SONUS FABER

The impressive demo facilities are a real highlight of any visit

SONUS FABER: PORTRAIT OF AN AUDIO ARTISAN

EI’s recent trip to visit Sonus faber (available in the UK from Fine Sounds UK) in its hometown of Vicenza in Northern Italy, prompted a desire to delve deeper into the culture, achievements and plans of this ambitious audio artisan.

Tell us about the history of the company?

Jeff Poggi, CEO Sonus faber, “Sonus faber was founded in 1983 by a Dentist, Franco Serblin. The company was established with the inspiration to use the traditions of the famous Italian lute makers to make beautiful loudspeakers that sound natural, look elegant, and use the most precious natural materials available like hardwoods, leather, and stone. Over the past 39 years there have been many product innovations. One that stands out prominently is the introduction of the Guarneri Homage (1993). This speaker introduced the world’s first ‘lute shaped’ speaker cabinet which set off a revolution in speaker design that most major speaker companies now imitate. The ‘lute shape’ was inspired by the shape of the musical instrument and was revolutionary to help dampen the standing waves that form in a typical speaker cabinet and made the cabinet extremely stiff and rigid, thus making the sound much more natural with less coloration. More recently we introduced the Sonus faber OMNIA wireless music system with two trademarked technologies, SENSO and CRESCENDO and received recognition via two Red Dot Design Awards, as well as a What Hi-Fi 5-Star Award. Our latest Sonus faber innovation continues our innovative tradition.”

What is the culture like within the company, where does the passion come from to create the products?

“I invite you to visit the company. Because, if you visit then you will ‘feel’ the culture. The Sonus faber culture is amazing because of our family of talented Italian artisans. Sonus faber is oozing with emotional, passionate, curious, caring, and hardworking people. Each person sets very high standards for themselves and takes a personal commitment to ensure that all our products are designed, fabricated, and marketed with the highest attention to detail and quality. I’m so proud and privileged to be part of such an amazing team.”

Development and testing facilities are top notch

Where do you get your inspiration?

Livio Cucuzza, Chief Design Officer, “Inspiration can come from everywhere. There is normally a big quantity of elements that are part of the history of the brand, trends that are popular in the specific market and a series of inspirations that come from outside; boats, nature, architecture, cars and art are the ones more common for us.

“Everything that surrounds us is influencing our lives and our senses. Food, art, wine and our beautiful history are part of our landscape but they are also feeding our creativity. Our territory plays a crucial role in the way our products are made.”

The whole staff take personal responsibility for the quality of the products

You use lots of ‘natural’ materials, tell us a little about that.

“Natural materials were at the base of Sonus faber’s original concept. From the typical resonance of the wood, the beautiful texture of the leather to the exceptional properties of the stones, any material for us is a fundamental ingredient of the Sonus faber recipe, contributing to the final result: pleasure for all the senses. The adding value of each material, when we talk about natural materials, is a certain grade of unpredictability, that portion of chaos that any organism has in its composition, which makes the life on this planet so special and, more importantly, unique!”

The staff are very enthusiastic, what is it about working at Sonus Faber that creates such a healthy environment?

Roberto Gamba, Business Development Manager, Customer Installation, “I joined the team last year and immediately felt a family atmosphere, all the team is super engaged and passionate; this is a really key aspect to the success and feel of our company. Recently, we’ve also added more new and talented young people in addition to the existing team, and this passion, focus, new skill set and team-feel are vital ingredients to allow us to improve every day and at the same time create a great environment, that will only result in more amazing products.”

What are the main areas the company wants to be known for - Hi-Fi/Home Cinema? Something else?

“We’re always improving and developing all of the products in the Hi-Fi line-up, and now we are working in new fields like the wireless speaker category. But we don’t want to copy or imitate, for our recently launched OMNIA, we wanted to create something genuinely class-leading, that changes the way we engage with our music and movies.

We are currently working on the development of a wide range of products that will allow us to be even more present in the home cinema world, right now we have a Palladio 5 & 6 that really impresses me for the sonically quality. We believe we can create great things in the space.

Do you feel there is a scope for installers to sell more ‘Hi-Fi’ systems as well as the integrated styles?

“Focusing on performance is key, and we shouldn’t only think of CI in the traditional sense, but very much push-towards ‘Ci-Fi’ (custom install fidelity). The idea in this is that we transfer the incredible performance aspects and understanding of reproduction in Hi-Fi inside all the areas inside homes, superyachts, private jets and any spaces that would benefit from the very best performance. By changing the hierarchy of project spend towards the key areas on the system performance, we will truly provide our clients with the best ever experience!”

You had several products in development during our visit, can you tell us anything about them?

Livio continues, “The life in the design lab is in continue evolution, we have normally multiple projects open in the laboratories, and each one is part of the total and each one is unique. Right now, we’re working on active speakers, custom installation products, classic stereo speakers and some automotive collaborations, but our target is always the same: the listening pleasure.”

Highlights from the current range?

“If I must use one example of what Sonus faber is I would choose the Heritage series. A collection of classic products that are both representative of our history and our present, because that unique mix of simplicity and refinement goes so deep in the meaning of what we are.”

You have some very impressive demonstration facilities, tell us about those.

Roberto adds, “We truly believe in the power of having a fully immersive, behind the scenes experience for our guests. Giving amazing demonstrations of our product range is one piece of our story, but we also want to help our customers discover who our company really IS, by showing what happens on the inside; from R&D to production, through all sectors, so everybody can understand our DNA and realise that we don’t just talk about these things, but we actually live and breathe all of it, day in and day out. Of course, the demonstration facilities are also used extensively in the development cycle with our R&D teams!”

What does the immediate future hold for the company?

Jeff concludes, “The company is expanding its capabilities across many dimensions. In December 2021 we completed the acquisition of DeSanti SRL, our long-time wood working supplier partner. This brings 30+ years of woodworking experience into the company and enables us to expand the capacity so that we can meet the growing demand for our Italian-made loudspeakers. In February 2022, we announced the OMNIA wireless music system which allows us to engage a whole new customer segment with our natural sound. In April 2022, Maserati announced their all-new Grecale featuring Sonus faber sound for luxury customer on the go. It is a thrilling time for the brand!

“Europe continues to be our largest and most important market. We look forward to work closely with our partners to deliver amazing natural sound experience in all market segments we serve – stereo Hi-Fi, home theatre, whole home audio, private home cinema, automotive, and wireless music systems!”

The lively R&D area is one of the key hubs of Sonus faber

Sonus faber Fine Sounds UK sonusfaber.com finesounds.uk

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