Amati Futura Vs 802D3

[audiohippo]

Originally Posted by krustycat

Trust your ears and forget what people say, it's a big investment and you are the only one that has to be happy with the choice. Both speakers are great!

+1

[joey_v]

Originally Posted by Exsg

Yes. Already arranged for two week's time.

Really looking forward to it. Seeing it and hearing it in the flesh!

Meanwhile, am enjoying my Saturday evening with Norah Jones.

Alright make sure to let us know

You should become a subscriber so we can PM

[naderpug]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Exsg

It would be nice if you can hear his set up so you can report back and let me know what you think about a tweaked Futura system.

Glad to have the community here involved and I appreciate honest feedback. The B&W 802D3 and Sonus Faber Amati Futura are both phenomenal speakers. As I've said previously, after auditioning many high end speakers over six months of serious consideration, it came down to those two for me.

If I may add, the choice of speaker cables really effects the sound in my system. The Dueland's are really dark, and I have a pair of Silver Quintessence which livens things up considerably - my go to. I change them to match my mood every so often. I've also had some Ansuz POM which made the soundstage huge, but they lacked in bottom end (bass) control with the kinds of music I play regularly.

Exsg can bring some of his music along to reference

[Exsg]

Originally Posted by naderpug

Glad to have the community here involved and I appreciate honest feedback. The B&W 802D3 and Sonus Faber Amati Futura are both phenomenal speakers. As I've said previously, after auditioning many high end speakers over six months of serious consideration, it came down to those two for me.

If I may add, the choice of speaker cables really effects the sound in my system. The Dueland's are really dark, and I have a pair of Silver Quintessence which livens things up considerably - my go to. I change them to match my mood every so often. I've also had some Ansuz POM which made the soundstage huge, but they lacked in bottom end (bass) control with the kinds of music I play regularly.

Exsg can bring some of his music along to reference

I will surely!

Will include Pink Floyd, Ed Sheeran, Jazz in the pawnshop, Norah Jones, Chinese wooden drums and a string instrument cd.

Hope to learn something about your room treatment too.

Have been away four days from my babies now.

[joey_v]

Did this ever happen?

[naderpug]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Did this ever happen?

It did

Exsg is such a great guy with a wonderful family and we had an awesome time auditioning both systems, at his place and mine. We played all kinds of music from jazz to soul, some indie stuff and avant-garde pieces (that was probably more me), and of course some western classics (probably more him).

I'll comment that Exsg's system is a power house! The 802D3's look great dressed in black, but they have barely broken in so it wouldn't be correct for me to judge their sound prematurely. As mentioned before, I was already a fan and came very near to buying a set before purchasing my Amati Fururas. You could clearly hear that the McIntosh tube pre and solid state power amps provided the speakers ample head room and never sounded stressed. They looked great too! Although the speakers were new, the sound was warmer than I expected. Previous model B&W diamonds had a tendency to sometimes sound harsh in the top, and looser at the bottom, but that is no longer the case with the 802D3. They seem properly balanced and in phase. Exsg hasn't much room treatment as yet, and with a young family, the speakers were strategically placed to not get too much in the way. We'll have to do it again when they are bedded in properly.

The Amati Futura's are very very different IMO. The rolled off tweater and the more compact presentation may allow them to sound more cohesive (3.5-way vs 3-way). Instruments are maybe further away from each other on the B&W's - remembering Exsg's have yet to fully break in. Sonically, voices on both speakers are remarkably similar and natural, with maybe the B&W's being traditionally more forward - but again that maybe speaker placement. My Audio Research gear is characteristically detailed, the McIntosh powerful and smooth.

IMO the Amati Futura has a much darker sound than the 802D3 which are up on there toes as was my first impression. That is the big point of difference for me and still quite evident. Both in my opinion are stellar choices and sound great (for considerable expense of course) and I'm glad someone around me has a set of 802D3's for me to play music on!

I look forward to hearing from Exsg about his thoughts.

[Exsg]

Originally Posted by joey_v

Did this ever happen?

Yes it did.

Heard Naderpug's Amatis last week and he heard mine yesterday evening.

We all had a good time and the amati is very smooth and beautiful. A fantastic speaker.

[Kalisager]

My system so far comprises of the MSB Analog DAC maxed-out with the quad DSD input, Power Base, and Volume Control options, the MSB S201 Class A Solid State Amp, Shunyata Research Anaconda Zitron Speaker Cables and Interconnect. What's left to buy is a pair of speakers in the sub 20k price range that'll be a solid fit with my system above. I mostly listen to Jazz and Blues, though I have an enormous library covering many genres. Format of choice is DSD.

I'm thinking about buying either a used-but-in-as-new-condition Sonus Faber Amati Futura speaker system, or a brand new Harbeth 40.2 monitor system. I heard the Harbeth's at RMAF 2015 in Vinnie Rossi's room, and they sounded incredible. And I heard the Amati Futuras at Listenup in Denver a couple of years ago, and they sounded amazing too. Obviously, I have no way of auditioning them side-by-side at this point. So I'm seeking the advice and help of all of you audio fanatics on this forum in making my decision. I am open to other suggestions as well, besides these two speaker systems.

Thanks in advance to all of you. Looking forward to your responses.

[bart]

Kalisager, welcome to this friendly forum!