On Friday Absolute Sounds chose the plush surroundings of retailer KJ West One to launch the new Sonus faber Homage Tradition loudspeakers to UK press. Head of design Paolo Tezzon introduced the range with the largest model, the Amati Tradition because orginally it was the violin making school of Cremona where the Amati family worked that inspired Sonus Faber to start building loudspeakers back in 1983.
The new range reflects the lute shape in its conception but is constructed from laminated wood with an aluminium exoskeleton to provide rigidity. Tezzon who was described by Ricardo Franassovici as a disciple of company founder Franco Serblin and maintains the ethos that Sf speakers are all about emotional communication. They look pretty fabulous too in the dark wenge finish of the Amati Homage (£23,500). This top dog in the range incorporates the company’s own drive units in a three-and-a half-way arrangement wherein the lowest bass driver is naturally rolled in at a lower frequency than the one above it. Both bass drivers have their own enclosures and are tuned to a specific port ratio, the port itself being damped to manage airflow speed. This is related to a Sonus faber patent that claims to extend low frequencies below port resonance.
Crossovers incorporate Sonus faber’s Paracross topology wherein reactive components are included on the negative side of the circuit, an unusual approach that Tezzon claims results in more contrast and better musical flow, he says that the effect sounds greater signal to noise ratio which we take to mean quieter backgrounds. The dem system consisted of dCS Vivaldi CD spinning source components with Audio Research Ref 6 preamp and GS150 power amplifier, which combined with the big Amati Homage made for a holographic soundstage with considerable muscle. This model appears to have greater loudness capability than earlier Sf designs of a similar size and price which combined with its beautiful design make it a very tempting proposition.
The Serafino Tradition (£17,998) is a smaller version of the Amati with 180mm rather than 220mm bass drivers in a cabinet that weighs an almost manageable 52kg rather than the big model’s 61kg. The Homage standmount is dubbed Guarneri Tradition (£13,600) and combines a 150mm neodymium powered mid/bass driver with the 28mm silk dome tweeter found across the range. A centre channel dubbed Vox Tradition will be produced in due course.
