Sonus Faber Liuto Monitors Vs. B&W 683 s2

[metalmen]

I am new member and joined just now. I have been reading this website forums for last few days. Pls help me if u can

I am upgrading to new Home theater and biggest confusion is speakers. Room size 16 x16feet. 80%movies and 20%music. I have shortlisted following pls suggest in details pros and cons and what should I do.
Sonus faber liuto monitor book shelf 4 speakers + center. 2nd choice is B&W 683 s2 + htm61 + ds3 for surround.

Sonus faber original price is usd9800 and I am getting for usd 4900. It is brand new packed and was discontinued I think in 2012. No doubts is it genuine
B&W 5 speakers will cost me usd 3800.

money is not a problem but I am confused which is better for me. Some say liuto monitor book shelf is much better than 683 s2 towers and normally compare liuto monitor with B&W diamond series 805.

my doubt is whether book shelf speaker can deliver good bass for movies as compared to 683 s2 towera and though I have heard both at different Places but I am not an audiophile who can judge which sound was better.

I understand there might be lesser bass in liuto since they have 1 driver less and are bookshelf. But I plan to compensate this by buying a good subwoofer REL or Velodyne - if all of u suggest that sonus faber is a better deal.

I plan to add AVR of Onkyo 1030 or 3030 with this set up. Projector I have not decided but I will not put screen and use white wall base.

I need to decide immediately as the person is leaving country. Pls guide me

[metalmen]

I am new member and joined just now. I have been reading this website forums for last few days. Pls help me if u can

I am upgrading to new Home theater and biggest confusion is speakers. Room size 16 x16feet. 80%movies and 20%music. I have shortlisted following pls suggest in details pros and cons and what should I do.
Sonus faber liuto monitor book shelf 4 speakers + center. 2nd choice is B&W 683 s2 + htm61 + ds3 for surround.

Sonus faber original price is usd9800 and I am getting for usd 4900. It is brand new packed and was discontinued I think in 2012. No doubts is it genuine
B&W 5 speakers will cost me usd 3800.

money is not a problem but I am confused which is better for me. Some say liuto monitor book shelf is much better than 683 s2 towers and normally compare liuto monitor with B&W diamond series 805.

my doubt is whether book shelf speaker can deliver good bass for movies as compared to 683 s2 towera and though I have heard both at different Places but I am not an audiophile who can judge which sound was better.

I understand there might be lesser bass in liuto since they have 1 driver less and are bookshelf. But I plan to compensate this by buying a good subwoofer REL or Velodyne - if all of u suggest that sonus faber is a better deal.

I plan to add AVR of Onkyo 1030 or 3030 with this set up. Projector I have not decided but I will not put screen and use white wall base.

I need to decide immediately as the person is leaving country. Pls guide me

[Hyfi]

In reading specs and reviews, the B&Ws may be a better choice since you said more for movies than music. But with a sub, the SFs should also be a fine selection. You should have no issues driving either with the 3030.

It would be best if you had a chance to listen to both because everyone has their own opinion on speakers. 20 years ago I went head to head with B&W vs Dynadio and went with Dyns for my own likes.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Seeing that you are 80% movies I would go with the B&W 683's. The SF are a more musical speaker to my ears and they excel with better electronics. This will also add more money to the till for the subwoofer.

[blackraven]

I am going to play the devil's advocate a little bit. The SF's will give you a more refined sound and will probably image better just based on them selling for about $3,000 for a pair. However, they need their Stands to sound their best and they must be pulled out from the wall from what I have read. With the right electronics they will sound stellar with music.

Here is a nice review on them-
Sonus faber Liuto Monitor (TAS 214) | The Absolute Sound (http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/sonus-faber-liuto-monitor-tas-214/)

The 683's are a nice sounding speaker and will probably play louder and fill the room better. They are better suited for Home Theater but the SF's will work. Don't worry about bass because a sub will handle the majority of the work for Home Theater.

I guess if you are 80% HT and 20% music, save the money and go with the 683's. But give both speakers a listen and go with what your ear says sounds best to you.

By the way, not to cloud the picture, but you may want to consider Marantz gear for HT especially with the 683's. It may be a better match.

Good Luck, you can't lose with either speaker.

[metalmen]

Thanks. Can anyone tell why so much price difference between these models. Original price for liuto monitor usd 9800 and for bw 683 s2 3900. Is there that much quality diff

[blackraven]

Thanks. Can anyone tell why so much price difference between these models. Original price for liuto monitor usd 9800 and for bw 683 s2 3900. Is there that much quality diff

Price in high end audio is an issue. Much gear is over priced. But price also takes into account the time of research and development, cost of the materials used, labor and the name brand. Some drivers in speakers are proprietary and use exotic material. A woofer could cost $800 by itself. You are also paying a little bit for the Sonus Faber name, although you are doing the same with B&W. I had a manufacturer once tell me that they came out with an audio product and priced it to sell. Sales were poor so they jacked up the price and it sold like hot cakes.

Keep in mind though, higher price in the Audio world generally means better quality and sound.

[Mr Peabody]

We had a Sonus faber dealer and I was not impressed. The same dealer also carried Dynaudio which in the same price I thought blew the SF away.

I am not a big B&W fan either but the 683's seem to do well and I've heard B&W sound pretty good with the right gear. Good match with Denon. I really don't like B&W with ARC or Rotel which is usually who you hear them with. So in short between the two brands you mentioned I'd choose the B&W.

With all this said I respect both brands and only give my personal opinion.

[Hyfi]

We had a Sonus faber dealer and I was not impressed. The same dealer also carried Dynaudio which in the same price I thought blew the SF away.

I am not a big B&W fan either but the 683's seem to do well and I've heard B&W sound pretty good with the right gear. Good match with Denon. I really don't like B&W with ARC or Rotel which is usually who you hear them with. So in short between the two brands you mentioned I'd choose the B&W.

With all this said I respect both brands and only give my personal opinion.

The music struggles to get out of the speakers with Rotel for some reason. I had the same experience recently. They were the Diamond series.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I felt the same way that Mr. P feels about SF when I first heard them. They were paired up with Krell and they sounded muffled. Then I heard them paired with Ayre and the same thing. So at that point, I agreed with my salesguy as he said all along he wasn't impressed. They had dropped B&W to pick up SF. and he felt it was a big mistake. Well about that time they picked up ARC and he called me to come in and hear the new speakers. When I get there he hustles me into the sound room and I look and said "where are the new speakers, I've heard those SF's before. He says you haven't heard them like this with the ARC gear. Put on some Jazz sampler CD and it was not the SF's that I had heard before, they had come alive.

[blackraven]

The Sonus Fabers that I heard at Axpona sounded great but they were all $30K or more. But I recently heard a friends SF Venere towers and I liked them. They were paired with a Parasound P5 preamp and Parasound A21 amp along with a Lampizator amber. Very detailed and transparent sound with fabulous imaging.

Amplifier and preamp matching really matters with speakers, some more than others.

[Feanor]

The only time I had a good listen to SF's was a few years back when a friend then living in town had me over to hear his system. He was driving them with Chinese tube integrated whose brand I don't recall. The SF were monitors which are now discontinued; I don't recall the model name, but they were MSRP $5000, (think he got something like a 40% discount).

I don't know whether to blame the tube integrated or the SF's, but they sounded like crap compared to my Magneplanar MG 1.6QR's driven at the time by a pair of Monarchy SM-70 Pro's.