Speaker Asylum: Sonus Faber Guaneri Speakers by hifi1

I love Sonus Faber speakers. I have owned over the past 10 years the Minima Amator, the Electa Amator and currently 2 pairs of Guaneris (s/n 007 and 010 circa 1993). The classic series of SF exhibited the following traits
1. Expensive
2. Beautiful
3. Lush mids (coloured to some)
The appearance of the Extrema and Guaneri (G) in that order took SF to new highs and entrench SF as one of the best constructed speaker manufacturer (in my opinion). It came as no surprise that the Extrema is the beast and the Guaneri, the beauty.

44 pieces of maple, walnut and other solid wood dried 2 years and painstakingly assembled by hand make G the hottest hifi item in 1994 to 1997. The waiting period for G was 9 months to a year depending on where you are located. Most owners buy the product without auditioning because there was no where to audition.

So how could a speaker create such a fuss?

The G has a 28mm silk dome tweeter, a 150mm woofer and a sensitivity of 88db 1W 1m at 2.83V. On paper it looks like an easy load with some care needed at the rear port. The binding posts are recessed in so users with thick, stiff speaker cables need to be careful especially when you are bi-wiring.

In my listening place, the speakers were located about 2 feet off the back wall and slight toe in about 15%. The listening space is about 700 square feet. Source is a Teac P30 transport conncected to Jadis JS DAC using AT &T ST cable and interchanged with one piece of Synergistic Research excellent Resolution Reference interconnect (Mk1 NOT MkII) used as coaxial.
A pair of XLO 2.1 Signature linked the balanced output to the balanced input of my modified Sonic Frontier SFL 2 pre amp. The pre is modified to accept only 1 balanced input and 1 RCA output and the other inputs and outputs are shorted to prevent unwarranted disturbances. Synergistic Research Resolution reference interconnects linked the pre to my Manley 440 monos (upgraded by Manley to 500) and I use synergistic Resolution Reference speaker cables to the speakaers. The jumpers used are AudioNote AN-SPz for G007 and XLO 5.1 Signature for G010.

Part 1 to be continued. Sorry

Sonus Faber Guaneri Speakers Review by hifi1 at Audio Asylum