Any info on new Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario?

I upgraded from Guarneri Homage to Amati Homage last March without knowledge of the Anniversario. I was at first very disappointed after finding out about the Anniversario. But after careful consideration, I have come to the following conclusion: The Amati will stay with me. Regardless of how the Anniversario sounds, and I'm sure it sounds wonderful, I simply cannot imagine a more lifelike and engaging presentation I have achieved with the Homage, especially in the midrange. Nothing I have heard anywhere approaches this aspect of the speaker. I thought the midrange of the Guarneri was about as good as it gets, but the midrange of the Amati Homage is in a different league. In addition, I do not care for the styling of the Anniversario. It is not as elegant as the Homage, and looks more like a glossy Cremona. Considering the lost weight, the new binding posts, the flat front baffle, I would guess it's less costly to build. Of course this is just one user's opinion. To put my comments in total context, the rest of my system consists of Cary CAD-845SEI integrated amp, Aesthetix Rhea phono stage, VPI TNT V Hot Rod with Sumiko Celebration cartridge, and Harmonic Technology cables. There is no CD player in my system.

Glad to hear we can all live in peace.

I do agree Alma has better front end than his dealer, I heard the Audio Aero Capitole several times and each time I told myself I should get one someday.

I am also well aware Mr. Skanning is the founder of Dynaudio, Scanspeak, and Skanning (Audio Technology). Many have claimed the best Skanning drivers ever made was the one in Extrema. As an Extrema owners for years, I do find Amati to have better mid overall from transparency, detail, imaging, and other perspectives. To say Scanspeak is behind is probably not a fair statement, Scanspeak does have many brilliant engineers that continue to create world class drivers. Also, I am really not a big fan of polypropolyne (sp?) cone after owning Dynaudio for years. I found plastic cones to have a distinctive sound where carbon impregnated paper cone to have less "sound". Mr. Skanning might be a genious and he agrees metal cones are the worst, but his choice of cone material does not suite my "taste". But then speaker sound is a lot more than driver choices and Franco has proved that theory over and over again.

Play my Amati last night, still wondering how can it be improved?

Semi-I agree with you regarding plastic cones. But, as you said speaker is more then just drivers... Interesting thing is that Guarneri Hommage is using also Audiotechnology(sp?) midwoofer and we all know that Guarneri is pure magic.
New Guarneri Memento will use different tweeter( same as Anniversario and Strad I think) and new Audiotechnology midwoofer and I hope it will be either as good or better then old Guarneri. Also rumor about important person who left Scanspeak is truth. He was in charge for costum drivers( for Sonus but, also for some other brands )...
After that Franco made the decision and swithced to other drivers-result:Stradivari Hommage,Amati Anniversario and new Guarneri Memento(from january 2006).
If you are interested to see more of inside Sonus Faber factory( beautiful modern building ) check out Sonus Faber Denmark fan club web side http://www.sonusfaberclub.com/
There are lots of stuff on it. Factory tour is a must! Finally we can see who is building our speakers.

Semi
Imagine just that, a bit of improvement (even a small one) this speaker must be the ONE.
But the Amati soul lives in both of them so there is no need to worry about and we all know that our path may lead us someday to the Stradivari's.

I only wish we all Amati fans (Homage or Anniversario) had listening experiences together and share the fun but I guess the distance is big.

Kops,

This I can share. I have gone thru several power amps (Pass Labs, Accuphase, ARC, Sonic Frontiers, BAT VK-150, and some others can't remember right now) and BAT VK-75SE (or VK-150SE) really brings out the soul of Amati.

I had some reservation with BAT 75SE initially due to its low power rating. But speaking to Sonus Faber importer in Denmark who has access to many other fine power amps including Rowland he liked BAT VK-75SE best. The difference is not subtle - solid imaging, speed, rise and decay of each note, bass extension, transparency, and details to spare. I was so impressed I almost bought a second one to bridge if it wasn't the small room. I am sure Tenor OTL or Atma-Sphere OTL will be equally impressive or better, but BAT is tough to beat.

What do you guys use?