Sonus Faber Suprema Flagship Loudspeaker $750,000

[Rhapsody]

The woofer grill is ghastly. And it means there are four fastening holes in that wood baffle.

I would like to see someone making a tall corner horn loaded sub with this level of furniture grade finish with two towers out in the room. That way at least the subs would be less intrusive. Integration might be an issue though and I do not know if you could get the low extension.

I see a potential market for a very high end speaker system, two or four boxes, that integrates into the room better for more of a lifestyle approach. Most of these four tower flagship designs seem to end up in dedicated rooms, removed from the living quarters, despite the marketing photos in palatial estates.

How cool would something like the JBL Paragon in a dining or living room be but made for today's family in a great room or family room? This is how kids would grow up in a household with good music and good sound. Make it more of a lifestyle thing, like it was years ago.

I probably know 100+ customers/friends that have great sound systems integrated into their living areas where the family hears what's going on and enjoy music in their homes. 90% of these families that appreciate music are not on audio forums. I can think of many of these folks have kids that are growing up in this environment that you speak of as like it was years ago. The "good ole' days" are alive and well, just not reported here.

 

[Lagonda]

Not sure what to think
Honestly feels like the high end is trying to price gouge the rest of us true hobbyists

And in this case i do not care, would not want those ugly speakers in my music room !

 

[Audiofile]

I Wonder which sounds better
Magico M9 or Suprema

 

[thomask]

I Wonder which sounds better
Magico M9 or Suprema

If Suprema come up on Axpona 2024, then I can give my opinion since I had auditioned M9 for two hours.

The appearance is not important.

MBL 101E looks futuristic but sounds very organic.

The ultimate test of Suprema is how it sounds compared with other top speakers.

 

[PeterA]

The "good ole' days" are alive and well, just not reported here.

The families I have known over the past 25 years and the declining numbers of high-end hobbyists would seem to dispute this claim, at least when it comes to high-end audio.

I agree that in some other areas of life, the good old days are alive and well.

 

[Rhapsody]

The families I have known over the past 25 years and the declining numbers of high-end hobbyists would seem to dispute this claim, at least when it comes to high-end audio.

I agree that in some other areas of life, the good old days are alive and well.

Well maybe with the people you know, that's the way it is. But not with the 100+ families that I know and have exposure to. If you look at the families that I have known in the last 25 years, then we are probably talking in the 1000 range. At least 50 new families a year that I have been exposed to or sold to. They have really nice audio systems and the systems are installed in non-dedicated rooms and they and their families listen and enjoy music with their systems.

I would say that almost none of the 100+ families that I know right now and people that I am referring to are NOT audio hobbyists. They live non-audio hobbyist lives but have a nice audio system in their homes and their entire family listens to music through it. No they don't sit in the sweet spot and listen for the soundstage, tonality or naturalness, that's for hobbyist. They listen to music that they enjoy and don't even think about the equipment. It's about the music.

 

[tima]

Not sure what to think
Honestly feels like the high end is trying to price gouge the rest of us true hobbyists

Hmmm ... I don’t feel "gouged" because there are high-priced speakers.

 

[gadawg58]

Well you can really only feel gouged if you purchase them and don’t find sufficient value I guess. I am very concerned about how high prices in general are trending. Many younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want. While the best has always been expensive it seems lately prices have reached heights that are going to be truly unscaleable for most and that isn’t healthy for our hobby. Just my 2c.

George

 

[Audiofile]

I can buy a house and a car for $750K
So yeah prices are getting a bit too high

 

[nirodha]

The appearance is not important.

MBL 101E looks futuristic but sounds very organic

This is as silly as saying: looks is all in audio. Why choose ugly if you can have every other loudspeaker in the world for this kind of money. I own and still quite enjoy the sound quality of my kef 207/2 loudspeakers (kef’s final great loudspeaker) but after 12 years I still don’t like the way they look. It is a compromise I was willing to make. The reality is that all my senses are part of the process of forming an opinion.

