Any info on new Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario?

I have heard them 2 weeks ago on The HiFi Show in London. They indeed do sound very similar to the more expensive Stradivaris and unlike almost all previous models (they are faster and much more transparent).

I will order Anniversario in few days. More when they arrive at my home( app. 1 month ).
Also, I heard from my Sonus Faber dealer that NEW GUARNERI MEMENTO will be introduced at CES2006 ( in Europe maybe even before new year ). Cabinet size more or less same size. Completly new drivers and crossover. It will be little bit more expensive than old Guarneri Hommage.
So, we will have all new Guarneri after more than a decade. Good news for all Sonus Faber fans out there!

I read in a Taiwan audio publication or web site a major designer in Scanspeak left the company to form his own speaker company which will in effect compete with Sonus Faber. As a result, Franco got upset and switched out as many Scanspeak drivers as possible. Check out his new Domus line, no Scanspeak except tweeter which is sourced from Vifa.

I am not thrilled about the new Anniversario styling especially the rear ports. Original Amati Homage is classy and elegant, Cremona is stylish targeted for younger audience, but Amati Anniversario seems like a bad blend of the two. Maybe I will change my mind when I see the real thing.

I've had about three hours worth of listening to a pair that is still breaking in. Right from the start, it is evident that this is quite a special speaker. Tonal balance is slightly on the warm side, but that does not mean it is muddled and inarticulate like many warmish speakers can be.

The image projected by this speaker is huge and the weight and power that these speakers are capable of delivering makes them exciting to hear.

If there is any weakness (keep in mind they were fresh out of the box), it would be a slight reticence (lack of projection) in the midrange and transients may be a touch soft.

I heard them in a Naim reference system (252 preamp, 300 amp CDS3 CDP). I have also heard the Stradivari in a completely different system utilizing a Boulder linestage and phono stage and custom OTL amps. That too, is quite a nice sounding speaker.

Both the Anniversario and the Stradivari are beautifully finished and both are actually smaller and easier to place in a room than one would expect from pictures.

As a former owner of Dynaudio Confidence 5, I know bass speed. C5 is a compounded bass design in a sealed cabinet and produced the fastest bass I have heard from any speakers. I have owned close to 30 pairs of speaker in the past 10 years, I hope I know what I am talking about. C5 became one of my favorite speaker of all time.

But after owning Amati, I discovered what I was missing all along. There is more to bass than just speed. Scanspeak woofers are not known to have the fastest bass, Seas/Eton/Accuton etc are better known for that. But real life bass is never super damped and tight and Scanspeak produces bass with superb balance of detail, speed, and warmth. My question is has Sonus Faber gone to the dark side and starts making hifi sounding speakers that has tremendous detail, speed, extension, but not music?

It took me a long time to love Amati after owning Extrema for years. Extrema was one speaker that can music no matter what you throw at it. Amati is much more finicky and required more care in upstream equipments and setup. Do I need to brain wash myself all over again and learn to love the "new" Sonus Faber sound?