Sonus Faber Visit
We have added several models to our Sonus Faber collection. We now show the Chameleon shelf and floor standing speakers, the Venere Signature, the Olympica II and III, and the Serafino. All of these speakers are made in Italy. They are in beautiful, hand assembled cabinets. The Serafino must be seen to be believed.
Sonus Faber takes a different view of the speaker cabinet than most manufacturers do. Most manufacturers either attempt to build a cabinet, which is totally dead, and thus not affecting the sound produced by the individual speaker drivers or they use no cabinet. Using no cabinet has its own set of problems, primarily the inability to produce bass. Those manufacturers who attempt to do a totally dead cabinet usually fail. It is very expensive to do. Rockport and Wilson do an admirable job.
Recently we had a visit from Will Kline the Sonus Faber brand manager in the United States. Will is an expert on Sonus Faber design and explained in great detail how they use the cabinet as an integral part of producing the sound they want. Their approach harkens back to the great Italian string instrument makers of the 17th and 18 centuries. It is the body of the instrument that is responsible for the sound.
Will loved our shop and thought we did a great job of speaker setup. He essentially uses the same methodology as we do.
The Sonus Faber approach is to make a speaker that has long-term listenability. So, they are not necessarily impressive in the first listen but they will stand the test of time. One must be wary of the speaker that is very impressive on first listen. You may tire of them once you get them home and find all music to be bright and in your face with over emphasized but not extended bass. Be careful when you listen to a speaker in a shop.
We invite you to come in soon to hear the Serafino and the other five models we have on display. They range in price from $899/pair for the Chameleon shelf speaker to $21,900 for the Serafino floor standing speaker.
Sonus Faber Serafino