Babysitting a pair of Sonus Il Cremonese Ex3me

[jadis]

A good old friend called me and requested if I can 'babysit' his Sonus Il Cremonese Ex3me, a limited edition series of 50 units worldwide. As much a normally do not listen to audio equipment in my room that I am not ready to purchase, it was an offer which I considered hard to turn down. I have always wanted to own a Sonus starting from the late 80s Electa Amator series but somehow never got to buy one. So here is the chance I never thought would come to me. A work of beauty as always, and a sound so beautiful it can be addictive. Vocals, strings, and piano sounds to die for. And singers have a dead focused center image that exudes so much presence in the room. And that was just the 'out of the box' experience.

 

[jadis]

 

[LL21]

Great stuff! What did you think? And specifically, how do they compare to the speakers right next to them? Any chance we could hear the same track from those?

 

[jadis]

Great stuff! What did you think? And specifically, how do they compare to the speakers right next to them? Any chance we could hear the same track from those?

Yes, I can record it playing on the 3.7i's. Will post more later after that, re the comparison.

 

[jadis]

Great stuff! What did you think? And specifically, how do they compare to the speakers right next to them? Any chance we could hear the same track from those?

Here it is. Hope you can hear the difference, recorded through a Samsung smartphone, same as the above. This time with the Maggies 3.7i

 

[jadis]

The Sonus, out of the box ( I don't know how many hours it takes to break them in) sounds full, rich and presents a very palpable sense of imaging. The 3.7i, at 350 hours, most probably have broken in, and tonally is a bit lean (only by comparison) but more open, which is its trademark sound. The bass of the Sonus has punch and impact, and can really go down low, it's got 2 9" subwoofers per side. Not really fair to compare these 2 as the Sonus costs more than 10x in SRP than the Maggies. The Sonus workmanship is almost faultless, and of course its sound is just as beautiful. Perhaps one day, if I have a new and bigger room, I can have the 30.7s and then I can still remember the sound of these Il Cremonese Ex3mes.

 

[Steve Williams]

Good to see you talking stereo again Phil

 

[jadis]

Good to see you talking stereo again Phil

Yes Steve, there speakers are just so wonderful..

 

[Steve Williams]

Enjoy Phil. I have fond memories of your room

 

[jadis]

Enjoy Phil. I have fond memories of your room

Thanks Steve, and I have great memories of your 2 rooms too, in Danville and OC.

 

[LL21]

Thanks for taking the time to post the 2nd video! Very very interesting comparison! Appreciate the listening notes as well!

The Sonus, out of the box ( I don't know how many hours it takes to break them in) sounds full, rich and presents a very palpable sense of imaging. The 3.7i, at 350 hours, most probably have broken in, and tonally is a bit lean (only by comparison) but more open, which is its trademark sound. The bass of the Sonus has punch and impact, and can really go down low, it's got 2 9" subwoofers per side. Not really fair to compare these 2 as the Sonus costs more than 10x in SRP than the Maggies. The Sonus workmanship is almost faultless, and of course its sound is just as beautiful. Perhaps one day, if I have a new and bigger room, I can have the 30.7s and then I can still remember the sound of these Il Cremonese Ex3mes.

 

[jadis]

Thanks for taking the time to post the 2nd video! Very very interesting comparison! Appreciate the listening notes as well!

My pleasure.

 

[LL21]

My pleasure.

Are you tempted [in even the slightest way] having heard them?

 

[ack]

What a room!

 

[jadis]

Are you tempted [in even the slightest way] having heard them?

Tempted yes, but not in this price range. What made me think, after hearing them, is that there was an Amati Futura (brand new, shop demo unit) that went on a sale at less 50% off the SRP. It was still more than 2x my 3.7i, and I'm still a Magnepan guy.

 

[jadis]

Sharing some pics of the gorgeous Il Cremonese Ex3me. In babysitting mode, no grills, no spikes.

 

[jadis]

The tonality is getting richer by the day and it is starting to open up a;beit in a very random placement as I don't want to move out my Maggies and give them its best spot. Getting 'scary'.

 

[Asa]

Hello Jadis/Phil. Although I've been in the hi-end longer than I can remember, this is my first post to WBF. Everyone here seems very knowledgable. I was wondering what were your continued impressions of this SF Crem ex3me? I have a "den system" of AirTight ATM300B NOS-tubed running 15 ohm Spendor LS/35As, but I'll be retiring and am contemplating putting together my "final" (ha!) full range system for my 15 X 25 ft basement room. Thinking Strads...thinking SF Cremonese (standard / non ex3me). But I remember that the Cremonese standard's tweeter was a bit, um...intense. Not hot, or riding above the mids, just that the speaker seemed weighted as a whole to the energy of the tweeter. And it has occurred to me that's maybe why that tweeter has a resonance damper on it...and why its been replaced in the ex3me. And I'd never say that one can hear much on laptop speakers, but the tweeter in your videos seems in a different harmonic league that the Crem standard's. The Crem standard and Strads (used) are more my price level; I'd have to wait for a soft depression to take a shot at the ex3me's...Thanks for your thoughts. Regards, Mark (BTW: what's that Jadis amp there, sounds quite sweet? KT88s? I had a Defy 7 MkIV many moons ago...)

