Need help choosing Sonus Faber Sonetto V or VIII, what amp?


We are putting together a new system and are not hi-fi experts. We have narrowed down speakers to the Sonus Faber Sonetto line, V or VII. We auditioned and ruled out Focal, B&W, Dynaudio due to them being too bright (that was with tube amps). Our room is 16’ by 24, listening area 16’ by 16’, we are aimed into the corner with a corner tv and stereo set up. The room is open design, LR, DR, then kitchen jutting off from DR into L shape. 8’ ceilings. Speakers would be about 10’ apart facing long side wall, not the back of the room. So angled in the room.

We listen to orchestra rock (S. Brightman, Moody Blues), big band (Buble, vintage and current big band), Jazz (Methany, Weather Report), Blues (Beth Hart, Room full of Blues, etc), and some easy stuff, like female vocalists (Julia Fordham). We like robust, orchestrated music with complexity, and then simple stuff.

Is the Sonetto V sufficient, or do we need the VIII? We do not want a subwoofer.

And then what amp? We are being advised McIntosh MA252 or the Rogue Audio Sphinx or Cronus Mag III - the dealers seem to really like these. They are all in our budget, which is somewhere around 10k +/-.

Then there is the cables, how much should we really spend here?

(PS: my ears cannot take the brightness of many speakers we heard, my wife has too many parrots I guess, which are now in a different room).

Appreciate the input and experience, thanks.

wlowe

Well we took the leap, we are now looking at the Olympica Nova III, MA352, Heimdall 2 3m speaker cable. Anyone have thoughts on this combo? We loved the sound. Did not have many options in amps, unless we bought from somewhere else. Is the Heimdall worth it? Thanks

Nice choices with the Nova and MA352. The Heimdahl will give detailed sound.  I had their power cable using it with a Primaluna integrated. While I appreciated what it did I ultimately sold it because it was too detailed and overall did not care for its tonal character. Not sure the speaker cables will mimic the power cable but my guess is yes because that is the nature of Nordost. 

samzx12 This is what we are concerned about. The 352 already does not have the warm tone of the McIntosh sound, though the tubes help. We compared with the MA7200, which made the SF's sound muted. We went back and forth LOL, our dealer was quite patient. We also compared these cables to a purple set which notably dropped the higher frequencies down and dulled them. But these were the only cables. The 352 brings out a lot of detail and a really good range of frequencies. But I love the SF because I do NOT want brightness, at least not to fatigue. We knocked several well-reputed speakers off our list for this reason alone.