I got my ears on Sonus Faber Venere

polkfarmboy

I listened to my friends Venere 2.5 towers 2 pairs of 1.5 bookies and Venere center he bought. Speakers where all in a sleek gloss black finish. I have to say I am blown away by the HT performance of these especially the surrounds as they just sounded great. What was even better is that the whole deal only cost him $4500, I was thinking that $4500 was just for the towers as the SF brand is always on the pricey side but these apparently have been made in china to bring down the price. I watched the dark night and 007 and I got blown away by Adele singing the theme song on the system. I am now thinking maybe I should get myself a set if the wife lets me and stick them in the bedroom but chances of that are slim, still for the price it sure is a sleek looking system

mantis

I'm also wanting to hear these since they where released. Excellent looking speakers and I never was disappointed from any Sonus Faber speaker. I like the gloss white.

polkfarmboy

I think you may like them Dan as they make a great HT system with plenty of bass. My buddy Mike had them running off a Denon 4810 and the highs were crystal clear and the bass was very dynamic. The little center sounds way larger that its size would indicate and speech was very coherent. Today I am going to watch the Dark Night on my system while the Sonus experience is still fresh in my mindand evaluate my system. I have a feeling I might be in for a shock as my listening environment is less than ideal for my Logans doing HT. I found the Sonus system to be forgiving and revealing on mp3's from my Amazon cloud account and made horrible tracks seem fun to listen too. This is what I am lacking at the moment with the electrostats and has me thinking of a new direction

I am starting to think about how expensive the Stage center channel is and how my Source se towers dont have the room to breath etc. Not to say that the Venere system is better than mine but rather it just works better in a similar sized room and thats what matters to me as I am becoming more mature. In the past I thought that the more expensive your rig is the better but not so much the case anymore. I think I may hang on to the big Vista's as they can be placed right for just 2ch listening and got them for a bargain of 2K. I may just get a Venere system for HT and fun time listening when streaming obscure music from spotify and pandora and having a great enveloping HT experiance. If I dont have a full electrostat system for HT then I may not even need the Anthem D2 and try out some diff receivers with my amp and save alot of money towards some dedicated 2 ch stuff. I would love to try out some tubes on those 2.5's Venere towers and wish I still had my yaqin to go over there with, to me it seemed like the 2.5'sdid not even need that much juice. Ahhh I hate being tempted by new gear that I experience as I become a little fixated

mantis

Glad you got this experience , it's so about the room and not so much about the system. The room dictates what system you use in it. It sounds like the SF's work great in given room.
I have a room thats not ideal for super high end systems as well. I don't have the space to get big speakers and huge power amps. One day I will finish my basement and have the room I want then I can get what I want not what will work in my room.

Martin Logan's need room to breath and sound their best. They are magic in the right room. I have done plenty systems with them and they are a fantastic sounding huge clear natural sounding speaker. One of my personal favorites.
Magnepans are like the ML's in the sense they also need good placement and room to breath , then they are also breath taking.

organ

That's great. Sounds like you really like them. Didn't know they started producing them in China. Now we can get them at a lower cost. That's good to know. How would you describe the sound compared to Polk LSi?

polkfarmboy

Well to answer your question organ is very difficult as I heard some lsi 15 a few years ago and memory does not serve me well but if I had to say one thing it would be better air in the highs. Both the 2.5's and lsi15 have awesome bass response so I can't make a call in that department

Well I watched Batman on the logans with the Sonus Faber Venere fresh in my mind tonight. First off the ML Stage center channel just smokes the Venere center channel in the bass department and mids and highs lol but!!! The Venere sounds great in more than one seat. With the ML stage you dont get that whole room filled as the highs and mids collapse and I found the Venere to sound incredible at a low volume and does not require the juice so its something that my guests could enjoy. For people off axis to get the benefit of the Stage I need that sucker cranked and its not ideal for late nights in an apartment

I thought the Venere system seemed to have a more punchy mid bass response that was more in tune with the action on screen. My source se are just huge surrounds that just cant be pulled away from my side walls so they cannot operate like they are designed to do. This left the surround lacking compared the the Venere 1.5 bookshelfs that just showered my ears with great little micro details. The tweeters on those 1.5's really sound great and I got a great sense of direction and distance. The bass from the venere 1.5 was really awesome and it too me right back to the days of having the RTI 6. I loved and miss my full rti system(just the 8's left) for ht and the Venere meets me half way between the Polk rti and the Logans

mantis

We have a local dealer , I'm gonna make my way over there when I get some time. Wish we carried Sonus Faber , I always enjoyed setting them up.

organ

Polkfarmboy,
Thanks for the comparison with the LSi and your ML's. Very interesting. There is a SF dealer very close to my work place but they only carry the higher end models ($3000 and up). I want to demo them but this store has the worst demos. A couple of their demo rooms are pure glass. I've never heard a system that doesn't sound bright in that store.
I wonder how much better they will sound with seperates since you heard them on an AVR at your friend's house.

polkfarmboy

Well the good news is that my wife loves the look of them better than my logans :cheesygrin:

I am thinking if I do dishes, rub her feet and give her head massages and a few other favors she might let me buy a set. Other than that I may drag some of my equipment round to Mikes at a later date as he has monoprice cables etc. There are some larger models from the Venere line like the Venere walls with double woofers and the 3.0 towers with what looks like 2 8 inch drivers and a 7 mid. Those would be too big for my room though so I may just keep up the nagging for the smaller 2.5's with the 1.5 bookies. Or just pry the front door open with the 1.5's and the Venere center and run a full ARC calibration.

I think you can go to a magnolia at your local bestbuy and have a sample. It wont be ideal but it may be better than the glass demo rooms you mention.

polkfarmboy

DSkip wrote: »

I have heard the 1.5's and they didn't impress me. I think this had more to do with the electronics than anything else though. The business wasn't focused on 2 channel at all and I expected it to sound bleh going on. They are beautiful speakers though and I'd love to hear them on a good chain.

I could say the same thing about my speakers when I heard them at bestbuy running of a low powered Marantz integrated. Fingers crossed that I can get a full rig in my apartment and give a full review

mantis

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Well the good news is that my wife loves the look of them better than my logans :cheesygrin:

I am thinking if I do dishes, rub her feet and give her head massages and a few other favors she might let me buy a set. Other than that I may drag some of my equipment round to Mikes at a later date as he has monoprice cables etc. There are some larger models from the Venere line like the Venere walls with double woofers and the 3.0 towers with what looks like 2 8 inch drivers and a 7 mid. Those would be too big for my room though so I may just keep up the nagging for the smaller 2.5's with the 1.5 bookies. Or just pry the front door open with the 1.5's and the Venere center and run a full ARC calibration.

I think you can go to a magnolia at your local bestbuy and have a sample. It wont be ideal but it may be better than the glass demo rooms you mention.

Brush your teeth and clean the tub.

organ

Don't forget the flowers and heart shaped box of chocolates:cheesygrin:. Since she likes the look of them, she might not mind the bigger model as long as it's not overkill in your set up.

Thanks for the tip. It's been about 5 years since I went into a Best Buy. Not sure if they have a Magnolia in the BB's here in Canada, but I'll have a look.

tonyb

Sonus Faber has always been a love/hate thing with me. They can do classical and jazz so well they'd bring tears to your eyes. Rock on the other hand is not their cup of tea.