Sonus Faber Extrema : Amplifiers
 

I may have the opportunity to acquire a pair of these. What would be the recommendations for amplifiers between Bryston 28B Cubed or the McIntosh 1.25k. I have owned McIntosh 501s and Bryston 28B before but not driving Extrema's. I listen to allot of Dark Ambient Music and regular Ambient. Thanks

I’m driving SF Strads with my MC 501’s and the Elipsa prior to that with superb results. Doubt you will be unhappy with any of your choices

Peaceful cargo - I’d love to hear a pair of Extremas these days, they were the speaker that got me into this hobby they were so good. The thing about the Extremas was how these needed a ton and I mean a ton of good clean solid state power behind them. The Extremas were notorious for being one of the most difficult speakers to drive when they were on the market. Many dealers would demo them with the big Krell KSA series or the big Classe CA 400 which put out a ton of current. I thing either choice would be ok but I may lean toward a big Bryston for these. The newer Sonus line including the Strads are a piece of cake to drive compared to the Extremas.

- Buck

There is a special anniversary Exterma on the market now!!!!! :music:

Yep, I’ve never heard them. It would be hard to believe they could recreate the magic of the originals.....there was something about them but they really got it right with those.

- Buck

These speakers were (and still are IMO) so cool.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bd/da...79ea19ea42.png

A good friend of mine has the originals and I've heard them many times. I always come away stunned by how good they are. They stand tall with anything today.

I have a pair of the originals and currently drive them with Concert Fidelity ZL120SEV2 monoblocks. They are a match made in heaven. This is the 5th amplifier I have used with them. Prior amps included a couple of Goldmunds, a Bow Tech ZZ-1 and a Sharp SM-SX100. Top to bottom the CFs are as neutral as the Sharp was with these speaker, but the CFs are dead silent and allow images to emerge from deep black backgrounds.

Well worth considering if you are thinking of investing in a pair of Extremas. My only qualm with the Extremas is the crowded placement of its speaker binding posts and the quality of those posts. One day soon I hope to disassemble the speakers to replace the binding posts with a better quality alternative, although the crowding situation cannot be improved.