I am not qualified in any exceptional way to answer, but I feel that your worries may haunt you even if nothing happens. I would be wondering why they replaced the woofers and what kind of life they had before going back to the dealer. On the other hand, you may not be like me at all. I once had a Porsche Boxster and because it had a chance of total engine failure, and if it did fail, I would have to pay for it because there’s no dealer coverage or anything, I ended up selling it because all I did is worry if it might fail. I read too much maybe but I just felt like on a teacher salary I could not afford such a thing. Maybe your instincts are right and you should keep looking and see if you can find some sort of giant killer that would work for you. But, if you are definitely in love with this and know that it’s the best thing for you then maybe you should go for it. But do you listen to your inner voice especially if it will not shut up after you buy them. I would hate for it to take your listening experiences because you have to be concerned about the future. And then these days getting any help at all from dealers or manufacturer, seems to be difficult. But again that’s just my two cents and they may not be worth even 2 cents. I appreciate these real world types of posts, because these are concerns that I think many of us struggle with. Good luck! I hope you get Audio bliss in whatever direction you go!
Please save me from an expensive mistake! Sonus Faber Amati Futura longevity concerns...
Hello everybody! I would really appreciate your informed advice before committing to an expensive purchase. I'm strongly considering a pair of the speakers I've enjoyed the most among all I've heard, Sonus Faber Amati Futura. Now, these are my dream speakers and I'll get the chance to test them at length before buying, but even at used prices they are a very serious stretch to my finances.
I'm not concerned about sound, I'll figure that part myself, but I do worry about any future maintenance issues because they are 10 - 15 years old and I need them to last. I don't know if, or when, will I be able to buy something at this level again, so I need to keep them in good order for the next 20+ years. Down the road, this might require replacing the ferrofluid in the tweeters, replacing the rubber surround of the midrange drivers (the 4 woofers have just been replaced with new ones by the dealer, not sure why, but they should not be a problem I guess) or replacing some aged crossover components, for example.
Is any of you aware of any reason why the above mentioned maintenance operations might not be possible for this particular model? For example if the crossovers are resin potted or for any other reasons? I'm "getting married" here folks, if there is any reason why I should not do it please speak now or be silent forever! :)
Seriously now, I'm worried sick... Please advise!
Thank you!
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This is why I have two pairs of original ProAc Response 2's, with back up drivers purchased before they became unobtainable. ;-) A friend of mine recently bought a used pair of Response 1sc's but he called ProAc to confirm that they do still have replacement drivers in stock, which they said they do. I'm a little surprised that SF won't confirm the availability of replacement drivers, but then they don't make a dime off the used market. Crossovers with film caps are not going to ear out, so forget about that. And anyway, replacing the film caps would not be an issue. You say the woofers have already been replaced. Regarding the tweeters, I don't know anything about them but it appears that replacing the ferrofluid is not a big deal. I think you're getting too concerned and that you should proceed and enjoy them for as along as they last, which should be a good long while. |
Thank you so much for all your answers! I will try to address a few things mentioned above: - @knotscott : You are saying that ferrofluid replacement should be"Fairly easy to do if the tweeters come out, and the voice coil assembly is removable." How can I assess if this is actually the case with the Futura's tweeters? - maybe "worried sick" was too strong, "concerned" would be more realistic. I can take care of my emotional balance, I won't loose sleep over future catastrophic failures once the speakers are in my room, but before I use that credit card I want to make sure I'm making a well informed decision. - I have listened to these speakers before at the dealer and I fell in love with them. I'll get to listen at length again on Friday, with my gear, in the dealer's room before purchasing. My amplifier (Accuphase E470) is perhaps not ideal but I expect it will work well enough as I've heard it driving a pair of Amati Tradition quite well for my ears. My room is pretty small but it seems to eat away a lot of bass so both the Serafino and the Spendor Classic 100 were bass light in it - therefore the Futura's bass will probably be just fine. I have listened to the Amati Tradition at a friend's and to the Serafino at home, both with my own gear, and the midrange was lacking color and magic to my ears and the highs were quite elevated, otherwise yes, I would have went for the Amati Tradition instead. - buy back means the speaker belonged to someone else who returned them to the dealer as part of the cost of some other new speakers (like Amati Tradition for example) - I cannot afford to buy spare tweeters, midrange drivers and crossovers and store them just for peace of mind. A single tweeter is 500 Euro! Also, I don't know how old would those tweeters actually be and if I'm not mistaken the ferrofluid dries out even when the tweeters are kept in storage.
Sorry for the long post, I tried to address most of your points.
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