Sonus faber Sony projector promotion

There are many companies that make great-sounding speakers, and there are some companies that make goodlooking speakers. Few manage to do both, but one company that has nailed it is Italian manufacturer Sonus faber.

Firstly, its speakers are some of the most ‘listenable’ on the market. It is difficult to pinpoint what it is that makes them so enjoyable, but you invariably find yourself drawn into the music as opposed to evaluating the speaker, and that should be what it music reproduction is all about.

Secondly, these speakers are obviously the work of artisans. The design and finish is first-class; they are real pieces of art.

Sonus faber’s penultimate range is their Homage series, and in the middle of last year we were informed that it was due to be updated. We are now starting to see this come to fruition, and it has been worth the wait. We already have the top-of-the-range Amati G5 on the floor. This is a significant 1.2m-tall floorstanding speaker which for many people is the speaker Sonus faber is most famous for. And with good reason — it really is an excellent performer.

At the time of writing we have not received the next model down, the Serafino G2, but we will have them on the floor by the time you read this. The smaller bookshelf speaker, the Guarneri G5, is not due until May/June.

This is a range that shows what a company with the heritage of Sonus faber can achieve when it is allowed the budget to do so. The new Homage models may be priced at the higher end of the market, but trust us, they are worth it.

Amati G5 $59,995/pair

Serafino G2 $42,995/pair

Guarneri G5 $31,995/pair (with stands)

Guarneri G5 $25,995/pair (without stands)

All models come in Graphite, Wenge and Red Violin colour finishes.

Through to the end of April (unless sold out prior), you can receive a Sony PS5 Horizon Forbidden West bundle valued at $900 with the purchase of either the Sony VPL-XW5000 or VPL-XW7000 projector. We have both projectors on display in our new theatre room, so drop in to have a look and prepare to be impressed.

The Stax Reference SR-X9000 have been on the market for a considerable time, but only now has production been able to catch up to demand — and we finally have a pair for demonstration.

Stax arguably represents the pinnacle of headphone design, and the SR-X9000 are the finest headphones (or indeed ‘earspeakers’, as Stax prefers to call them) the company has ever produced.

If you want to hear what superlative headphone listening is, drop in for an audition.

CAUTION: Many Stax headphones owners listened to their first pair out of curiosity and, followed by the inevitable, they cannot be unheard!

Technics

 Spotlight on the Technics SU-G700 MkII Grand Class amplifier

Technics is best known for its turntables, both past and current. When designing its matching range of electronics, the company has been able to visually produce a blend of both the modern and the old world. The finish and design of its amplifiers is contemporary minimalism, with oversized meters harking back to years gone by. However, there is nothing vintage about their internals; these are very modern pieces of kit. As expected from Technics, the SU-G700 features a phono input... but only one other analogue input. The other five inputs are digital. While some may consider this to be heresy, the two analogue inputs are converted to digital post switching, and all source inputs remain in the digital mode until the final output stages. The SU-G700 is rated at 70 watts into eight ohms and 140 watts into four ohms, utilising a variation on Class D topography.

This purely digital signal path allows the introduction of some unique Technics technologies. The first is JENO Engine (Jitter Elimination and Noise Shaping Optimization), which is applied to all sources, and then there’s LAPC (Load Adaptive Phase Calibration). The explanation of LAPC on Technics’ website is: ‘The impedance of a speaker changes with frequency. The power amplifier must drive the speakers regardless of their specific characteristics. Conventional digital amplifiers control the loudspeakers via a low pass filter in the output stage. As a result, the influence of the impedance characteristics of the connected loudspeaker is much stronger. Although the amplitude characteristics of conventional loudspeakers can be controlled by means of negative feedback, it is not possible to optimize the phase characteristics. Therefore, Technics developed an adaptive optimization algorithm for the loudspeaker impedance. It corrects the impulse response of the loudspeaker using digital signal processing. To do this, it measures the amplitudephase characteristics of the amplifier with the speakers connected. This new method enables the frequency response of the amplitude and phase to be smoothed, which is not possible with conventional amplifiers. The correct timing of the resulting amplifier signal leads to a sound image that is precise spatially’.

OK, so that is something of a mouthful, but the uneasy relationship between an amplifier and the speakers connected to it has long been recognised since the first audio playback systems were developed. This is Technics’ attempt to overcome this problem — and it seems to work.

There has also been a considerable amount of work done on the power supply, and even the internals of the amplifier have been divided into three compartments to isolate the digital, power and phono inputs. Build quality is as good as you will see at this price (and higher), too.

This is a superbly crafted amplifier and a very good-sounding one at that. One that, despite expectations given the design philosophy, does not exhibit any of the digital characteristics that tend to plague amplifiers of similar design.

Triangle –40th edition

It has taken a while, but we are finally seeing the 40th-anniversary models from Triangle reach our shores, albeit in very small numbers. The most striking thing about this limited range of speakers is the finish — it is meticulous. Secondly, and importantly, they are sonically much superior to the models they are based on. Triangle has not simply taken existing models and given them a new veneer and a commemorative badge; they have been completely transformed. And it shows. Triangle believes that the Antal and Comete speakers from its Esprit range represent the emblematic models of the brand, and so has chosen these, along with three models from its Magellan series, to be released to celebrate its 40th anniversary. We have the Esprit series on the floor, with the Magellan range due within weeks.

Esprit Antal 40th: $6,000

Esprit Comete 40th: $3,000

(Esprit 40th models are available in Santos Rosewood and Blond Sycamore)

Magellan Quatuor 40th: $28,000

Magellan Cello 40th: $22,000

Magellan Duetto 40th: $11,000

(Magellan 40th models are available in Golden Oak, Black and Zebrano)