Sonus Faber Il Cremonese:
I have a confession to make - I've never heard a SF speaker I've enjoyed. From my early audiophile days at Harvey's in NYC listening to the Concerto monitor (made of solid walnut, no less) through the Cremona in LA and even the Strad at shows and other top of the line Serblin creations. They were always warm and cuddly to me.
But the reference line started with the Aida 7-8 years ago was a change in a different direction for the company and something I've wanted to hear. Local auditions of the SF are usually on lower tier speakers, so I'd given up trying. However, after my move to Encino I just happened to be near a SF dealer - and sure enough a quick phone call allowed an audition of the Il Cremonese. The IC is the "entry level" floorstander in the reference line. It is quite complicated, a 3.5 way with dedicated non-active "infra woofers". The speakers were well setup in a fully treated room, on McIntosh TOL tube preamp and 611 amplifiers. Mc/SF is a very common combo so I was satisfied!
My initial thought were that the ICs were far more open than prior SFs - no more warm and cuddly sound here. Everything seemed very coherent despite 6-7 drivers which surprised me. You can really sink into the music. I went through 2 solid hours of demo music - everything from big classical to female singer/guitar. The ICs had really good flow on music - and the orchestra really felt right in front of you, but not highligting the imaging as others, but that's something I've never cared about. Timbre on instruments was excellent. You could feel that woodwinds had body, guitar strings weren't truncated, and that brass had the appropriate round, brashness. This of course was particularly noticeable on classical and I dare say, this is the best speaker I've heard on that genre of music.
There was no spotlighting of frequency in the musical spectrum, but the sound was musical. The top end was natural and extended - something SFs have not done before. Bass on these speakers was more of the definition type rather than output. I did wish for more umph and extension on certain music but I feel the dual 8" infrawoofers pushed as much air as possible. Moving to dynamics - orchestral tuttis were excellent, but I found that classical guitar didn't leap off the soundstage as on other efficient speakers. I seemed to turn up the volume as a result. I think this is right in line with Sonus Faber's character - musical expression without fatigue but definitely not horn like. Soundstage was good, but not the largest I've heard - again this is a speaker about flow and tone first.
Overall i really enjoyed my time with the Il Cremonese and the audition got better as I went through track after track. If you go back to the original demos I've had at this price level, I would put the Reference Line above the Wilsons and Rockports. They didn't have the fuzziness of the Gamut, another speaker in the "musical" camp. They are far more open, transparent, but still retain the SF musical nature. Highly recommended.
