Hi all -
I would love to hear some opinions comparing the following speakers
Sonus faber Serafino Tradition vs the Focal Sopra 3
thanks in advance…
Nothing makes me flee a room faster than Focals. Ugh.
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Maybe some Focals playing Supertramp will make you move a little faster!
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Anything playing Supertramp will me. Even rolled off Harbeths.
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I wad very sad when I finally heard Harbeths. They reminded me why I always found Infinity speakers intolerable.
Wait, I have Infinity speakers in my Hyundai!
Sigh.
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I had never owned or even heard a pair in over 50 years in the hobby so when I found a pair of mint C7’s with custom stands last year for a good price I bought them. If all you listen to is acoustic jazz or female vocals at lower volumes they can get by but anything more difficult they falter. Need to box them up and get them gone. Instead of the Serafino I personally would look at the Franco Serblin Ktema. You will get the traditional SF voicing and not the McIntosh Group’s version of it.
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Another Focal non-fan here. Had a pair of monitors from the Be series for all of a month before I sold them as fast as could find a buyer. The tipped up house sound drives me nuts. So if SF is your only other choice, SF it is by process of elimination.
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as a quick side note - it baffles me why some companies want to degrade their brand by letting their name get put on standard car systems… I mean… Mark Levinson in a Lexus? its just a Toyota with some leather seats.
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It’s another revenue stream. Cynical answer but true.
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It may also support the sale of their products elsewhere by increasing name recognition, as well as cross-selling.
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maybe I should ask for more road noise the next time I audition some new speakers 
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Wow those two speakers sound insanely different. As such, somewhat surprising that they’d be the final two, as different as they are. On my tonality spectrum from zero (super warm) to 100 (super bright) I’d have these separated by at least 55-60 points. Audition both and you should quickly know which you prefer. Whatever any of us prefers is irrelevant.
In the speaker world, these two kinda like asking what is better steak or lobster? Answer: my choice is irrelevant to yours but I’m confident you’ll easily be able to taste the difference and decide for yourself.
As always (unless starting from scratch, which is ideal but less common), your amplification and source will be important considerations in the pairing as well. What are you using or planning to use for those?
Both companies are among the leaders in the speaker game, both pushing new technologies out and driving forward, not sitting on laurels (especially Focal, imo). Very different sounding speakers.
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I have no experience with Focal speakers. Only heard good news about them, apart from the above, which I find rather unsubstantiated.
However, from the Olympica series upwards I have not come across any Sonus Faber Speaker that does not sound as jaw dropping gorgeous as they look. Real pieces of art, looking good in any living environment.
Personally (budget related) the Olympica Nova design is my favorite, these Nova speakers have a less busy design than their predecessors, and sound amazing.
Other than that, both options Sonus Faber and Focal are all natively (company residence) manufactured, look good and have unique features.
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