Isophon Cassiano or what?


I have recently sold my Sonus Faber Guarneri homage, because i wanted to try something new. I have come across the Isophon Cassiano speaker, and can only find really good things written about them . One person meant that it beat the Avalon opus ceramiqe compared in his livingroom.
did anyone of you listened to these and what was your impression.maybe on its bigger brother the Isophon Arabba
Are they really that great?
smaj
yes..of the three, the guarneri homage would be the best all rounder for all types of music.
Arabba with Diamond tweeter cost 33K Euro in EU and $50K in USA. It is in completely different class from any Sonus Faber speaker, save Stradivari. But, big room and amp are a must...
Cassiano Diamond is excellent speaker as well but, I would personally choose new Avalon Indra over it.

There are other excellent candidates in Cassiano price range like new Gryphon Atlantis or Escalante Fremont to give you just few examples...

BTW, old Guarneri Homage is not all rounder at all IMHO...

Just one last thing-all speakers mentioned above are floorstanders(some even big floorstanders). Arabba, Atlantis and Fremont demand room bigger then 30m2. Cassiano and Indra at least 24m2. Keep that in mind as well...
Thank you very much for your replies.
I agree with you Branimir in your aspects of the Guarneri not being allrounder... but I think it is rather good in some areas

The Fremont dosent appeal to me with the way it looks, Gryphon Atlantis looks great,and it shold be easy to get to listen to here in Denmark....

But Why choose the new Avalon Indra over the Cassiano. What does it do better
maybe i should add the pricedifference in Denmark
Isophon Cassiano 22k dollar

Avalon Indra 35k dollar

are the Avalons worth this pricedifference
Well, Smaj, you'll have to listen to both very carefully. On paper, the Isophon uses a more expensive driver complement (all Thiel & Partner). Impossible to say which is better, why, & by how much -- without testing!
I know you are right Gregm ,and the speakers sound different from person to person, but if Branimir knows both speakers well, maybe he could point out what the difference is . Maybe I could live happely ever after with the Isophon, and better the chain elswhere with the rest of the money.... but testing for sure
Cassiano Diamond has little bit more bass depth and power. Its soundstage is not as deep as Indra's. In fact Cassiano's soundstage is smaller in all dimensions(although difference is not huge). Cassiano is better with marginally better with popular music and Indra is better with classic and jazz.
Indra is kinder load while Cassiano is pretty tough one since its impedance curve drops to almost 2ohms in bass.

Is Indra a lot better speaker? No but, it is better to my ears.

In the end it will depend a lot on your musical preference and system synergy.
What about the smaller Avalin ascendent2 compared to the cassiano Diamond ? It should also be a great "small" speaker . They are the same pricerange here in dk !
Cassiano Diamond vs Indra> Indra
Cassiano Diamond vs Ascendant2> Cassiano Diamond

Of course IMHO...
Thank you very much for your help& opinion Branimir . I am looking foreward to do some serious listening myself before making my choice
regards
Just my two pence...Avalon have achieved something really really great with their Indra.

I compared them with Watt/Puppy 8, Verity persifal, Sonus faber stradivari hommage, for my taste (tonal accuracy, perfect imaging, vasy sound stage, internal dynamics, coherency) The Indra is the best of them all.

I even prefer the Indra to the Avalon's Eidolon (!) I know it's weird but the Indra have the new crossover from the Isis, and maybe it is the reason why....)
I heard the Isophon at a recent UK show and was very impressed. Detailed, uncoloured, neutral, fast, they were clearly the best, not the most expensive, either at the show. If a speaker can sound good in show conditions, they must be very good indeed. I think they are good value at the price, but Avalon are too. The problem for you colonials, is that any European speaker is gong to be very expensive, because of the value of the $. This has to make it better value to look to US kit
Well judging from the pictures, you have a small to mid sized room. This means all the above discussed flagships may have trouble in your room. There are two roads to this, a mid sized loudspeaker i.e 7" woofer tops, or a full sized speaker with an active adjustable bass section. As you are in Denmark, I would suggest the following,the Neeper Acoustics Perfection 1, the Gamut L3, System Audio SA2K. The large speaker choice would be the Adam Audio Tensor Beta from Germany.
hi spere
I would never suggest niether gamut or system audio as ther sound never did anything for me , have heard both at several occations . Have never heard Neeper so i couldent tell about them
Another idea along the lines of Sphere would be Gradient -- their offerings are small with good dispersion characteristics -- particularly helpful in a small room. (BTW, they aren't danish but finnish; but Finland is closer to you than the US!)
Dear Smaj,
I can understand your response for the Gamut speakers. But I can tell you this, if one puts some effort in setting up a Gamut L5 loudspeaker, the results can be fantastic. Do they have flaws? Yes, but which speaker doesn't? Do take the effort to set up the L3 properly, and I am sure that it will reward you with some great results.