[Review] Sonus faber Cremona

Sonus faber Cremona

Today I went to Zurich to get half of my TT back and I landed in a show room of a dealer who sells Sonus faber. Knowing about the reports in this and other forums about SF I brought with me the 10 Symphonies of Mahler with Abbado (DG) and the Händel Messiah hoping I could hear on my own the best SF he had. Unfortunately it was "only" the Cremona but anyway I had two hours time so why not spending them with the Cremona..

The system I heard was:

CD-Player: Einstein "The Last record player" (about £3k)
Preampli: Einstein "The Tube" (£6k)
Amplifier: Einstein "The Final Cut" (£11k)
Loudspeakers: SF "Cremona" (£4k)
NF- and LS-Cables: Purist Audio "HD1"

(the prices are swiss prices converted approx. in £)

I would say that the components attached to the Cremona are far over the average so I would expect the loudspeakers to be the "weakest" point of the system.

I was pleasently surprised by the Cremona especially for the timbre which was very natural. The loudspeakers brough out the cleaness / purity of sound of the Einstein components.

In the loud passages with full orchestra the room was filled and these were the moments I thought was the strength in these loudspeakers: The imaging was good and the soundstage was quite wide.

I was though missing a bit the body of the music, I would say the frequencies below 200-300 Hz. With Mahler's symphonies, I heard the second, there is quite a lot of sub and low frequencies (if you believe that or not) and these weren't emphasized enough even if that what came out was very clean. I had also a problem when hearing the quiet orchestral passages and when a solo instrument was playing above the orchestra. The instrument had a very clear sound but it was too direct without the ambience I expect from a very good loudspeaker. Also I was quite missing the middle of the orchestra mostly in the quiet passages and therefore this gave me even more the impression that the loudspeakers are quite directional. They were turned in quite a bit and of course I pointed out to the dealer about my feelings but he was more concerned to find a pair of loudspeakers which I might have liked.
Damn it, the Cremona were the best in his show room so why switching to other ones. He swithched over to other amplifiers but the Einstein were the best he could offer me! Well after this "interval" we came back to the initial setting. He turned in a bit more the right loudspeaker hoping it would help. Yes it did but not completely. Why build loudspeakers which have to be placed with the toe in. And what if you sit half a meter away from the right place? I didn't try it but next time I go there I will do it.
The last point is the quality of the high frequencies: I know that I am spoilt at my place but I seriously expected more from such a system. I don't know if it comes from the CD-Player (the dealer admited it is quite "hard sounding" and that the mephisto from Pierre Lurne is much better), or from the amplis or loudspeakers. I would say mostly from the CD-player but also a tiny bit from the loudspeakers.

 

Re: Sonus faber Cremona

I don't really think that's a matter of debate for anyone who's ever heard Mahler, particularly the second symphony

 

With Mahler's symphonies, I heard the second, there is quite a lot of sub and low frequencies

This is true, especialy the way Graham N plays them They can take it captain, the dilthium crystals are gunna shatter, yo gotta turn er' down', do you not think 116Db is loud enough sir
Realistic listening levels for Graham N are about 115db give or take a few more are you sure, Mahler, wasn't re-incarnated as Lemmy from motor head Wm