[jdandy]

John.......The bottom end on the Amati Anniversario's is solid and goes deep, and yes it is taut and fast, but like any great speaker it cannot reproduce what the source doesn't deliver. If the source has a rocking bass, the Anniversario's will deliver. Also, like any other high-end speaker, proper setup in the room is essential. Once I established the correct positions for my speakers the room became perfectly pressurized and coupled with the woofers.

Prior to installing the Anniversario's I owned the Sonus faber Guarneri Memento speakers. The low end was decent to just about 48 Hz. Below that point the GM's rolled off rapidly. I supplemented the lowest octave with a pair of McIntosh XLS112 powered subwoofers and used a Bryston 10B Sub active crossover to route everything below 50 HZ to the subs. The Memento's opened up when they no longer were struggling to reproduce the lowest octave, and the total presentation was excellent. When I got the Amati Anniversario's the bottom end went considerable lower with more power so the subwoofers were removed from the two channel system. The Anniversario speakers are full range.

I have owned my Sonus faber Amati Anniversario speakers for nearly seven years. I am just as thrilled to listen to them today as I was when they arrived. I have powered them with many McIntosh amplifiers, one MC275 in stereo, a pair of MC275's in mono, an MC352, MC452, MC601's, and now I power them with a pair of MC2301 tube power amplifiers. Every amplifier drove the Anniversario's without any issues and sounded fabulous.

If you shop around, you may be able to locate a nice pair of Amati Anniversario's in the price range of $18K, maybe even slightly less. They originally retailed for $30K. I can tell you this much about my speakers. If someone were to offer me full new retail for my Anniversario's, I would turn them down. That's how much I love these speakers. They will be with me to the end of my days.