Sonus Faber Concertino Home matching Amp

[Jax Teller]

Hi,

Newbie here,

Just had my luck to obtain SF Concertino Home 2nd hand in a very good condition, I tried to use with my current amp which is Rotel RA-04

But Sounds not exciting, tend to be muddy, cables I use was Chord Company Odyssey.

I went to my friend's house the other day to listen his SF Concertino (not Home) with his Amp Cambridge Audio 740A.

The sound was beautiful, enganging and good lovely bass, I tried with the song of John Legend - You and I (Nobody in te world) and couple songs from Lorde and Strong from London Grammar

I have done some reasearch and some were saying Rega Brio R but lacks phono input, and others were saying Arcam FMJ A19.

If anyone has some great piece of advice, please shoot, much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi Jax, and welcome to the forum.

The Concertinos are "old school" SFs, so will be warm, smooth and musical, with a slightly rolled off treble.

Partner them wrongly, and they will sound unexciting and woolly. Partner them well and you will have a realistic and emersive experience, though they will suit Classical and Jazz more than hard hitting Electronic stuff and Heavy Metal.

They will need careful positioning and placed on heavy filled stands (of the correct height).

As for amplification, imo. they need a clean gutsy amp, that isn't too forward or clinical. You can try the likes of the Creek 50A and Arcam A19, but ideally you should be looking at going higher up the food chain, with amps from the likes of Ayre, Electrocompaniet, Croft, Sugden, Audio Analogue, Pathos and Musical Fidelity.

I suppose it depends on what you are prepared to spend and what brands you have access to.

 

[nima]

Concertinos don't need beasty amps to work great. They'll be happy with one of the more powerfull Rotels from the past. They'll be great with Naim Nait or similar. I wouldn't recommend MF though.

I don't know what you meant that Rega Brio doesn't have phono stage.

 

[Jax Teller]

Hi nima,

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated

Sorry my bad, it lacks headphone input not phono input

Thank you

 

[Jax Teller]

Hi CnoEvil,

Thank you for your reply, really appreciate, my budget is up to 700 pounds (equivalent around AUD1K here in Australia),

I have only heard Musical Fidelity, but none of the other brands you have mentioned, I guess I will google it now.

My listening music mainly Pop/Brit Pop, electro, Jazz and easy listening

I wonder if you could recommend something in particular within that price budget,

So far after few days intensive reasearch, I only have two come out as contender, Yamaha A-S500 and Arcam FMJ-A19

Since many users in forum recommend British Amp for SF speakers, my thought Arcam FMJ-A19 sounds a big winner

But then again like you said those SF speakers deserve to be paired with something on their level like those brands you mentioned above,

I really like the quality of my SF Concertino Home, being an upgrade from B&W 601S3/601S2 I have been listenng for almost 14 years now.

But then again my Rotel can not drive them good (that at least the way I feel and heard about it)

Thanks Again,

 

[CnoEvil]

The best Amps I can think of around that price are:

Arcam A19

Creek 50A

Croft Integrated

Peachtree Deco 65

MF are bringing out a new (improved) range, but will be above budget (though it may mean the M3i will get reduced)......though take Nima's concerns about matching into account, as I can't confirm either way (for your taste).

 

[unsleepable]

The M3i is not a very detailed amp, so I'm not sure it would give you the type of sound that you are looking for with your speakers.

I agree that Creek and Arcam could be good options.

 

[CnoEvil]

The M3i is not a very detailed amp, so I'm not sure it would give you the type of sound that you are looking for with your speakers.

I agree that Creek and Arcam could be good options.

...though the new M3si should be better,.....but a little over budget.

 

[Jax Teller]

Hi All,

At the end I have settled with Hegel H80 for some reasons.

Hopefully I would have made a right choice! Thank you again for your input and advice.

 

[Jax Teller]

-

 

[Al ears]

Good amp that Hegel, at least I thought so.

Please post when you have had time to audition and let us know how it pairs with the speakers.

 

[Jax Teller]

Will do Al ears

 

[MUSICRAFT]

At the end I have settled with Hegel H80 for some reasons.

Hi Jax

Good amp

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Jax Teller]

Hi Rick,

I have posted a video about the amp & the speakers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwinGncQto&feature=youtu.be

I currently using Chord Odysssey 2 (which I have been using for the last 5 years), but I still felt the sound was not exactly what

I expected (due to Hegel H80 review and what it can do). Do you think my ystem combination is the max output I can get.

Or if I upgrade the cables to Chord Epic or VDH Revelation for example, that would make a significant difference?

Thank you for your input.

 

[Jax Teller]

Hi Al ears,

I have put up youtube video about the amp and the speakers.

If you have any input please be my guest, thank you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwinGncQto

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi Rick,

I have posted a video about the amp & the speakers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQwinGncQto&feature=youtu.be

I currently using Chord Odysssey 2 (which I have been using for the last 5 years), but I still felt the sound was not exactly what

I expected (due to Hegel H80 review and what it can do). Do you think my ystem combination is the max output I can get.

Or if I upgrade the cables to Chord Epic or VDH Revelation for example, that would make a significant difference?

Thank you for your input.

Hi Jax

Difficult to tell from the video. Can you clarify please?

Btw, as for speaker cables i've only used basic 79 strand OFC and basic 500 strand OFC with the H80 and also the H300 and their Reference H30 (damn this is one brilliant amplifier

) with speakers such as curved SCM40 monitors, Electra 1008 Be, PL200, Concept 20, etc. as these basic speaker cables are more than good enough.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Gimz]

Hi guys

I am looking to the Sonus Faber Concertinos as an upgrade to match my Sansui 8500 amp to better my current Dynaudio DM 2/6 - i have a small (4m X 4m) listening space. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks