Sonus Faber Serafino
 

Does anyone here own Serafino Traditions? Which speakers did you compare them to and why did you choose Serafino? Any comparisons to Guarneri? Thank you in advance!

Tradition series
 

It seems the newer Tradition series has been pretty divisive among previous Sonus Faber lovers and owners. Some feel they have moved too far from their previous seductive "house sound" while others seem to think they are the best Sonus Faber have ever made. Wondering what all your thoughts are. I've love the sound of ages past, even through the the Futura. What are your experiences in relation to previous Sonus Faber models?

Also, does the Violin Red or the Wenge finish look better in person?

I have had a pair of Serafino Traditions for about 18 months now and absolutely love them. I can't provide much insight versus older SF products, even though I have listened to them on occasion. I did however audition a number of competitors at various dealers including: Martin Logan up to the CLX, Monitor Audio's new line, B&W 802D3, Magico's, Wilson, Vandersteen, Olympicas, and Focal Sopras. Plus a couple of trips to Axpona. In the end the Serafino was an easy choice since it does so many things well. The drivers are beautifully integrated, the speakers disappear and image effortlessly, plenty of bass if presented by the material, and extremely detailed without being harsh or strident.

As a bonus, the cabinetry is beautifully rendered, and the size and shape fits into a living space. Important to me since I use these in a family room versus a dedicated listening room. I chose the Wenge mainly to blend with our transitional decorating, but the Violin Red is gorgeous and would fit well in a more modern setting. I know there is a lot of white noise about how the manufacturer markets this line, but the sound quality is what sold me.

My speakers are fed by McIntosh 501 monoblocks and a MX122 PrePro which provide a great match. The selling dealer demonstrated these with an entry level Accuphase integrated, maybe 50w/channel, and the sound was fabulous. Not sure whether that would be enough with all material, but great on jazz etc at reasonable levels. I can't really say enough good things about these speakers. And despite the skyrocketing cost of high end audio components, I think these are a comparatively good value.

carszen... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Welcome to AudioAficionado carszen!

Solid first post. :thumbsup:

Serafino vs. Futura
 

Thanks for the detailed response @carszen. I have the chance to buy a pair of Amati Futuras (dealer trade-in) or the Serafino Tradition. I'm not able to a/b these two models side by side though and not sure which pair to go with. This will be my destination speaker, so have a tough time with the decision. Wondering if the newer series is too much a departure from the Futura and older models (but as you said, you felt the modifications were positive, not negative).

If anyone else has any experiences (positive or negative), feel free to chime in. Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome messages. I have gleaned a great deal of info from this site and happy to contribute if I can.

Delfi, I can't offer any specifics on a comparison between the two since I don't have deep experience with the earlier models. What I have noticed is that the newest generation of speakers from most manufacturers tend to have a greater emphasis on detail, which I really appreciate since I have owned a number of planers from Apogee, Magnepan, and ML. Planers excel in detail, but with many other compromises.

Historically, there was a tradeoff in some area to get detail, at least in this price range. Now you can have detail without harshness or forgoing other factors. Nothing wrong with many older speakers, but in my opinion current products are generally a big improvement over past generations. A little surprising since we are dealing with the same basic components, but apparently benefitting from things like computer simulation, CAD, etc. FWIW, one dealer I spoke with favored the Serafino over the other two speakers in this line. I continue to be rewarded each time I turn them on.

Just my opinion, but I hope this helps some. Good luck with your purchase. I don't think you can go wrong in either case. If you do go with the Serafinos, give them plenty of time to break in.

Finally set up my speakers!

https://i.imgur.com/GViDBB5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Tq15KgU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NsNMe2w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/aguU6Sj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zGJwqkM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cTYVpvu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/V3RJF0l.jpg

Lookin’ good. The photography is outstanding.

Fantastic pics! Congratulations on your Serafinos!

Congratulations! Great photos too - you will really enjoy that setup. Look forward to your impressions as you break in the Serafinos.

Gorgeous speakers and system, congratulations.

God love the Italians!

Congrats, Serafino’s make my mouth water every single time I see them!!

Wow, I enjoyed those pics!
Thank you for sharing and congrats on a wonderful system. :thumbsup:

Thank you everyone.
Since I have a some sort of upgrade disease like many of us here, I’m thinking of getting Amati Tradition.
Anyone went from Serafino to Amati? I would hate to lose money on new speakers but my room can handle bigger speaker.

Congratulations with the speakers , and the setup look really good.

You mentioned earlier used Amati Futuras. While I've not spent much time in front of Amati Traditions, my understanding is that they're at a lower price point than were the AFs, and if they were in the same generation, would have been below the AFs in a product lineup.

That course of action may not be practical if you have a good trade in option with your dealer for Amati Traditions. If you have the upgrade bug, going to the ATs sooner than later probably makes a lot of sense. If you're asking the question now, you're probably not satisfied. Welcome to the rabbit hole! :D

Look forward to hearing what you do. All that said, your current system is excellent.

Yeah, that wasn’t me with Futuras.
Exactly what I’m thinking though is while they are relatively like new to get better swap value as I’m getting pretty good deal.
Don’t know something about deeper bass that I think I would want more of. At the same time I ruled out Amati Tradition initially as I thought they were too big for my room but now looking at it, I’m thinking Amati would be just fine.
Serafino’s are spectacular though.

