Any info on new Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario?

I've had about three hours worth of listening to a pair that is still breaking in. Right from the start, it is evident that this is quite a special speaker. Tonal balance is slightly on the warm side, but that does not mean it is muddled and inarticulate like many warmish speakers can be.

The image projected by this speaker is huge and the weight and power that these speakers are capable of delivering makes them exciting to hear.

If there is any weakness (keep in mind they were fresh out of the box), it would be a slight reticence (lack of projection) in the midrange and transients may be a touch soft.

I heard them in a Naim reference system (252 preamp, 300 amp CDS3 CDP). I have also heard the Stradivari in a completely different system utilizing a Boulder linestage and phono stage and custom OTL amps. That too, is quite a nice sounding speaker.

Both the Anniversario and the Stradivari are beautifully finished and both are actually smaller and easier to place in a room than one would expect from pictures.

As a former owner of Dynaudio Confidence 5, I know bass speed. C5 is a compounded bass design in a sealed cabinet and produced the fastest bass I have heard from any speakers. I have owned close to 30 pairs of speaker in the past 10 years, I hope I know what I am talking about. C5 became one of my favorite speaker of all time.

But after owning Amati, I discovered what I was missing all along. There is more to bass than just speed. Scanspeak woofers are not known to have the fastest bass, Seas/Eton/Accuton etc are better known for that. But real life bass is never super damped and tight and Scanspeak produces bass with superb balance of detail, speed, and warmth. My question is has Sonus Faber gone to the dark side and starts making hifi sounding speakers that has tremendous detail, speed, extension, but not music?

It took me a long time to love Amati after owning Extrema for years. Extrema was one speaker that can music no matter what you throw at it. Amati is much more finicky and required more care in upstream equipments and setup. Do I need to brain wash myself all over again and learn to love the "new" Sonus Faber sound?

Semi-I think you will love 'new' Sonus Faber sound. As I said I ordered Anniversarios and I will get them in 3 weeks time... My wife and I had a chance to audition it few days ago at our dealers. IMO new Aniversario is most emotional and beautiful sounding of all upper high end speakers. System was: ARC VM220/REF3 and Theta GenVIII/Compli. Regarding drivers in Anniversario tweeter is ScanSpeak( much modified and build to Francos specs ), midrange is Audiotechnology( danish company ) and bass units are 8inch versions of Strad drivers. In person Anniversario is more beautiful then old Amati, at least to me.
My wife liked their sound more than Stradivaris! I agree with her! Strad has grander scale( a little bit ) but, image precision and coherence is on Anniversarios side. Anniversario is warm and fast sounding speaker. Old Amati is inferior in every way, IMO. My friend from Italy also decided to swich to Anniversario after direct comparison in his home with old Amati. I know that you might be personally attached to your Amati Hommage but, simply speaking Anniversario is far better speaker. Choice of amp/pre combo will be important... I choose ARC system( REF210,REF3,REF CD7 ) for Anniversarios. Some other tubes will also work nicely-Jadis(more romantic sound),new VTLs etc. Some solid-state as well like Krell or Boulder and new DartZeel. In fact Sonus Faber use at the factory Berning 270 and Krell FPB350Mcx when they evaluate sound of their speakers( I heard a rumor that these two were used on voicing of Stradivari, Anniversario and new Guarneri Memento ).Did you had a chance to audition new Anniversarios?

Hi,
I'm from Italy and I apologize for my limited English, but as owner of Amati Homage i like to share in few words my impressions on my listening session with Anniversario, by a dealer.(not in my set up)
Well, from an aesthetic side I like a lot more the Homage, the back side is more elegant and refined in construction. ( I guess more expensive too to build) Binding post are also better located and built, imho. Not to mention that with Anniversario you cannot tune the bass extention, and so the while sound, by partially closing one of the rear port.
On the sound now, Anniversario seems to be a bit faster in the bass section but lacks the liquid and rich midrange of Homage, where lies, to me, the magic of this speaker. I listen to a very good hi end speaker but without emotion. Highs were well defined and never strident, not different from Homage. Soundstage is a lot wider and deeper in my set up but this is due to room and electronics. I have to say that my system is different,(and better to my ears) so these are just impressions. I'm ready to change my mind if got the chance to have the two in my room.
Dealer system:
Mc Intosh "second" from top line, sorry don't remember the numbers. Source Accuphase 57. Furutech top line cabling.
My system.
AA Capitole mk2
Supratek Cortese
Plinius Sa Ref
Argent Pulsar S cables

ps I have got a brief listen to Stradivari too, another story.....not comparable at all with Anniversario, IMHO.
Sandro

Well, since Almas findings are quite opposite from mine few things need to be cleared. 1)Three different persons that I know and trust in thier findings have almost the same opinion as I do and all of them are switching from Amati Hommage to Anniversario. 2)New Anniversario is more expensive to build then old Amati. Call Sonus Faber, that is the fact( terminals on old Amati is WBTs, on Anniversario costum build for Sonus Faber-same as on Stradivari). 3) Anniversario is more modern sounding than old Amati but, also emotional sounding speaker. Some people maybe won't like them more than old Amati but, I bet they will have more fans than old Amati.
Of course, all of this is IMHO.