Who has listened to Sonus Faber "Cremona Auditor"

i had a chance to hear the sonus cermona auditors at a local hi-fi store. i had seen postings mentioning that these speakers are better for rock or home theater than the earlier sonus faber models, which people generally like to say excel for classical music, and that they're different from the traditional sonus faber sound.

in my listening experience, i thought that they didn't have the "soft" sound that i associate with the sonus faber brand, but they still had a family resemblance. the auditors really excelled on a couple jazz discs i checked out. horns sounded beautiful, full bodied, and there was a nice luxurious and sensuous element to the sound. however, when i tried some rock discs, those qualities didn't sound right to my ears for my tastes.

I heard em. They do the "sonus faber thing" with Diana Krall and whatever other crap that gets used to audition speakers. It lures people in, but it gets tiresome after a while.

They absolutely BUTCHER rock. Meaning, they suck with rock.

If you ONLY listen to jazz and smaller scale classical, they're worth an audition. Otherwise, I'd stay away.

I heard SF Auditors in a hifi store powered by Macintosh electronics and thought they were awesome, at least on the jazz and pop music I prefer. Was very impressed by bass definition out of such a tiny box and upper end sounded sweet yet authentic. Does anyone know how they might sound if placed on a bookshelf rather than the SF stands? That, alas, is my situation...

Also, from a home theater standpoint, the big SF center is too large for my space and I might need to settle for the Home series Center channel (retails for about $1100) should I purchase the Auditors. Does anyone know how that might match with the Auditors?

I had exactly the same experience as Ernio, but I heard them powered by a MacIntosh tube amp and CD player. I did not care for them at all. My brother was the one shopping for speakers and we both found the Vienna Acoustics monitors and Epos monitors to be less articulate but much easier on the ear. Who knows?

They are nice on chamber music, violin sonatas, maybe on small ensemble jazz in a relatively small room. On Carmina Burana: painfully lean for 4000 usd. Be careful with amp. They really need huge solid state amp to be driven (I heard with krell, that was fine, but a Primare A30 integrated - 100 watts - simply struggled hopelessly), or, good tube (that I never heard, but lost of people say). An art piece, wonderful decor, and good for certain music and taste.