Sonus Faber vs B&W

The Concerto is much better then the 805. It has much better bass, with the Concerto I don't feel the need for sub. The Concerto's are much more life like and smoother and more detailed. The silk dome tweeter of the concerto lets it capture more of the air in recording. I thought that the 805's tweeter was much too bright and did not match smoothly with the rest of the speaker. You always seemed to be able to hear the seperation of the sound between the drive units. The 805 is a good speaker don't get me wrong, but the Concerto is a great speaker. Both seem very easy to drive. I happened to have a 400 watt Classe Ca-401 at the time, so power was definetly not a factor when I reviewed either of them. BTW I've owned both, I sold the 805s to go for the concerto's and to this day think that Sonus gives you more bang for the buck then B&W. Plus B&W have huge mark up on their prices. I was able to buy my pair for 75% off retail BRAND NEW the first time I walked into a store. The store also happened to be the biggest B&W dealer in North America, so prehaps they get special discounts.

Do you mean that you paid only 25% of $2000, i.e. $500 for your N805 brand new ? If this is the case I'll probably make some money by buying a few pairs and then re-sell them in Audiogon......

Tbonephile, I, too would be interested in clarification of the statement highlighted above by Lee. I've never listened to the concerto, just the concerto GP, so I can't comment. However, the N805, to me, has NEVER sounded "separated" between the tweeter and woofer. In fact, I think that the incredible coherence between drivers is perhaps their greatest strength. As far as more bass from the SF, that is quite likely.

Yo,Yo Tbonphile Sonus gives you more bang for a buck ...you must be jokeing they are most overpriced speakers in USA, All Sonus Faber cost 40~50% less in Europe and B&W has same prices Europe versa USA, sure there is Paolo but his price are full retail in Europe not much deal here anyway.....Do you know that Sound factory GP go used (like new) for $ 1000~1200 in Europe. Retail there is like $ 2200.....and B&W 805N are better than GP (better value) when you buy new in USA any time of a day... I just wonder which biggest dealer gave you 75% off when the line (B&W) is only 40% off to the dealers. Happy listening

I bought the new GP "Home" (terrible name isn't it!)and had them shipped from Italy to my office. They are drop dead gorgeous (i bought walnut). They are slightly larger than the old ones (only slightly). I was in love with the old ones, however, bass response was lacking. The new ones do make up for that a bit. I originally drove them with a Conrad Johnson integrated tube amp (cav-50) which was a marvelous little amp. I would hardly call the GP "power hungry" as someone suggested. The cav-50 slipped only while driving the most demanding of music. I did upgrade to the CJ premier 11A which creates a mind numbing clarity, richness, depth, and soundstaging. Combined with my No.39 Levinson CD (I am digital only)I am in ecstasy. I have stopped shopping the high end stores altogether now because I need nothing. I found the Fabers to be more realistic than the B&W's with regard to tonality (but...for what it is worth....i am a tube only guy). Demo the GP's if you can to be certain that they work for you. My friends now say that "if we want to listen to CD's....I'm going over to mfgrep's place" (vinyl snobs...all of 'em! :) lol