Upgrading to a Guarneri Memento?

[NGeorge]

Hmmm, not so sure anymore.

I have a three-month old Cremona Auditor M. After I first set them up, I began exploring other Sonus Faber speakers, especially the Guarneri Memento, their top-of-the-line stand-mount. I visited dealers and started fantasizing about owning them. Who wouldn't with a speaker like the Guarneri? Then last Wednesday evening, I closed a deal to trade in my Auditor M (still not broken-in) for a Graphite Memento. That night, while laying in bed, I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. The excitement of owning a piece of a Homage was keeping me awake. When morning came, I readied my checkbook and headed for work, and planned to see the dealer after I get off from my job.

Then during lunch, it hit me: Shouldn't I - at the very least - listen and enjoy the Auditor M as much as I spent time reading up all the reviews? Shouldn't I enjoy them as much as the reviewer themselves?

Today, as I finished setting up the dedicated stands for my golden maple Auditor M, I began to trust my ears and intuition again - and why I liked them in the first place.

In the past three months, they have opened up a little bit more - it's dynamics galore! Musical notes are clearer, fuller and more 'there.' And with the grilles off, some notes even sound eerily real! Not sure if you have this, but I'd like to share with you on a great deal I got from Amazon.co.UK. I bought a 2-CD set of The Who The Ultimate Collection (CD, Universal Polydor 065 234-2) for £4.33 (about $7.00). Re-mastered by Jon Astley, this set really tests the Auditor M's range and see how they can cope with The Who at their rocking best.

On "5'15" and "Love Reign O'er Me," you'd never notice you're listening to a two-way monitor. Simply how could a 6" midrange driver push out so much thunderous energy with nary a hint of distortion? Even the mono recordings on disc 1 - with their raw and wonderful noise (?) - it's really exciting listening to The Who through the Auditor Ms. As it's been stated, rock music captured on tapes have their limitations, most especially dynamics. But these monitors don't show it - in fact they produce just as much information as extracted from the master tapes. On "You Better You Bet," the song has never sounded better even though you miss the mad drumming of Keith Moon, nicely filled in by Kenny Jones.

There are two speakers through the years that have put me in a trance and hear me whisper 'wow.' The first was the ProAc Response Three (now retired) and the second one, the Silverline SR-17. I had to give up the ProAcs because of their size - I was moving to an apartment from a house and didn't have the room for them. As for the Silverline SR-17 (also retired now), I traded them in for the bigger, newer Silverline SR-17.5. Big mistake. They didn't create the same wow factor I was looking for and that led me to find and then found the Cremona Auditor M.

Do the Auditor Ms have the wow factor? They are very close. As they show more transparency, other areas in the musical spectrum got better, leading to new surprises: Some CDs I put away to the "not-to-be-heard-again" bin - or the unlistenable - seem to have been brought back to life. And it's not a stretch to say with these discs being more listenable they are actually enjoyable! So this may qualify as a wow factor from the Auditor M?

Does the Guarneri Memento have it? I think so - yes, but I would need to have them at home to find out, which is not very easy to do with all the logistics. Anyway, how does the Auditor M compare to the Guarneri Memento aside from having the Guarneri costing twice as much? Is the Memento two times better?

Let me put it this way: If you like your music accurate, dynamic and sonically balanced, you'll like the Auditor M. But why the change of heart?

The Auditor M is a Guarneri - in less spectacular clothing. It's a trickled down version of the Guarneri but a solid alternative if you like your music amplified - that's most of the music out there. And that's when the Auditor M is preferable to the Guarneri. Don't get me wrong, the Guarneri is the ultimate stand-mount transducer, I think, but you don't listen to only acoustic and classical music, do you? If those are just the types you like, get the Guarneri and be happy for the rest of your life. Otherwise, the Auditor M is your choice if you like rock, vocals, blues, jazz, acoustic and classical.

I realized I was just having a crush on the Memento because they looked beautiful. And they sound awesome. Well, the Auditor Ms are no slouch in the looks department themselves. And they sound incredibly good. But would I upgrade from Auditor M to the Mementos? Only if my ego begs me to. But as my ears would attest - my practical ears, now - the Auditor Ms come very close to the Memento in their sonic signature. And they are more dynamic.

So what happened to my deal with the store owner? He was cool about it and didn't pressure me to buy the Mementos. He knows the Auditor M is not a speaker you just simply toss away. With my system, they captivate in their own special, jaw-dropping, musical way.

Cheers,
George

My system:

47 Lab Flatfish/Progression for digital
47 Lab Phonocube/Garrard 301/RS-A1/Shelter 501 II for analog
47 Lab Gaincard (on dual mono mode) for amplification
47 Lab Input Chooser (passive pre-amp)
47 Lab ICs, cables & power cords (all custom-made)
Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor M on dedicated stands

[KMC45]

Enjoy your speakers.