 

[tima]

Well you can really only feel gouged if you purchase them and don’t find sufficient value I guess. I am very concerned about how high prices in general are trending. Many younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want. While the best has always been expensive it seems lately prices have reached heights that are going to be truly unscaleable for most and that isn’t healthy for our hobby. Just my 2c.

George

Talking about high prices is one thing. I am confident that 20 years ago there also were people complaining about high prices. But saying that "Honestly feels like the high end is trying to price gouge the rest of us true hobbyists." is something else.

I don't believe there is a "high end" entity trying to gouge "the rest of us true hobbyists", with the latter presumably being those who cannot afford the most expensive. This seems to imply there is a conspiracy by "the high end" to do what ... discourage, cheat, deny ... pick what verb you want ... to the "true hobbyist". I don't believe that -- it makes no sense. Nor do I believe in using language that cordons off a segment of people who are "true hobbyists" from others.

If a manufacturer wants to put a product on the market he can charge whatever he wants. The market will determine if his effort succeeds or fails.

With regard to "younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want." I have not heard or read anyone saying "I can't have what I really want so I'm not going to participate in that hobby." Maybe it happens but I doubt it happens often. And, for what its worth, I don't believe many young audiophiles know what they really want. Maybe some do. It took me a while to figure it out, and based on the number of times people change their systems I suspect it is taking others a while to know what they want -- that is part of the "audiophile journey".

 

[JackD201]

This is a huge gamble for SF. The largest package they ever did was the Fenice some years ago. The Aida II the next biggest has been, if I'm not mistaken, their flagship for many years now. Any halo product is a gamble. The Muon for example did little for KEF. Ironically the Blade was what did it for them, then the LS50.

For the people that own and work for Sonus Faber, I hope that they succeed. The quality hopefully holds up to what is being asked for them. There are a bunch of speakers between 200k and 500k that are already absolutely superb. Another quarter million and change has got to be justified somehow especially against their own Aida II matched with Subs. Then again, if that molded cork lined sub-baffle and new midrange IS all that, then as a technology demonstrator, this could herald in a new era post Franco Serblin. Warning shot fired.

For those of us in South East Asia, the bright spot is that the retail prices won't include the luxury taxes levied on luxury cars (over 100% in some countries!).

 

[sigbergaudio]

I don't care for the red wood, but with the darker colors and at certain angles, they do look pretty good.






I wonder what the crossover components seen behind glass from the side is, given that the crossover is external.

 

[gadawg58]

Talking about high prices is one thing. I am confident that 20 years ago there also were people complaining about high prices. But saying that "Honestly feels like the high end is trying to price gouge the rest of us true hobbyists." is something else.

I don't believe there is a "high end" entity trying to gouge "the rest of us true hobbyists", with the latter presumably being those who cannot afford the most expensive. This seems to imply there is a conspiracy by "the high end" to do what ... discourage, cheat, deny ... pick what verb you want ... to the "true hobbyist". I don't believe that -- it makes no sense. Nor do I believe in using language that cordons off a segment of people who are "true hobbyists" from others.

If a manufacturer wants to put a product on the market he can charge whatever he wants. The market will determine if his effort succeeds or fails.

With regard to "younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want." I have not heard or read anyone saying "I can't have what I really want so I'm not going to participate in that hobby." Maybe it happens but I doubt it happens often. And, for what its worth, I don't believe many young audiophiles know what they really want. Maybe some do. It took me a while to figure it out, and based on the number of times people change their systems I suspect it is taking others a while to know what they want -- that is part of the "audiophile journey".

I don’t think it’s a conspiracy at all and if I made it sound like that I didn’t communicate very well. I do think that the price of entry for top end products has exponentially increased and is now beyond the reach of many music lovers which is a shame. I also don’t think the performance has increased at the same pace as the price.

