The lovely leather and wood design of Sonus Faber screams Italian heritage and brings a little style here to our Cardiff store, and whilst they are beautiful speakers to behold, they aren’t just a pretty face.

With the arrival of four pairs in their range we gleefully went straight for the big guns and had a listen to the Olympica Nova IIIs. As you’d expect with a speaker of this calibre they needed a good amount of power to tame but with that came an abundance of musicality that easily deserves the price tag. For smaller rooms the Nova I are fantastically smooth and are happier with lower powered amplification.

Sonus Faber have a silky smooth top and a thunderous low end that brought the bass into to ‘Brothers In Arms’ by Dire Straits to life with their huge depth of range. The Sonetto IIIs with Hans ZImmer’s ‘Time’ from the Inception soundtrack showed their prowess at orchestral arrangements and that’s really where I find the Sonus Fabers shining, real instruments are convincing and powerful. After I listened to Yosi Horikawa’s ‘Bubbles’, I found myself even doubting the need to ever own a surround sound system with the width and depth almost as expansive without the need for rear speakers.

Sonus Faber aren’t afraid of innovation with a few interesting design choices, the Olympica Novas have an asymmetrical profile with the rear port firing out at an angle meaning you can either aim them into the rear wall or the corner opening up possibilities with room placement. The grills on the Novas are very intriguing, being constructed out of elastic they don’t obstruct the view or performance of the drivers while still giving protection. The Sonetto IIIs have a downwards firing port which makes them incredibly easy to place and are happy almost anywhere with a lovely tulip body profile somewhat akin to the classic B&W 800 series.

We found ourselves pairing Sonus Faber with Nytech Audio and Leema amplification to good effect and would make for a great combination with Naim.

It’s not very often I find form and function so perfectly balanced, but here I found myself with an abundance of both that was thoroughly enjoyable! If this sounds like a speaker that would be right for you, be sure to give us a call and book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Hefin, Nick & Kerrin - Audio T Cardiff

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Sonus faber can be found at the following Audio-T stores