It all started on Thursday May 1st, Geoff.P and Mark Tuttlebee were the first to arrive, Stefan Just and Felix got here on Friday after a long drive from Darmstadt.

The place isn't exactly in Paris but less than 10 miles from downtown Paris.
There is a lake, a casino and the forest is very close...

The place

You captured my quintessentially English Jack Russell on a day out in Paris.

It was a 3-4 days weekend with great friendship, great ambiance, the weather was perfect, the Goddess Amati were certainely tested at length with all kind of music

The group

Geoff, Felix, Edouard, Stefan, Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Keith L:
You captured my quintessentially English Jack Russell on a day out in Paris.

Sorry Keith I'm afraid I could get exactly what you meant, although I have an idea.

The system

CDS3/555PS/552/300/SONUS FABER Amati Anniversario

The sound

After 4 months of good breaking in process, those Amati's deliver the music in a way that I could before only dream about
It sounds so right so natural and effortheless, never shouty, with an impressive sweetness with all the PRAT
We could listen all kind of music for hours without being tired.

quote:

The sound

After 4 months of good breaking in process, those Amati's deliver the music in a way that I could before only dream about
It sounds so right so natural and effortheless, never shouty, with an impressive sweetness with all the PRAT
We could listen all kind of music for hours without being tired.

Edouard

A great way to sum up the superb result that you now have.

Thanks again for the hospitality and what for me was a very enjoyable weekend full of friendship and great music.

Best Regards

Mark

Thanks for pics!

quote:

a very enjoyable weekend full of friendship

an other pic for Gianluigi

Great days, indeed. Edouard is the perfect host (with not just a little bit help from his loving wife...).

I could have listened to the setup for hours, and hours, and hours. I was nasty enough to bring some of the meanest tracks I have (along with the dearest), and could NOT find a single piece of music that did NOT sound great. Perfect combination of electrix, speakers AND room.

Edouard, you have reached Nirvana (once the 500 is there, that is )

cheers
Stefan

hello Edouard,can i ask you on your journey to what sounds like hi-fi nirvana,what other speakers did you hear along the way,and after the SONUS FABER Amati Anniversario which is obviously your first choice what would you put in 2nd and 3rd place. regards 151

Gianluigi,
here's more:

and even more !

All this praise people are heaping on Edouard's system......and it's all true.....damn it !!!

Beautiful and totally unruffled musical truth whatever we played.

So when Edouard talks about his Goddess Amati's believe him...its all true.

Great weather and hospitality......my added thanks to Edouard and his lovely wife Dianne.

regards
Geoff

Great pics, you guys got me drooling - wish I could have been there.

Very nice write-up Edouard!

Looks like you had tons of fun, nice..

So where excatly is this near Paris? It looks very familair, guess I had a conference once in that casino.

Gents,

It looks like you all had a great time in Paris with Edouard. Very nice pictures as well.

I look forward to one day hearing the legendary Sonus Fabers.

It looks like summer is just around the corner over there in Europe.

Adrian

Daddycool,
I had the same question. It looks like Enghien (spelling?) where I used to stay sometimes when I was In France on business. But that was long ago.
Ken

Thanks for all the nice words.
Ken you got it right, right spelling as well
Daddycool you got a very good memory
Adrian, it's 25°C in Paris

Regards,
Edouard

quote:

Originally posted by 151:
Hello Edouard, can I ask you on your journey to what sounds like hi-fi nirvana, what other speakers did you hear along the way, and after the SONUS FABER Amati Anniversario which is obviously your first choice what would you put in 2nd and 3rd place.

151,

There has never been a 2nd choice neither a 3rd one, except for the SF Elipsa which I considered once.

None of the listening or demo I had of any speaker gave me the magic sound I'm getting at home with the Amati's.

In the equation of the sound we get, there are the electronics, the speakers AND the room, it happens that the Amati's were meant to work at their very best in my room when fed with top end Naim electronic, it seems like the 552/300 and the Amati's are a extraordinary match, and everyone who heard the system this weekend pointed this out, adding of course how important was the room in the equation!
I'll add that the magic wasn't as good with the Chord Signature speaker cables which we tried once with Geoff. The Naca5 is what the Amati's do need to be at their best, fantastic match again

I heard more than once on this forum that the Sonus Faber are a tad slow, a tad warm, which makes you wonder if they do the prat!
When he came, Geoff had in mind the listening he had of some Sonus Faber speakers at the dealer show room, which, from what he remembers was not to his liking. The fact is that, the sound Geoff got in Paris was nowhere near to what he had in mind and he didn't take him long to be absolutely impressed with the music the Amati's were delivering. Geoff correct me if I misinterpreted your saying.
The Amati do prat and how !

I often classified speakers in two different camps, the analytical speakers and the non analytical ones which the Amati's belong to, we often say that speakers is a personal choice, depending on the sound you like, and we do all have different taste.

The group of friends who gathered at my place have also different tastes, and different speakers in their own system, Geoff has high end Kharma speakers with the famous ceramic tweeter, Mark has a pair of SL2, Felix has the top of the range Shahinian's, the Diapason's, Stefan is the speakers nuts and own several pair of speakers, Magnepan 3.6, Cara...and more, he was the only one I think who liked the Sonus Faber speakers as he previously owned a pair of SF Cremona.

So different people with different tastes and different speakers, but they all fell in love with the SF Amati's!
As Hifi Choice wrote: <<These speakers put the joy back into the music so profoundly and so efforthelessly, anyone not liking these speakers must simply have had their fun button pulled off years ago...Joy...that's a word that rarely appears on the pages of hi-fi magazines, yet that's the most prevalent feeling that strikes you when you listen to the Amati Anniversario.>>

It seems to me that when the equation between electronic/speakers/room works for the best, the result is always very enjoyable no matter what your taste is, IMO a system do make music or not.
There are of course quite many different combinations that can achieve to fill the equation right, however the balance achieved (with some luck I guess) with the CDS3/552/300/Amati in my room is pretty stunning, the music delivered by the Amatis Anniversario is magic and I'm really happy

Regards,
Edouard