Gunny Surwan of Sonner Audio usually keeps in touch with me about the latest developments in his superb line of speakers. I reviewed his amazing flagships, the Sonner Audio Allegro Unum two-way monitors, a couple of years ago, and even back then Gunny was talking about developing the perfect speaker stand for it. At AXPONA 2024, this new stand debuted.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
Before and during the show, Gunny was extremely pleased with the results of the new Sonner stand. His was the last room I visited at AXPONA–as I told him, I was saving the best for last. I was not disappointed. In the Holm Audio room, Gunny showed off a modest, simple but very effective system that included the Margules SF-220 30th Anniversary preamplifier ($8,000), the matching Margules U-280SC 30th Anniversary power amplifier ($12,000), an Ayre QX5 DAC ($12,000) and cables and grounding devices by Nordost.
The Sonner Audio Allegro MKII loudspeakers are also $12,000/pair. The new Reference Stands cost an additional $4,000. I know that $4K is considered a lot of money for a pair of bookshelf speaker stands, and that many people might opt out for something cheaper, and that would be a mistake. With this system, Gunny created an exhibit room for the ages: the supremely musical Allegros, the warm and embraceable tube amplification from Margules, and the smooth analog-like Ayre DAC. I spent a whole hour in there listening, relaxing, and knowing that the memory of this Sonner system would stay with me all the way home to Oregon.
Gunny is facing a conundrum with those stands, however. He thought this system was the best he’s ever exhibited, and he may be right. He attributes these sublime results to the stands above everything else in the chain, and he may be right about that, too. So how do you convince prospective Sonner owners that you need to add $4K stands to a $12K pair of speakers? Well, you sell them as a set for $16,000/pair complete. Gunny has been told that he doesn’t charge enough for the Sonner Allegros–audiophiles can be wrongly turned off by a product that’s too cheap. I think this is the way to go.
$16,000 for Sonner Allegro speakers and stands and it sounds this awesome? It’s a no-brainer to add the stands and let everyone hear the potential of these already memorable two-way monitors.
If you would like to hear even more coverage from AXPONA 2024, check out our recap report and highlights from our audiophile-oriented show The Occasional Podcast. You can stream the episode direct from the embed below, or from your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.
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