Italian version HERE
My friend and I left Milan at noon on Sunday to go to Padova, where he now lives; he is a young man born in Sicily who moved to Milan to pursue
his studies in Design. We met nine years ago sharing the same unbridled passion
for the world of beautiful sound reproduction and, over time, despite his age
is different (I'm a former young) we have established a relationship based on
the exchange of ideas about life as well as hi-fi. He, meanwhile, after redesigning objects for Norma, Lector, Audia Flight, M2Tech, Jacob Ludwig has made the leap
and became the Head of Design & Engineering of Sonus faber, Audio Research
and Wadia. He is Livio Cucuzza and on Monday morning he opened to me the door of one of the most important manufacturers of loudspeakers
throughout the international scene.
MONDAY MORNING: Sonus faber COMPANY TOUR
At the entrance we were greeted by Enrico, the Marketing
Manager, with whom we had a talk about the history and tradition of Sonus
faber.Do the famous Family Sound of the Sonus faber past exists or not?
Concertino home Extrema
Wandering through the offices I noticed this
pair of red lacquer Concertino Home for the Chinese market (!) and the still
fascinating Extrema. I could not resist and I asked Livio if there is a review
of these "fine-but-impossible"but he only offers to me a mischievous
smile without giving me any answer: who knows!?
Amati Futura Walnut
Wow, the flash has definitely taken a little magic
to the photos (sorry) but I guarantee that these Amati Futura in the special
experimental Walnut have such a beauty and are so refined to seem jewels.
Livio Cucuzza and his team
This is the Design & Engineering team:
Livio, Marco and Gian the historical memory of this prestigious factory.
Then we moved on the production floor: I had
seen many pictures of Sonus faber because management believes it is important
to keep the doors open even to amateurs as well as their customers and
suppliers; transparency that only who live in excellence can afford: chapeau!
In the fhe first zone we visited some nice
ladies were applying the leather of a series of Toy, Toy Tower and Minima. In
reality, it is an imitation leather
because, explained Livio, in addition to
being as beautiful to the eye it’s more constant in the aesthetic view, more
stable and less sensitive when applied and the thickness is more flat to ensure
the best possible sound. It costs less than the leather, he also added. I can
assure you that the "Hand-made in Italy" is absolutely appropriate,
the lady in the picture and her colleagues gave me a taste of their mastery
always with a smile on her lips. Have grown accustomed to visits by
"intruders" and nothing distracted in their job. And they don’t perform
simple maneuvers, really good.
I was amazed to see that everyone (I mean
everyone) drivers arriving at the factory are cleaned one by one by hand with a
special solution; the photo is moved because it is shot without flash and
moving. The woofers are Toy Tower.
I witnessed live test that is performed on all
the speakers before packing (here a Toy Tower). Are propped up against a
special room that has a microphone and it is applied a sweep of all frequencies
to their terminals. The differences with the standard response of the model,
the impedance and phase shifts are detected and verified within a fixed
tolerance; the result is GOOD steps aheap, BAD is analyzed to identify the
problem.
A phase of the Elipsa Auditor assembling and an image of the precious aluminum parts (base, top and wings) of the Amati Futura.
These new Sonus faber Venus ready to enter the
market are already talked even never seen before. After listening, he will
speak even more.
Assembling the crossovers
Here you see Stefano struggling with the
crossover of the Cremona: like all the others are designed by Paolo Tezzon, the
head of the electroacoustic department of all the speakers; they are engineered
then passed to the assembly and then covered by resin before inserting in the
speakers. The result is ... breathtaking.
The wonderful crossover of the Sonus faber Aida
Proudly I show you, I think for the first time,
the five pieces naked of the various sections of the Aida crossover (sub, bass,
rear satellite, mid / high and potentiometers for adjusting sub, tweeters and
satellite).
The components are Mundorf most valuable series
and there is no need to comment such a spectacular image.
The sub section already fully immersed in the
resin and the bass in the process.
The cabinet of Aida is particularly complex and
Livio described to me in detail the inner chambers and sub divided chamber with
its “U” structure. Then when we got back to his creature his eyes were full of
proud as their father (but the same look I saw in Paul Tezzon shortly after,
the other dad who has responsibility for the selection and development of
drivers and crossover) .
I could see the wonderful workmanship of
mid-range designed by Sonus faber and built by Scan-Speak.
Aida plays the role of the new flagship with "The Sonus faber" (in the background and in the picture on the right ready for departure, too) ... but the debate is open.
Looking at the back of an Aida I noticed and
captured a first gem, the couple ready for packaging pre-shipment is number 72.
Planned for thirty in 2012 and instead sold more than double in the first nine
months ... and the production does not stop!
