Sonus Faber Signum Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

Alan 004

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2400.00 from United Kingdom

Summary:
I bought these speakers and stands new, way back in 2000 when I was living in the UK. My system was a KRELL KAV 280cd, COPLAND CSA 28, Nakamichi DR-1 Tapedeck, and Transparent Music Plus XL Cables. The speakers always sounded superb, but never quite had enough bass. Even my friends comented on this, and alas, I had to agree. But with the hybrid tube amp, they really were sweet. Fast forward now 7 years, and here I am back in the USA. With the advent of ebay, I decided to check into KRELL amps.. oh my lord! How affordable things are now! I wasted no time in securing a KRELL KAV 300iL for $1500.00. Then took advantage of Transparents upgrade system(no one tells you about this in europe). Traded in all my old Music Wave Plus cabling(old technology) and spent $4000.00 on all new Transparent Super Cables. Everything was upgraded to Transparent Super.. power cables, speaker cables, balanced interconnects. I was like a giddy school boy at christmas! Could not wait to open those shiny new boxes! I turned everything on and waited with bated breath...loaded Roger Waters and hit play. All I can say is, now those beautiful Sonus Faber Signums are just untouchable. Bass... the walls vibrate! Loud? With 200 watts/channel, they are totally different speakers. I never new what they could do until now. The old Copland? 60 watts/chanel. What was I thinking? The bass really is amazing. These babys just need a lot wattage, balanced inputs to your amp, and look out! A word of advice. If you want to upgrade anything in your system, what ever it is, please start with the cables first. $4000 is a lot of money, but all I know is this. It really does make an astonishing difference to your system. And don't just do speaker cable. Keep it all standard through out. Power cabling, interconnects, and speaker cable, all Transparent of what ever level you can afford. The results will be more than you can imagine. I lose hours out of my days if I am not carefull lisening to music.. it is mesmorising! I come home from work and just look at those big black cables, walnut speakers, and sleek amp/cd player and I smiel the smile of kings:)There is a reason manufactures put balanced inputs onto thier products. Use them! Your speakers will love you for it. Long live Sonus Faber.

Strengths:
Beautiful build quality. Walnut and Leather. They just rock when they need to and sing softly when all you want is a piano concerto.

Weaknesses:
Non.

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Secondhand, in UK

Summary:
The speakers are visually and aurally stunning. They demonstrate superb stereo ismage to such a degree that there is no hint of the speakers being present in the soundstage. The are punchy an have phenomenal bass for their size. They play load, fast and sweet with no hint a graininess. They sound very natural. They are teamed up with Sonus Faber Musica (which made a huge difference), Sonus Faber Ironwood Adjustable stands (also made a big difference) and play either a Krell KPS 20i or Mark Levinson No 39 CD players

Strengths:
Looks, Sound...almost everything about them

Weaknesses:
None that I can think off, with the above system I no longer use a sub woofer since the bass is more than adequate

Similar Products Used:
Marten Logan SL3's

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from used

Summary:
Bottom line. Best bookshelf I have ever heard and Ive heard the Dynaudios, revel M20's, etc, etc. I actually preffered these of the SF Cremonas. This is a GREAT little speaker. i own 2 pair!

Strengths:
Looks, build, quality, sweet mids, highs, air

Weaknesses:
Well...ummm..maybe if you want the bass of a floorstander, but teh bass these do put out is tight and punchy

Similar Products Used:
Revel, Dynaudio, B&W, Avantgarde

Price Paid:  $1295.00 from Edinburgh

Summary:
If you say that this speaker lacks bass, then there is something worng with your system. I use TEAC CDP, EAR Valve amp, and Nordost speaker cable, and this speakers produce thundering bass - in fantastic controlled, tight way - impressive. Of course it has the best sounding mid and treble as well. I feel this speaker sounds better than anything I heard - even up to 8k level. But sound is one thing (but the most important), but another point with the Signum is that it is best looking -milion pounds high end furniture like speakers. It enhances the whole listening room both in visual and audio aspect. It matches very well with my 15w/ch SET valve amp - sounding rich and sweet.

Strengths:
Perfect sound quality unmatched by any other model. Great looks.

Weaknesses:
Looks too good - my wife does not let me take them from livingroom to my own study upstairs. :-(

Similar Products Used:
QUADs, LINNs, Monitor Audios, Tannoys, B&Ws

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Sonus Faber Signum is excellent in both sound and build quality at its price range. The sound quality is superb in almost every aspect in high end speakers. Sound is very smooth and detailed, soundstage is very transparent and deep with excellent layering. Perhaps, the best of all is the beautiful mid & high frequenices. When I compared the Signum with Dynaudio Contour 1.3 SE, the 1.3 SE might sound a bit more neutral, but the Signum sounded more ''sweet'' in the midrange with better soundstage. Some may find that Signum is a bit coloured but I would say the Signum conveys emotions and liveliness better than the 1.3 SE. The only weakness I''ve noticed is the lack of bass (Don''t get me wrong here, the bass relative to its size is probably good enough.) I compared the Signum with the SF Grand Piano Home side by side, although the Signum is inferior in the bass department, it blows the GPH away in midrange and in overall performance. Simply put, the Signum is one of the best in the $3000 range, if you are lucky to find one (it has been discontinued), be sure to give it a listen.

Strengths:
Almost everything

Weaknesses:
Lack of bass