I heard the Extrema's at a friends house and was amazed. I have been searching and still for a pair for over 10 years now to no avail.

Are impossible to find in the used market. If you are reading this and have a pair for sale, please contact me. ajhumble@hotmail.com Similar Products Used: Dunlavy, B&W, Egglestonsworks, Klispchorn

A real masterpiece. I've listened them with:

EMT 982 -cd player
Audio research sp-11 mkII-preamp.
VTL MB300-amp.
JPS labs superconductor 2-cables

Surely among the best transducers ever built (Dynaudio esotar tweeter and Audio Technology woofer), assembled to give their best. However, in the range of the crossing frequency tweeter-woofer, there are some problems. You can listen the sound coming from the two different transducers, not a perfectly mixed one (Phase problem?) and , as I wrote before, in the crossing frequency there are lost details.
However, out of the crossing frequency, sound almost perfect ln others parameters(soundstage, speed, transparent..)
So it seems disegner, to reach so top of the top performance overall, accepted to have some little problem in the crossing frequency; moreover, it seem it is a particular speaker made with music in mind: the compromise is not against music, but concentrated in others less important area.
So, to play the transducers in such stellar way, and to give overall wonderfull others parameters, designer accepted a little compromise in the crossing frequency: the compromise of a genious designer.

Meriln VSM-M, Wilson Sophia, Vienna Acoustics Mahler, Aerial Model 8.

I joined the club when I bought a used pair of Extremas on Audiogon a few months ago. These speakers are amazing. I think enough has been said about them here and on other audio sites. I'm not sure what else I can add. Over the last year I tried several different designs and none of them bought me so much listening pleasure. The Exremas are wonderfully balanced, the midrange is absolutely fabulous (a little darker and richer than Merlin VSM-M for instance), the treble is truly luxurious: well extended, detailed and refined, never sounding harsh or overly bright (the Merlins, good as they are, hurt my ears at times). The bass is tight and very dynamic, goes pretty low, almost as good as Wilson Sophias, although missing a litle in the lowes octave and upper bass impact. They soundstage like real champions too and the depth is phenomenal. As others here said, they do need some serious power, otherwise they can sound a little lifeless. I achieved excellent results with Conrad Johnson Premier 8 monoblocks, but also tried them Premier 12's, Audio Research VT-100, Ayre V1x and they always sounded fabulous. All in all an excellent design and I'm yet to find anything that beats them below 10K.

I just tried Audion Silver Night 300B push pull monos on my Extrema. What an amazing 20 watts! Sounds more musical than my 150 watts 6500-based monoblocks. Although the latter produced tighter bass, I think I would be satisfied with the musical 20 300B watts. I am writing these comments to counter the hype on Extrema's power hungry. However, I tried a famous 150 watts solid state amp and it is indeed not enough. So be careful on system matching on these tanks.

When used with a good amp they are absolutely effortless - hugely musical. And there is a reason why Krell uses Sonus Faber speakers for their testing. There is a huge synergy.

They need loads of amps. I use an FPB600 (have heard them with MDA300 monoblocs & FPB300) and the difference is staggering. You cannot give these speakers enough juice. Getting them in the right position is painful - they are just sooooo heavy.

They''re excellent. Very realistic, superb soundstaging, dynamic range is excellent. Looks to die for (subjective) and a fantastic bargin used. Build quality is just amazing. Would also agree with the comment that better single speaker cable sounds better than cheaper bi-wire. I use Transparent XL and it just gets better and better (the speakers that is).

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Speaker wise not a lot - but when they''re this good who cares!

Musicality, dynamics, definition, build quality, looks (a matter of opinion) - the most effortless speakers this side of panels.

Extremely fussy when it comes to ancillary equipment, and the cable terminals are a really bad joke (try bi-wiring them with fat, expensive cables), looks (to some), rarity - people tend to hang on to them, and their long out of production. My guess is that they were too expensive to manufacture to give a nice return if sold at a reasonable (not really) price for a two way "mini" monitor.

OK, they''re heavy and pricey, but frankly, I think they''re the best audio product I''ve ever owned. I''ve even been offered more than I paid, but no way. If I won the lottery, I''d probably upgrade most or all other audio components, but never these bulldog beauties.

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Quad ESL-63, SF Electa Amator, B&W 805, AE1

The Extremas have a component quality like no other speaker in a well-constructed design and that leads to a sound quality I still have not heard bettered by any other speakers. Even the mighty Naut802-s were not even close to the neutrality and cohereness of the Extremas. And that passive radiator gives the speaker a phase linearity that no bass-reflex systems can match.

The Extrema lacks in the deepest bass, but not much music have information below 40hz. They also demand a powerful and therefore expensive amplifier.

The Extremas may be expensive for a two way design, but they're worth every penny. They have a phase linearity and coherence that is not found in any other speaker at the price (maybe with the exception of Guarneri and a couple of electrostats, but they don't have dynamics). Match that with the ability to create a huge soundstage and to reach a "more than enough" SPL and you've got a winner!

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B&W Naut 802
Sonus Faber Concerto
Sonus Faber Electa Amator
JBL Tik 10k
Doxa 8-1 Revelator

For my taste,its everything!!! Sweetness, accurate, lifelike soundstage, ability to produce music as it should!!!

weight, its around 200-220 lbs each, don't use the spikes if you still want to move it around

Hello friends, pls. take my advice, if you have a pair of these marvelous speakers, keep it!!! I bought a used pair of Wilson Witt speakers expecting it to be as good or better than my EXTREMAS since it is a full range. I was wrong, bass was uncontrollable, mid and highs were no match for the EXTREMA's!!! After months of hard selling, i finally got rid of the Witts. What a relief!!!
For all fellow Extrema lucky owners, keep them!!! Don't make the same mistake as i did, you might end up spending unnecessary $$$ trying to replace the sonus.

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Wilson Witt

Incredible midrange. Beautiful cabinet

Tom, from Singapore. I want to echo what Dan Livinston said. I heard these speakers also at the Stereophile show in 1996 in NY. The Extremas were being played on the Meridian 557 Amps. This system was so amazing sounding. The midrange was so sweet and the bass was very articulate sounding. This was an incredible sounding system. The question i have for people. Has anyone tried to use a sub on the Extremas. Is the Extremas hard to get a good sub to blend in with them. Has anyone tried to use the Rel sub, or Muse 18 sub or the new Aerial sub on the Extremas. JVC1040@Yahoo.com

INCREDIBLE SOUND THROUGHOUT, LOW TO HIGH, ACCURATE, MUSICAL

NEED LARGE AMPLIFIERS & ACCURATE SOURCE

These are no longer made. I bought a used (but not used up) pair on the web from a reputable dealer. There are great deals to be had. Unless abused, these speakers were made to last a lifetime. With a 4 ohm nominal impedance, they need lots of power. I have an old (also purchased used on the web) 100 watt-per-channel Krell which is adequate, but not overpowering. DH Labs Q-10 (somewhat budget-minded, but great sounding) internally bi-wired cables. They do fine.

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DYNAUDIO CONFIDENCE 3s