[j3brow]

Originally Posted by KMC45

Enjoy your speakers.

+1.

The Auditors are great speakers with a very enjoyable sonic signature. No doubt you owe it to yourself to further explore what the Auditors bring to the table given the short period of time you have owned them. I am very much so enjoying mine 4 years now down the road. In fact, they are the ONLY thing that hasn't changed in my system over the last 4 years.

I too have fought the urge to move up to the GM/GH. Just looking at them is mesmorizing, they are beautiful. I have never heard them and as you said, I am sure they sound 'better'. But there is always a trade off. As you have astutely pointed out, some music will sound better on Auditors and some types better on Guarneri's. Owners of both, have stated that the auditors are more forgiving of lesser recordings/mastering (a lot of rock) whereas the Guarneris can spotlight the warts and all. Of course, very very well recorded music will benefit from the additional resolution offered by the GMs. Also, others have commented going directly from auditors to guarneris also resulted in a loss of soundstage width (I'm thinking of a direct quote from fellow forum member Alberto, I believe Serge's experience was similar)


So, you are not alone in your thoughts. If the Auditors hadn't continued to thrill me, I would have long ago upgraded. If I could have my druthers, I would own BOTH pairs, until then, I will stick with my Auditors - a overlooked gem if you ask me.


Again, enjoy your speakers and your fine electronics.

Jason

[BuffaloBill]

Originally Posted by NGeorge

But why the change of heart?

Maybe because as they say, "money talks".

[PHC1]

I had the Cremona A's (not the M) which I upgraded to the GMs after about a year of enjoying them. I also had the GMs for about a year before moving on to exploring Wilson in my system.

Since I did not spend any significant time listening to the M version of Cremona A's, I can only comment on the original versions vs GM's. I thought the GM was a more refined speaker. The qualities were most evident in a more extended but smoother top end response, deeper, fuller bass and an even richer sounding midrange. Those qualities were certainly worth 2x the price IMHO but someone else may not find paying 2x worth the expense. I can't really say that one speaker was more forgiving over the other or made a significant difference in the type of music you listen to. The GMs were simply more refined and richer sounding and that bodes well for any type of music IMHO, the rest will depend on the quality of the recording.

Having said that, I would suggest you spend some quality time getting familiar with your Cremona A/Ms. Accrue some break in time, listen to a wide variety of music and come back to the topic of upgrading once you have some playing time on them, it will make more sense then.

[jdandy]

NGeorge.......I made the expensive transition form the SF Auditor's to the Guarneri Momento's, and I am pleased with the performance differences. This doesn't mean I was dissatisfied with the Auditor's performance, because I was not. In fact, the SF Auditors were thoroughly mesmerizing, and were a wonderful way to get my feet wet in the Sonus Faber camp, so to speak, since I had not owned any SF speakers before the Auditor's. Make no mistake about it, the Auditor's are bested by the Guarneri Momento's in several important areas. The GM's ability to go convincingly lower is quite evident. The GM's overall frequency spectrum is flatter, and the different drivers have a greater dynamic range capability. There are, of course, many sonic similarities between the Auditor's and the Momento's, too. This is why the Auditor's are so well liked. They sound very good, but in my humble opinion, the GM's sound, and look much better.

The comments about a shrinking sound stage with the GM's versus the Auditor's doesn't reflect my experience at all. My Guarneri Momento's throw a wide, stable, almost holographic sound stage, with depth and presence that is astonishing. Is it less of a sound stage than the Auditor's produced in the same room with the same electronics? Not in the least.

Like all good speakers, both monitors types and floor standing varieties, they must be set up properly in the room. Correct location, distance from the listening position, distance from the rear and side walls, tow-in, and the acoustic properties of the room all play into the accuracy of any speaker's ability to develope a convincing sound stage. Fail to embrace any aspect of setting up speakers accurately in a room will always rob you of some portion of the speaker's premium performance capabilities.

As for a speaker being one that is forgiving, I am not sure I understand the concept. What exactly is forgiveness in a speaker? Is it a soft midrange, or a rolled off top end? Is it some type of coloring that alters accurate musical reproduction? I don't want a speaker that colors poor recordings to the extent that they sound better. I want a revealing, musical, accurate speaker cabable of delivering the real recording, not a soft version of it. Don't mistake my point, I am not saying the SF Auditors are soft in the midrange, or have a rolled off top end. I'm just saying that the term "forgiving" as applied to a speaker is so vague as to have almost no meaning unless the specific sonic anomalies are spelled out.