[antipop]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Ron.......I am very happy for you. It is good you gave the Memento's the opportunity to present their very special qualities. Before I had my Guarneri Memento's I owned the Cremona Auditors. The Auditors are very good sounding speakers. Before they arrived I wondered if the Memento's would truly sound better than the Auditors. Once I had the Mementos here and set up it took me several days to fully appreciate the differences I was hearing. I discovered there was more air around voices and instruments, less congestion, with increased clarity across the musical spectrum. Surprisingly, the Memento's bass response was impressive from it's mid-bass driver despite the fact the Memento's begin to roll off fairly quick below about 46Hz. Once I got past the analytical nature of my comparison between the Auditor's and the Memento's and relaxed enough to begin to simply enjoy the music it became clear that the Guarneri Memento's are in a superior league.

What I soon discovered with the Memento's was an absence of deep bass and it's accompanying dynamic impact. I purchased the Bryston 10B Sub active crossover and used my two McIntosh XLS112 powered subwoofers with the Guarneri Memento's. That made a huge and very satisfying improvement in the full range performance. By using the active crossover, sending frequencies above 60Hz to the Mementos and frequencies below 60Hz to the two subwoofers, the Memento's lower and midrange frequencies improved. The GM's mid-bass driver was no longer having to struggle with trying to reproduce the lowest octave in a frequency range below it's roll off point. This improved the clarity and dynamics of the Memento's midrange noticeably, plus now I had deep, impactful bass from the XLS112 subwoofers that was absent in the Memento's by themselves. The combination of the Guarneri Memento's, the Bryston 10B Sub active crossover, and the two McIntosh XLS112's was amazing. Once I got the Memento's physical positions in the room dialed in they literally disappeared when music was playing. The sound stage was wide and deep and the frequency range was full range in every respect.

By themselves the Sonus faber Guarneri Memento speakers are very good. In combination with an active crossover and a pair of good subwoofers their performance is elevated to full range on par with many of the finest floor standing loudspeakers. You have room to gain additional high-end performance from your Memento's should you desire.