://www.hansaudio.nl/product/sonus-faber-signum/

Hi Tony, Diapason

Thanks for the link. There are few pairs of those including stands on EBay too in pretty good condition in range of 1000£, but I am not sure if there is much sense in changing Concertos for Signum.
Signum as far as I know are the successors of the Concertos, similar in size, volume but with slight tilt towards modern sound. I would need to listen them first to be able to judge if they will have positive impact on whole system.

By the way thanks Diapason for your response;)

There is another pair of speakers that I was thinking of as potential substitute for SF Electa Amator II.
While I was away on my holidays I popped in to my local Audio store in Lublin where I had a chance to listen another Italian brand that is well known but somehow always standing in a shadow of Sonus Faber, Chario and heir top standmount speaker Sonnet.. I was truly impressed with 3 dimensional, sweet sound.

As the search of pair of SF is getting tougher I my consider Chario as an alternative.

There is another brand too that I am looking at - Diapason (Adamantes III).
Have any of you had any experience with those?

Thanks
Maciej