Looking for help with my Speaker Upgrade
 

We recently moved to a smaller house. I now have a dedicated listening room which has been acoustically tuned with absorption, diffusion and corner traps. My room dimensions are on the small end 11'7" x 15'6" with 8 foot ceilings.
Speakers are 6'6" from centre of each speaker. 31" from side walls and 36" from rear walls.
My head position is 8 feet back from front of speakers with 30" from my head to the rear wall.
Diffusion is on wall behind me. Absorption at first deflection points on side walls. Rear wall with additional absorption on side walls. Corners have base traps.

My room was a lot larger and my Dynaudio C4 Signatures had a lot of room to breath. With patient room tuning and adjustment they sound great in my new room at moderate listening levels. If I crank things up it can be a little more challenging. They are driven by Krell Evolution One and Two's. Source is EMM DA2, Bryston BDP-2 and cabling is Siltech. I also own a JL Fathom 112.

I have had a chance to listen to the Sonus Faber Guarneri Evolution on my last visit to Florida and liked them very much. I have also heard the Wilson Sasha 2's. Our choices are very limited where I live. Not much high-end anymore here. I have access to Sonus Faber here if I order them, also have access to Wilson Audio. The reality is I don't have much choice here if I move away from Dynaudio. I also listened to the smaller Paradigm Persona's but found them a little on the forward bright side. I wouldn't mind trying something new and may be leaning towards the Amati, Guarneri's or new Tradition's but have to say the Wilsons sound pretty nice when driven by Krell.

I understand that in an ideal world speakers should be auditioned in your own listening environment but the reality this isn't possible in small market cities. Hence my query here.

I listen to mostly, Jazz, Blues, Easy Listening and the odd New Age.

Looking for help with my Speaker Upgrade
 

shpritz...for the size of your room and the type of music you listen to (and the amplifier-speaker match), I would go with the SF Guarneri Evolution, or even better the Mementos, which are the version before the Evolution. I think the Krell-Wilson combo can also be a bit forward and shrill sometimes. Also Sasha 2s also feel they might be a bit much for your size room. You can always dial-in the JL Fathoms with SF Guarneri if you are missing a little bottom end, and that should also help them pull off a better disappearing act.

This is just one person's opinion. I am sure you will get many others.

I recently had the chance to hear the new lines of SF Tradition series in a room size ratio of 12'×16'×9'. That's between Serafino, Amati the latest version and futura and Guarneri Evos.

For that room size I was truly impressed with the Serafino it had the grace and bass of both Amatis minus the bass empowering that room. They were very dynamic, transparent, airy and balanced. The Amatis sounded very nice they threw a big soundstage but the 8" bass was a bit too much for that room size which gave an unbalanced sound but given an appropriate room yes they will definitely sound great.

As for the Guarneri Evo I tried it as a comparison. I have the Evos and wanted to know if it was a good significant upgrade for me. It did held its place especially at the midrange region it was so lovely slightly less airy to the newer series but still very nice and sweet. No doubt there was a slight lacking in the lower registries, they did too threw a big stage. They sounded slightly sluggish/laidback and darker in tone than the newer Traditional series. Funny when I bought the Evos I did a comparison with the Momentos and I found the Momento sounded slightly dark and laid back in comparison to the evos. It's like each newer series sounds less darkish in tone and more dynamic then the previous generations.

All in all the Serafino should sound decent in your room size without giving much bass issues. The room that I heard didn't have much treatment done so with a little bit of treatment I don't see that to be an issue.

My room size is 12'x21.6'×8' and I find the Guarneri Evo sounds fabulous with a slight lacking in the lower registries but that doesn't disturb me at all, as I find them to be very musical, engaging with lovely midrange and sweet highs that captivates me each time I switch my system on and they fill the room up nicely giving me an enveloped 3D stage.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

I agree with the others that a large floor stander might be too much for your new room. I had Sasha 1's for 5 years in a 15' X 24' X 9' dedicated listening room and at times the bass was constrained by the room. I also agree that Wilson and Krell is not the best pairing.

The Evolutions might be a great choice given your room. If you need more bass, you can always try the sub you already own.

Yup. I am definitely leaning towards the Guarneri line up. They must be well loved as it is very hard to find anything in North America over the past six months since I started looking.

If you mostly listening to music than Sonus Faber speakers line is the way to go from my experience with SF.

1guy... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Sabrina's or Yvette should also be on your list.

Went with Graphite Mementos
 

After much reading. Waiting for a pair to come available up here for a fair price, I went with the Mementos! Love them!! Thanks for all your input and help.