Sonus Faber Guaneri Homage or Extremas?

Check out the link below.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1161958676&openfrom&1&4#1

I have only briefly listened to the Extremas and these are rather huge and heavy bookshelves that can be tri-wired. The Extremas are very difficult to set up as well and I'm not too sure if your Mcintosh 352 would be up to the task.

Personally I would pick the Guarneri Homage over the Extremas if given a choice. You can contact Daveyf as he has the Guarneri Homage in his system.

I concur with Daveyf that a home trial is the best way forward, or at least try to listen to both speakers if possible. Both options are excellent and a lot of factors as mentioned earlier(associated equipment, room, listening preference) will come into play when deciding which one is more suitable.

To balance out the enthusiasm on the Extrema, here is a short excerpt on the Guarneri Homage on page 4 of Stereophile's review
http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/487/

It's rare to find a speaker that's truly balanced—with a tonal, harmonic linearity that extends from the upper bass to the high treble. In this respect, the Guarneri eclipses the other Sonus Faber designs. The bigger models, particularly the Electa Amator and Extrema, will play louder, are more dynamic, and have better, deeper bass; but rarely is a speaker as truthful to its source as the Guarneri.

So how is it? Extrema or Guarneri Homage.

Enjoy your Extremas Malwow1. I'm glad they worked out for you. At any rate I concur with Daveyf. I've listened to the Extremas and although their bass is exemplary, the imaging and soundstage is not superior to the Guarneri Homage. What the Extremas do best is in throwing a bigger and more enveloping sound which is not to be confused with imaging which deals with spatial location of various instruments in the mix with respect to lateral and depth. FWIW the SF Extremas are warm sounding. I can imagine how it would sould like when matched with the equally warm sounding Mac. I guess you like a syrupy, warm and liquid kind of sound.

Enjoy~