Sonus Faber Olympica or Guarneri + 200

[moreno1973]

Hello

Is there anybody who is using 200 with SF Guarneri Evolution. For now I have SF Auditor M. But I am thinking in making a change and an upgrade with speakers. My room is about 18m2. I am also thinking in SF Olympica II. 

Any experiences?

Best Regards
Chris

[Womaz]

@moreno1973
Did you get to hear the SF Olympica 2 with the Devialet........or anyone else heard them?

[thumb5]

Hello

Is there anybody who is using 200 with SF Guarneri Evolution. For now I have SF Auditor M. But I am thinking in making a change and an upgrade with speakers. My room is about 18m2. I am also thinking in SF Olympica II. 

Any experiences?

Best Regards
Chris

Sorry Chris, I must have missed your original post and only just picked it up.

I recently tried a pair of Guarneri Evolution for a couple of weeks with my 400.  As you can see from my signature, I'm used to the Guarneri Homage (and considering an upgrade).  My room is a little larger than yours -- about 4 x 6 m.

I was surprised to hear that the Evolution are quite different to the Homage: they have a much more substantial and weighty bass, which I was looking for, but they also seem much less "airy" in the treble.  Overall a rather "darker" voicing.  They make a very musical and un-fatiguing sound and I think work well with the Devialet, but were not quite to my taste. YMMV, of course, so I'd say definitely worth listening to if you're in the market for speakers in that range.

[KraaijCheck]

@moreno1973
Did you get to hear the SF Olympica 2 with the Devialet........or anyone else heard them?

I own the olympica 2 with a devialet 200 and think they are an amazing match.


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[Womaz]

@moreno1973
Did you get to hear the SF Olympica 2 with the Devialet........or anyone else heard them?

I own the olympica 2 with a devialet 200 and think they are an amazing match.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

Excellent thank you. They are one of the speakers I am considering. Are they fussy about placement as I have to have them very close to a rear wall. I have the PMC23s at present and they are front ported so this is less of an issue although the bass can still get a bit too much even with these. The Olympica II is a beautiful looking speaker.

[KraaijCheck]

@moreno1973
Did you get to hear the SF Olympica 2 with the Devialet........or anyone else heard them?

I own the olympica 2 with a devialet 200 and think they are an amazing match.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

Excellent thank you. They are one  of the speakers I am considering. Are they fussy about placement as I have to have them very close to a rear wall. I have the PMC23s at present and they are front ported so this is less of an issue although the bass can still get a bit too much even with these. The Olympica II is a beautiful looking speaker.

Good placement really makes a big difference. My olympica's are about 35-40cm from the back wall.

[Womaz]

Thanks again, this is the big problem I have , if I go for them they will virtually be against the back wall as I have no other option.
It will be a shame if this makes them no good for me as out of all the speakers I am thinking about these are my favourites looks wise

[KraaijCheck]

Thanks again, this is the big problem I have , if I go for them they will virtually be against the back wall as I have no other option.
It will be a shame if this makes them no good for me as out of all the speakers I am thinking about these are my favourites looks wise

Try to audition them at you're home. I'm sure you will love them but you have to test te effect of the placement against the wall.

[Robert]

Hi Womaz

Just auditioned some Olympica I and II's against KEF Ref 1's.

I liked the the tonal balance of the SF's more than the KEF's. I thought they where more natural and revealing particularly on live jazz/blues recordings. Music had a better, more realistic perspective with cleaner tighter natural bass control. Recording acoustics were rendered more realistically. The KEF's were more colourfull and dramatic but less naturally balance IMO.

To OP not had a comparison with Guarneri Evolution, but Olympica's worth checking out.

[MusicLover]

Hi guys,
 
I also own the Olympica II so I should be able to help on this one. Sorry if it seems long.
 
These are my second SF speakers. I went for the Olympica's having auditioned them along with my girlfriend, who, as I've told before, is a cellist and musicologist herself.
 
Funny that Robert's first note is about "tonal balance". My prime focus when searching for the next speaker was on natural, unforced sound with no emphasis on any specific frequency range. And the Olympica II, in my view, regardless of price, excels at that. If anything it leans, at least in my experience, just very slightly on the warm side. I would still say they easily achieve 95% neutrality if not more though.
 
Secondly, I was looking for "presence" and "attack". I mean, when hearing an instrument or a voice, a string or even a shout, it should be rendered as fleshy and palpable as possible, as if you could touch it. A cello should sound deep, powerful and sometimes cavernous. A violin should sound agile and gracious. But in both cases their body (and therefore distinct character) should be immediately recognizable and real. The Olympica's deliver here amply too.
 
Regarding soundstage, as Ken Kessler put it, you really get a vista like view of the album played (when properly placed that is, I'll come back to this next). The Olympica delivers a particularly wide and deep view. Regarding depth, it is here where you notice the excellent low level detail retrieval, especially when paired with Devialet. Overall on this, you get to hear the smallest details, echoes, reverberances, character... of the venue the album was recorded at.
And yes, on live recordings, they are truly impressive.
 
Last, regarding placement, I can't really say whether they are too fuzzy or not. What I can say is that I haven't hear them anywhere as good as in my place. I guess learning to go for patient experimenting and changing only one parameter at a time has really paid off. For reference, in my room they sit 115 cm from the back wall and still deliver more than enough quality bass (SAM means they can go as low as 23 Hhz, so almost full range, at moderate listening levels). Whether one can acommodate such a long wave in a small/medium size room remains to be seen though
 
Needless to say, a home demo of an already well run in pair is a must if you have the chance.
 
ML