Re the Futuras, my bad - recalled that on the thread from a while back and didn't remember it wasn't you.

I haven't heard Sonus Faber Amati Tradition, but I only know that they need a big room. If your Sonus Faber dealer is good, he knows if Amati Tradition is right for your room. My Sonus Faber dealer said to me, that Serafino Tradition is right for me. It depends on what kind of room you have. I have heard Serafino Tradition and they are really good with McIntosh C52 and MC452. If you have a big room, you could also look at Il Cremonese. I know that Il Cremonese is much more expensive than Amati Tradiotion, but it could be a much bigger jump than moving from Serafino Tradition to Amati Tradition.

My room is 17 by 22"
Another way Im thinking is in the future moving them up to the theater where I currently have slightly aging yet still good B&W 803D.
I love Serafinos. I really really do.Did not want to miss on an opportunity to move up the line and only lose a couple thousand dollars.

I second the Il Cremonese much bigger step up than the Amati Tradition.

Dang those are purdy!!

hello - I’m thinking about replacing my Guarneri EVO with Serafino but have some questions
A) room size ? I’m using a small room as a listening room - 13ft x 9 ft and my EVO just about work - jazz and female vocals very rich, present and detailed, but on rock or anything poppy the bass is rather slow and muddy (not the case of jazz drums or double bass).... are Serafino too large for my room?

B) if the Serafino are too large, do you think one or two subs could give me a faster bass and better balance the sound? If so what small subs??

I’m using Vitus SIA / SCD with Ansuz C2 cable loom (huge improvement by the way on my Cardas clear beyond)..... thanks for your help..

I have the Nova III and am very happy with them given my room size, but would like to know if anyone has done an A/B comparison to them vs the Serafinos. Is there really $9000 worth of sound difference between them?
Happy Listening.
Trailmusic

I did compared the Nova II to the Amati Tradition.

I think it's should be about the same. Actually what I noticed is the AT gave u more refinement than the Nova II.

But I feel the Nova II make you more enaged to the music.

Just my humble opinion.

I'm so in love with the Nova III.
Since you asked the same question to the Serafino owners, I would like to ask you the same between the Sonettos and your novas. Have you had the chance compare them?

I am an actual Sonetto III owner but I am looking forward to upgrade to the Novas some day. Maybe the Nova II cause I have a medium size listening room.

Fabulous system- I to use Nordost jumper cables- big improvement of metal connectors.

Those are pretty. I have Olympica 3 with a pair of the Amati Traditional in violin red on order. They should be here in two to three weeks. I am looking forward to getting them.

This started a couple weeks ago when I decided it was time to get my two subwoofers re-taped. When I took them out of my system I immediately noticed congestion of the mid and high range disappear. I realized in a couple minutes the subs had to stay out of the system and I needed speakers with sufficient bass not to require subwoofers. The obvious solution was to upgrade a couple levels. It didn’t take much Research to find and confirm what I needed... like two hours.

I am not surprised by your comment, congestion in the mids and highs. The temptation to over adjust a subwoofer is an easy trap to fall into. I have O'3s and Sumiko sub (same as REL), the crossover point is set barely above 30hz and volume is set where you don't hear the sub but simply feel the impact at very low frequencies. Try these settings and you should get teriffic bass and added air and space in the mids and highs. :thumbsup:

I have fiddled with them a bunch. Perhaps they were crossed over too high. However I am also enjoying the lack of clutter without the two big black subs. So I think I’ll stay on course for the new Amati... I always wanted violin red as well. So I think they will do a lot of things for me.

I agree with the clutter issue, did the same thing when I purchased the 585 integrated amp (had separates before). I'm very close to purchasing the Serafino's, violin red is the color of choice!!!!

While sound regardless of looks used to be my priority. I retired a couple years ago and decided it was time for both. So I have been making sequential changes to have both.

I owned the Sonetto V speakers as they are a great speaker for $6500.
I traded up for the Nova III and got a ‘wow’ factor.
The Nova II should give you the same.
Happy listening.
Trailmusic

George:

I have a Simaudio 810P phono stage and am thinking about adding the 820S. Was there a noticeable improvement in your system worth the $7K to $8K for that power supply?

Thanks

Omg, yes! It made a big difference in background and detail. Really was a significant upgrade for my DAC. I would think it would be more for a phono stage. I have found many of the high end products are mostly about power supply improvements. It was great to buy a $9K box and feel that I was able to significantly improve the product later. It does not change the character of the sound, but incrementally improves it in most respects.

Gorgeous!

I wonder how the Serafinos would pair with MC-275’s? Or better, a pair of MC-275’s?

Well, as a follow up. The central congestion did not go away with removal of the sub-woofers. I surmised that part of the problem was noise coming through both channels... da. Vinyl noise comes all over the soundstage because it can be in either groove or at bottom, so picked up by both channels... but noise from both channels comes in the center soundstage... daaa. This is so obvious in retrospect. I am not talking about ssssss noise... but the stuff that fatigues the ears but you can’t hear directly... like you can an instrument. Once I realized this I decided it had to be my streamer (I have a decent DAC with the $9K power supply... didn’t think that was likely the issue). So I upgraded the Auralic Aries G2 to a Aurender W20SE... all congestion completely gone. The images in venter separated in complete silence. Of course the whole soundstage benefited... but the central issue completely gone.