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Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 Placement

To Jeff Fritz,

I read your review of the Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 and will be auditioning them in three weeks (I have to travel a couple of hundred miles to the nearest retailer). I have a question about room placement with them. I am limited in how far from the front wall I can place the speaker -- 12” to 14" maximum. How sensitive are the Veneres to this? The room is 15'2" x 17' 6" with an 8' ceiling and the speakers are on the 17' 6" wall. Seating position is about 9' 6" from the speakers. I currently have a Cambridge Audio Azur 651R A/V receiver driving an older pair of Paradigm Monitor 9s and want to upgrade the Paradigms. I listen to 75% music, 25% movies.

A friend has a pair of KEF R700s but he has found that they really need to be 36" minimum from the wall -- I assume the R900s react in a similar manner? The only speaker that I have recently read about that states placement close to the front wall has minimal impact is the Salk SongTowers, but I have no ability to audition them and that worries me.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Bob Daly

The truth of the matter is that any speaker that produces appreciable low bass will interact more with room boundaries than speakers that are low-frequency limited. Boundaries will reinforce the low frequencies; therefore, moving a speaker further into the room will limit this phenomena. Speakers like the KEF R900 and R700, as well as the Sonus Faber Venere 3.0, all produce fairly low bass for their size and price. Therefore, in many rooms these speakers will need a bit more distance from the front wall in order to sound properly balanced in the bass.

Specifically regarding the 3.0, the one technical characteristic that does play in your favor is the fact that the speaker is front-ported. This design element gives the speaker a touch more flexibility when placed close to a wall, and therefore makes your preferred setup quite possible. There are so many factors that will determine bass performance with large speakers in real rooms in addition to simply the dimensions of the space, however. The construction materials used in the room, the absorption rate of the furnishings in the room, etc., not to mention the type of music that is most often played and at what volume, will all impact on what you hear. All this is to say that I would not feel comfortable hazarding a guess as to whether the Venere 3.0 would work in your room with the placement you are limited to. You could certainly give it a try, and I would not be surprised at all if you were thrilled with the sound. Please let me know how it turns out. . . . Jeff Fritz

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Magico Q1 Questions and Alternatives

To Peter Roth,

Hope you're well. I read your review of the Magico Q1 and am considering buying them. I currently use Ayre Acoustics' DX-5/KX-R/MX-Rs.

1. My room is 13' x 19'. Do you feel the Q1 is too small?

2. How did they mate with the MX-R amplifiers?

3. Did you use them for two-channel for movies?

Thanks,
Dan

At the cutting edge of stand-mounted speakers, only the two-way Raidho D1 and the three-way TAD CR-1 are contenders in the same arena as the Magico Q1. All deserve consideration, and all can fill a room your size with aplomb and strength, if not subterranean bass. The Q1, with electronics identical to yours (mated perfectly to the MX-Rs, by the way), had no trouble energizing my 15' x 15' room (music only in my Compact Reference System). Frankly, I could argue that these two-way speakers are the best examples of what Magico and Raidho can do. The TAD CR-1s I heard at CES, partnered with Ayre's new AX-5 integrated, sounded fantastic in a room somewhat bigger than yours, and provide more bass energy than the other two -- they are larger, three-way speakers.

Unless you are committed to a stand-mounted speaker, however, you may want to consider the floorstanding Magico S1, which apparently plumbs lower than the Q1 (larger interior volume), is quite a bit cheaper, comes in a breadth of colors, and has most of the resolution of its Q-series brother. Finally, as wonderful as the Q1s were in my room with the Ayre gear, I purchased the floorstanding Vivid Audio Giya G3s I reviewed earlier this year (and which I now enjoy for hours a day). . . . Peter Roth

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Surprised Not to See Usher

To Jeff Fritz,

I am a bit surprised you have left the Usher Be-718 bookshelf speaker off your list ["What I'd Buy: Loudspeakers Under $15,000"]. I have owned a pair and they were simply amazing (I was a fool for selling them). I believe they would be as good as anything up to about $10k!

And also the Usher S-520. I have a pair playing now and I believe those are the best value in audio since the NAD 3020B amplifier!

Regards,
Paul Skillicorn

My list of loudspeakers is not all-inclusive -- there are certainly some really good models out there that did not make my list. Remember, though, that these are the speakers that I would personally buy. Therefore, to make the list I must have some familiarity with the product, obviously. The brands and models that I list in my article I have come to know and appreciate for their quality, and I would not blink an eye if a family member or close friend chose to buy a model that I recommended.

At this point I just can't say that about Usher. I'm glad you enjoy your speakers, but we -- meaning any SoundStage! Network writer -- have not reviewed an Usher speaker for quite some time and so I'm really not sure just what the company is producing these days. Frankly, I'm not even familiar with their current product line. Perhaps this will change in the future. I'd love to hear a current model from the company to see if my ears would agree with yours. There's always room for a follow-up article after all! . . . Jeff Fritz

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On Mastersound for Quads

To Garrett Hongo,

T.H.E. Show Newport Beach is coming at the end of May. Will you be there? Two weeks ago I heard the new Audion SET integrated amp running KT120 tubes with my Quads. It sounded great. I am wondering if you have heard any Audion equipment, specifically their Black Shadow 845. Have you heard the Audion Quattro four-box preamp? Have you heard any 845 amps like the Sophia Electric, or Mastersound? Do you think the 845 amp would be a good match with my Quads? Thanks for your input.

Rick

I will indeed be at the Newport show, covering it for SoundStage! Global on my semi-regular blog.

The only Audion amps I've heard are the EL34 ones at a couple of audio shows and I thought them terrific with Sonist Concerto 3 and Recital 3 speakers.

As for 845 amps, I've heard all in the Mastersound line, from the Compact 845 to the Final 845 (reference level). You might look at these two reports I've written, one on Mastersound at Top Audio (Milan) and the other a factory tour.

It's hard for me to say whether any of the Mastersound 845 amps would work well with your Quads, however. A lot depends on the interaction of the amp with the impedance swings of the speakers. Whatever the case, I'd think you'd at least need the 50W monoblocks for the higher output power. These Mastersound 845 monoblock amps would output about the same power (50W) as a pair of deHavilland KE50As.

Finally, I'm in the process of arranging an Ultra Audio review of the Viva Solista 845 integrated amp -- likely this coming fall. But if you've already auditioned the Audion integrated with your Quads and they were terrific, why not listen to what your ears say? . . . Garrett Hongo