Why Merlins sound better then Sonus Faber

Macrijack, i am actually trying to understand when paying for SF is it actually that you get ba etter sound or are paying directly for the craftmanship, material and design more then for the reproduction of the sound and that is why there is such a big price difference. I know that sf are known for a specific warm sound, probably less true of the new models, whereas the merlins are always known for being transparent without adding anything extra. So this leaves one wondering should he pay $$$ for wormanship and materials and get less of a sound or get merlins which are not bad looking and be happy with the sound. I am also trying to see if i do get SF, ie amati futura or guarneri evolution, which are gorgeous peace of art btw, will i be dissapointed in sound compared to merlins???

07-05-14: Unistar99
Macrijack, i am actually trying to understand when paying for SF is it actually that you get ba etter sound or are paying directly for the craftmanship, material and design more then for the reproduction of the sound and that is why there is such a big price difference.

Why do you keep insisting that "there is such a big price difference" between the Merlin VSM and a floorstanding Sonus Faber?

The Merlin VSM series 2-way floorstander in all its permutations ranges from $9,020 to $13,600/pair. The Sonus Faber 3-way Olympica II retails at $10,000/pair and the 3-way floorstanding Olympica III retails at $13,500/pair.

Their prices couldn't track much closer had Merlin and Sonus Faber colluded on the matter.

Yes, there are far more expensive SFs in their flagship Aida ($160,000) and "The Sonus Faber" ($200,000) models, but they compete in the Focal Utopia Grande/Wilson Alexandria/XLF stratosphere.

Amati futura is 36k, i was not looking at the lower end models actually, hmmmm

Unistar99, I'd hardly call the Olympica II and III lower end models. You might call the Venere series lower end in that they're all made in China and $3500 or less. But the Olympica series use the staved construction of the higher end models and are made in Italy. They use a pinned soft dome tweeter that converts a dome radiator into a smooth, linear, and extended ring radiator. They have very low cabinet resonances thanks to the staved construction, and--unlike the Merlin VSM--make use of the entire floorstanding cabinet for higher efficiency (more dynamic range) and deeper bass extension without need for a BAM module.

I heard the now-discontinued Cremona M at $10K and it was an extraordinary speaker and value at that price. The Olympica series replaces the Cremona series and would have to equal or exceed it to stay competitive in that market.

Another shill in the crowd!