Paolo Tezzon at his test table
Here we are in the realm of Paolo Tezzon: I
only have this picture because the other side of the room there were a couple
of prototypes to test their measuring equipment. Paolo, although very busy that
morning, told me some of his characteristic principles in the design of
crossover; forgive the extreme synthesis, but basically, he tries to put the
amplifier in the best working conditions offering loads always reasonable and controlled
rotations phase, small and manageable. It 'a complex and fascinating job and I
saw proud eyes when he was speaking. He showed me, directly, the response to a
driver of his own design before and after the intervention of the section of
the crossover and explained the reasons for their choices in terms of
components (value and quality). On his desk there is the inevitable
concentration of equipment to ensure speed and efficiency. He knows that
everything will be engineered and then become the wonder that you have seen a
bit above.
At lunch, chatting also about bike (my other
passion) I thought that men and women I met are very serene and proud to work
for Sonus faber.
I saw with my own eyes all their good reasons:
they are committed to produce something that the world will envy.
MONDAY MORNING: LISTENING TO THE AIDA
The beautiful listening room of Sonus faber
Equipments by Fine Sounds group
When I sat down I was for a while to see the
good things that I have around. It was a different feeling from what I feel
when I listen to the exhibition halls or in shops. I was in the factory that
produces the Aida, I had just finished talking with people who have imagined,
designed, built and I was in their main listening room where every detail is
attended to look great; the expectation was very high .
I do not know if I can convey what I felt but ... trust me, a different world.
After five minutes I was alone
in this paradise for an important meeting that unexpectedly took away Paolo and
Livio.
The room has the features that I like, is
devoid of overly absorbent components that restrict the free propagation of
sound. There are some panels but they are not invasive for sight and in
acoustic terms. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and impressed.
I started listening letting go the disc sampler
that Livio inserted and I've enjoyed without thinking about merits, defects or
judgments. I promised myself to listen to my cd (I brought a dozen) only after
half an hour of acclimatization.
When ears, brain and body have become
accustomed I started with my selection of records ... “so-and-so”. If you
popped a question mark on your eyebrows I understand you: audiophile discs are
good at home in case of test for a
specific component or fine tuning. Facing a completely unknown system I wanted to
understand, first of all, if the set-up gave to me the sound always pleasant even
with not perfect record. This fact would have felt me suspicious because signal
of too strong domestication. Listening challenging, then, because I had not only
Aida in front of me; I was listening to a chain, formidable and inevitably
conditioned by the various components, like all high-level installations.
I tell you now that when Paolo and Livio came
back we made some changes before getting
me able to express a reasonable summary (because their ideas were very clear).
The chain ARC-Wadia-Aida sounds fine (I find
not a more appropriate term); the lower frequencies are the smoother and more
intelligible I have ever heard (maybe only the Focal Grand Utopia come to this
level. This set-up has not, however, the evil I expected and that Aida would be
able to give easily. And I am sure that the impression is due to the set-up and
not to Aida because pumping up a little the volume is enough to understand that
all the technical features included in Aida (the damping and floating base, the
two internal mass-dumper, the wings,
...) help to maintain the total control over the output that is free from audible
resonances . With other equipments, I'm sure, they would enjoy even more.
With Viola Symphony instead of the ARC power amps, came out more fighting spirit, although at the expense of musicality. That sense of aplomb, so dear to lovers of sound Sonus faber (and not only) was still present. Maybe trying the Viola Bravo something could change; it’s “bad” but extremely refined.
With Viola Symphony instead of the ARC power amps, came out more fighting spirit, although at the expense of musicality. That sense of aplomb, so dear to lovers of sound Sonus faber (and not only) was still present. Maybe trying the Viola Bravo something could change; it’s “bad” but extremely refined.
Livio then tried to replace CD transport + DAC
Wadia with an ARC CD8 definitely more “fresh” but less musical than the Wadia.
Then we went back to the configuration you see
in the picture; perhaps not perfectly suited to my tastes but certainly of highest
level. Here we enter the field of subjective evaluations because this kind of sound
is so loved by those who want to listen without fatigue; 10° line in an opera
house, I mean, while I prefer the setting more true like the platform of the
conductor.With some recording could be fatiguing but with the good version it
give an incredible flavor. In short:
Steinway o Bösendorfer, to name two wonderful pianos so different from each
other. I often discuss with Livio about this subject and we talked about it during
the journey to Padova; we know that for some things we have different points of
view but we are sure that we never think to have only truth. So we are always
curious of the opinion of the other.
In any case, changing the set-up for listening
to Aida helped me to understand that these fine musical instruments will
require to lucky owners painstaking
refinement to find the right balance capable of extracting the musicality,
transparency and power they are capable and fit to the tastes of those who have
chosen them.