 

[jadis]

Hello Jadis/Phil. Although I've been in the hi-end longer than I can remember, this is my first post to WBF. Everyone here seems very knowledgable. I was wondering what were your continued impressions of this SF Crem ex3me? I have a "den system" of AirTight ATM300B NOS-tubed running 15 ohm Spendor LS/35As, but I'll be retiring and am contemplating putting together my "final" (ha!) full range system for my 15 X 25 ft basement room. Thinking Strads...thinking SF Cremonese (standard / non ex3me). But I remember that the Cremonese standard's tweeter was a bit, um...intense. Not hot, or riding above the mids, just that the speaker seemed weighted as a whole to the energy of the tweeter. And it has occurred to me that's maybe why that tweeter has a resonance damper on it...and why its been replaced in the ex3me. And I'd never say that one can hear much on laptop speakers, but the tweeter in your videos seems in a different harmonic league that the Crem standard's. The Crem standard and Strads (used) are more my price level; I'd have to wait for a soft depression to take a shot at the ex3me's...Thanks for your thoughts. Regards, Mark (BTW: what's that Jadis amp there, sounds quite sweet? KT88s? I had a Defy 7 MkIV many moons ago...)

Hello Mark, welcome to WBF and glad to hear from you. Air Tight with 3/5As, I kinda know your bias. I did not proceed to have extended listening sessions with the ex3mes for 2 reasons. First. what I hear is so liquid and juicy (nice box coloration as they call it) that I might find reverting back to my own beloved Maggies a not so happy experience when the time comes to take them out and back to the owner. Second, to get their 'best' sound, I had to remove the Maggies from where they sit now and shove them out of the room and find the optimum placement for the ex3mes, and I figure if I do that, all the more I would be tempting myself to buy a pair. I've heard the original Strads back in 2003. The sound is just lovely, and the owner came from Extremas and Amatis prior to that. Can't go wrong. The newer anniversary Strad is 'brighter' , and not as lush as the orig Strad, an as Aida1 user told me (he had the orig Strad too). The tweeters of the ex3mes are not bright at all, even off the box/crates they sounded very detailed, fine, extended, but not bright, and I was cranking them above my normal listening level already. My amp is the Jadis PA100, KT88 version. Sweet on the mids and highs and packs a surprising lot of wallop in the bass. Sounds a lot more than its rated 150w and my Maggies love that power. I posted some pics of it here:

Jadis PA 100 amp - Jadis becomes Jadis again

Back in the early 90s, I had a pair of Jadis JA200 and a Jadis JPL preamp. Due to the temperamental nature of the 200s, popping caps in the power supply every so often, I finally gave up and sold them and took the ARC way, retaining my JPL preamp till around 2014 when I sold it as well. About...

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[Asa]

Hello Mark, welcome to WBF and glad to hear from you. Air Tight with 3/5As, I kinda know your bias. I did not proceed to have extended listening sessions with the ex3mes for 2 reasons. First. what I hear is so liquid and juicy (nice box coloration as they call it) that I might find reverting back to my own beloved Maggies a not so happy experience when the time comes to take them out and back to the owner. Second, to get their 'best' sound, I had to remove the Maggies from where they sit now and shove them out of the room and find the optimum placement for the ex3mes, and I figure if I do that, all the more I would be tempting myself to buy a pair. I've heard the original Strads back in 2003. The sound is just lovely, and the owner came from Extremas and Amatis prior to that. Can't go wrong. The newer anniversary Strad is 'brighter' , and not as lush as the orig Strad, an as Aida1 user told me (he had the orig Strad too). The tweeters of the ex3mes are not bright at all, even off the box/crates they sounded very detailed, fine, extended, but not bright, and I was cranking them above my normal listening level already. My amp is the Jadis PA100, KT88 version. Sweet on the mids and highs and packs a surprising lot of wallop in the bass. Sounds a lot more than its rated 150w and my Maggies love that power. I posted some pics of it here:

Jadis PA 100 amp - Jadis becomes Jadis again

Back in the early 90s, I had a pair of Jadis JA200 and a Jadis JPL preamp. Due to the temperamental nature of the 200s, popping caps in the power supply every so often, I finally gave up and sold them and took the ARC way, retaining my JPL preamp till around 2014 when I sold it as well. About...

www.whatsbestforum.com

Thanks, Phil, for getting back. Yeah, I sure have a bias; its called, terminally picky!

Hmmmm, everything keeps circling back to the Strads...and thanks for the info on the Anniv Strads - that doesn't surprise me. And which is why I asked you about the ex3mes, because I didn't hear any of that. It's like someone walked into the SF facility in Italy and forcibly removed the guy who was voicing the tweeters. I saw your Jadis amp sitting there and knew you wouldn't stand for any of that. Made me curious.

On the Strads: you know, when owners say they always regret selling them, that's a sign. And I could run them with JA-80 MkIIs...

Or, I could save a while longer and go for the ex3mes, hide it all from my wife! Ah, the audio psychosis reels on...

Love your Jadis amp. I still remember my Defy - a huge pain to bias, but I had it all NOS tubed, had a master woodworker make a custom stand for it...I can still hear it playing in my mind. Have you rolled any of the inputs? And, if you don't mind, what pre are you using? The Jadis obviously likes it. Thanks again, Mark