As an example … When the Infinity Reference Standard Beta‘s were out in 1989 they sold for a little more than about half of a new Trans Am. If they were still being made and sold today I’m sure they would be a min of 5X the price of a comparable car like the Chevy Camaro. Something went wrong somewhere in my book …

Again just my 2c.

George

 

[Al M.]

Well you can really only feel gouged if you purchase them and don’t find sufficient value I guess. I am very concerned about how high prices in general are trending. Many younger aspiring audiophiles are calling it quits because they don’t’ see any possibility of ever owning any of the equipment they really want. While the best has always been expensive it seems lately prices have reached heights that are going to be truly unscaleable for most and that isn’t healthy for our hobby. Just my 2c.

George

These days you can get good sound cheaper than ever.

 

[gadawg58]

These days you can get good sound cheaper than ever.

Never said you can’t get “good” sound cheaper than ever … just can’t get the best sound without spending much more than in the past and that has dangerous implications for our industry I believe. Again my 2c and not worth a penny more!

George

 

[Al M.]

Never said you can’t get “good” sound cheaper than ever … just can’t get the best sound without spending much more than in the past and that has dangerous implications for our industry I believe. Again my 2c and not worth a penny more!

George

So I can't get enjoyment out of my little fun to drive Nissan Versa only because I can't afford that 1.5 million dollar Bentley? Why would I care about that car, anyway?

I don’t see the logic of your argument.

 

[jonathanhorwich]

Never said you can’t get “good” sound cheaper than ever … just can’t get the best sound without spending much more than in the past and that has dangerous implications for our industry I believe. Again my 2c and not worth a penny more!

George

The car industry is the same situation and there is no dangerous implication for it. Super rich people can buy one million dollar cars easily and others not so rich can choose from superb relatively inexpensive cars that are far better than inexpensive cars used to be. Cars in general are all improving from the bottom to top. Just like in audio. There is a wide span of choice for any budget and taste. Same in audio.

 

[tima]

I don’t think it’s a conspiracy at all and if I made it sound like that I didn’t communicate very well. I do think that the price of entry for top end products has exponentially increased and is now beyond the reach of many music lovers which is a shame. I also don’t think the performance has increased at the same pace as the price.

No problemo -- I did not understand you to say it was a conspiracy -- I took that from the #40 post about the high end gouging the true hobbyist. I agree with what you wrote in your last reply.

edit: To tell the truth, when I survey the current topmost expensive products I really don't see much that attracts me. The correlation of price to the sound I want is pretty sketchy. Right now the only component I can see paying much more for is a turntable.

 

[JackD201]

I don’t think it’s a conspiracy at all and if I made it sound like that I didn’t communicate very well. I do think that the price of entry for top end products has exponentially increased and is now beyond the reach of many music lovers which is a shame. I also don’t think the performance has increased at the same pace as the price.

As an example … When the Infinity Reference Standard Beta‘s were out in 1989 they sold for a little more than about half of a new Trans Am. If they were still being made and sold today I’m sure they would be a min of 5X the price of a comparable car like the Chevy Camaro. Something went wrong somewhere in my book …

Again just my 2c.

George

Yup indeed. More people bought A LOT more cars than loudspeakers. That's what went wrong. Economies of scale is most of what it is sadly.

I sell this stuff. The market is so tiny compared to the art, watch, luxury car market. The only market I can think of tinier is the yacht market. See how those markets are pricing. Ouch.

I think it is perfectly fine for a company to go nuts. I actually love it. How else do we get to see what is still possible? These people have invested thousands of hours combined to design and build these electromechanical devices that do nothing but convert voltage to air pressure. Yet! What price do you pay for the sheer quality of the music that gets through them? My only hope is that for all the effort and expense it trickles down in significant ways. That for me makes it worth it. It should be financially worth it for the companies if all goes well. Certainly more profit than the few flagships sold. The battle ground has always been the higher-middle offerings in the main players" lines. If that can in turn broaden the demand for the most practical offerings, fantastic.

Like you I wish it didn't have to be this expensive.