Sonus Faber Cremona M *Mint* w/$200 Shipping Credit

I am the co-owner of Ultra Fidelis, a high-end audio and home theater boutique in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and we are an authorized Sonus Faber dealer. I am offering for sale, my personally-owned pair of Sonus Faber Cremona-M full-range loudspeakers. The Cremona-M is a three-way, four-driver, bass-reflex design with dual rear ports. It stands about 45" high on its raked, fully spiked platform. The cabinet is the classic SF lute shape with a leather-covered baffle and a gorgeous gloss finish. The veneer color is what Sonus Faber calls its “maple” finish, but the color is candidly closer to cherry than maple, with thin inlaid contrasting graphite stripes. The “grills” are in fact the simple elastic “piano string” style that will be familiar to Sonus Faber fans; it is not a traditional grill, but it is much more opaque than in the brightly lit photo. Despite the minimalist grill style, I still prefer the sound with the grills removed. The Cremona-M is a work of art from the perspective of both aesthetics and sonic performance.

When the Cremona-M was introduced in 2008, it won universal accolades from the high-end press and was a huge hit with both our staff and customer base. The earlier version of the Cremona was a lovely speaker, but its more velvety, relaxed, presentation tended to appeal more to our classical and jazz oriented clientele rather than those with broader tastes and the occasional penchant for wall-shaking rock music. The introduction of the “M” version retained all the things that made the original Cremona a great speaker, but by introducing the new wood-fiber Scanspeak midrange, which was used in the more expensive Elipsa models, Sonus Faber built on the Cremona foundation and created a loudspeaker targeted to a much broader base of listeners. As Neil Gader summed-up in his Absolute Sound review: “This particular Sonus Faber also reveals a more explosive, electrifying side, one that doesn’t flinch from deep-impact rock and full-throttle metal. Translation: This cultured Italian kicked some serious gluteus maximus in my listening room. Very simply, the Cremona M moves air, and a lot of it. And by doing so it reminds you of the physical nature of sound¬—how it impacts the music and the listener.” My sentiments exactly and the reason this pair has been my personal reference speaker for the past five years.

I am the original, and only, owner of these speakers. I live in a smoke-free, child-free, and pet-free home and these speakers are in pristine condition; there are no scuffs, scratches, blemishes, or imperfections of any kind; if they arrived in a sealed box, you'd think they came straight from the factory.

Now, to the complicated bit…the shipping. You will note that I have provided a “shipping credit” of $200. What this means is that the buyer will be responsible for shipping expense, but I will pay the first $200 of that expense. The reason for this rather unusual approach is because there are myriad ways to ship speakers of this quality and expense, each with pros and cons, and I would prefer that the choice of shipping mode be made by their purchaser, not me. The $200 credit I offer is a rough average of what I expect it will cost me, using our commercial UPS account, to ship these via fully insured ground service to a large portion of the Continental United States…some areas will be more, very few will be less. That said, even though I will be using the original factory packaging, there are risks inherent with using UPS services and damage is always possible. The safer, but significantly more expensive, shipping method is motor freight and the costs can vary wildly depending on location. Rather than iterate every conceivable shipping option, I would prefer to personally discuss this with the eventual buyer and work out whatever combination of cost and service seems to make the most sense at that time. I will not, however, ship these speakers outside the Continental U.S., it’s just too complicated and expensive. (Please note: stated weight and dimensions are for each box.)

Payment may be made via PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, cashier’s check, or wire transfer but I will only ship to the address associated with the payment account...no exceptions unless we knew each other in high school. No additional fees imposed for PayPal or credit card use.

You can check out our business at www.ultrafi.com and please look at our flawless feedback here on Audiogon if you have any concerns....our reputation and our business are a whole lot more important than any sale, so we always under promise and over deliver.

Thanks for looking and please either e-mail ([email protected]), or give me a call on my cell (414-630-1131) if I can answer any questions.

-Scott Wilson, Ultra Fidelis - A Better Audio & Home Theater Experience

Note: Please forgive the odd angle of some of the photographs; my business partner (who is both the “heart” and “ears” of Ultra Fidelis) spent hours positioning these perfectly for my room. I don’t intend to move them a millimeter until it’s time to pack them up.