The Sonus Faber Liuto Speakers
[IMG2]http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/448/sonusfaberliuto.jpg[/IMG2]
Choosing a high end speaker is not easy. The number of brands with a reputation is not too large, but each one who has reached that rarefied atmosphere has impeccable reputation built over years of hard work. Is price a consideration? To some extent, yes. But then when you are talking about 6 figure values, you have to tread carefully. After a lot of thought and market research, we decided to bring the Sonus Faber speakers to south India.
Started by an Italian master craftsman, Sonus Faber began its history with the Snail, a prototype speaker that was made in small numbers in the 80s. Sonus Faber then moved into the 90s with the Externa. During all these times, Sonus Faber looked after a small market of enthusiasts in and around Italy. It was between 1995 and 1999 that Sonus Faber burst into the world stage with the Concert and Home. It gained fame with the Arnati, and set a benchmark with The Cremona and Stradivari Hornage.
Now, unless you are the kind that has a very large house and a very large bank balance, you can only think of listening to the Cremona and the Hornage in road shows. So Sonus Faber took the same shape of a lute as the Cremona, the same technology, and created the Liuto.
The Liuto was created to fulfil the market eagerness for HT, and comes as a 5.1 set consisting of FS, BS, a center channel, and Subwoofers. But each of these speakers has been designed very carefully to sound superlative. Liuto is the result of painstaking design, manufacturing, and testing using listening sessions and accurate instrumental testing. The Liuto can sound rich and powerful, with coherence and tonal balance in abundance. Whether you are listening to a vocal or a full symphony orchestra, you will be transported to the stage with sound as close to the original recording as possible.
Some Specifications
The Liuto is a 3 way floor standing vented box loudspeaker using proprietary drivers. The tweeter is a 25 mm high definition pre-coated fabric dome driver with wide soft polymer surround and rear chamber.
The midrange uses a 150 mm cone driver that has a free compression basket design and a thermo-mouldered polypropylene textile cone, also known as "curv". For dynamic performance, the driver is optimized with its own acoustic chamber.
The woofer is a 220 mm lightweight Aluminum/Magnesium alloy cone driver delivering Ultra dynamic performance and linearity. Special coaxial anti-compressor design is used to remove cavity resonances completely.
The Liuto has a frequency range of 40 Hz-25.000 Hz, with tuning ports included. It has a sensitivity of 89 dB SPL (2.83 V/1m), and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms. The Liuto can handle up to 250W without any clipping.
Reviews
Writing for Sound&Vision, Brent Butterworth says, the Liuto towers clearly dont need a sub shaking the hell out of my room without the slightest trace of distortion. It also delivered a tuneful groove on melodic bass lines from the James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD, Totos Rosanna, and all the other studio-slick pop tracks from my test CD-R. He goes on to say, The Liuto collection is something Ive rarely encountered: a speaker system that lends itself just as well to audiophile listening as it does to high-impact home theater. I doubt you could find lower-priced speakers that combine the Liutos technical excellence and incredible craftsmanship.
Writing for The Absolute Sound, Neil Gader says, its a high-voltage performer, both infinitely entertaining and musical. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, its the best speaker in the proud Sonus family.
To allow the Liuto to breathe well we have housed it in a room dedicated for two channel music. For source we have a Thorens TD158 TT and an Arcam FMJ CD17 CDP. For amplification we use either an Arcam FMJ A28 Integrated amplifier, or a combination of Parasounds 2100 pre-amp, and their power amp the A21 from their Halo Series. All interconnects and speaker cables are from Van den Hul.
Come and spend a weekend with us listening to your favourite albums playing in some of the best speakers you can get for their price. The FS comes at around 3L for a pair.
[IMG2]http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/448/sonusfaberliuto.jpg[/IMG2]
Choosing a high end speaker is not easy. The number of brands with a reputation is not too large, but each one who has reached that rarefied atmosphere has impeccable reputation built over years of hard work. Is price a consideration? To some extent, yes. But then when you are talking about 6 figure values, you have to tread carefully. After a lot of thought and market research, we decided to bring the Sonus Faber speakers to south India.
Started by an Italian master craftsman, Sonus Faber began its history with the Snail, a prototype speaker that was made in small numbers in the 80s. Sonus Faber then moved into the 90s with the Externa. During all these times, Sonus Faber looked after a small market of enthusiasts in and around Italy. It was between 1995 and 1999 that Sonus Faber burst into the world stage with the Concert and Home. It gained fame with the Arnati, and set a benchmark with The Cremona and Stradivari Hornage.
Now, unless you are the kind that has a very large house and a very large bank balance, you can only think of listening to the Cremona and the Hornage in road shows. So Sonus Faber took the same shape of a lute as the Cremona, the same technology, and created the Liuto.
The Liuto was created to fulfil the market eagerness for HT, and comes as a 5.1 set consisting of FS, BS, a center channel, and Subwoofers. But each of these speakers has been designed very carefully to sound superlative. Liuto is the result of painstaking design, manufacturing, and testing using listening sessions and accurate instrumental testing. The Liuto can sound rich and powerful, with coherence and tonal balance in abundance. Whether you are listening to a vocal or a full symphony orchestra, you will be transported to the stage with sound as close to the original recording as possible.
Some Specifications
The Liuto is a 3 way floor standing vented box loudspeaker using proprietary drivers. The tweeter is a 25 mm high definition pre-coated fabric dome driver with wide soft polymer surround and rear chamber.
The midrange uses a 150 mm cone driver that has a free compression basket design and a thermo-mouldered polypropylene textile cone, also known as "curv". For dynamic performance, the driver is optimized with its own acoustic chamber.
The woofer is a 220 mm lightweight Aluminum/Magnesium alloy cone driver delivering Ultra dynamic performance and linearity. Special coaxial anti-compressor design is used to remove cavity resonances completely.
The Liuto has a frequency range of 40 Hz-25.000 Hz, with tuning ports included. It has a sensitivity of 89 dB SPL (2.83 V/1m), and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms. The Liuto can handle up to 250W without any clipping.
Reviews
Writing for Sound&Vision, Brent Butterworth says, the Liuto towers clearly dont need a sub shaking the hell out of my room without the slightest trace of distortion. It also delivered a tuneful groove on melodic bass lines from the James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre DVD, Totos Rosanna, and all the other studio-slick pop tracks from my test CD-R. He goes on to say, The Liuto collection is something Ive rarely encountered: a speaker system that lends itself just as well to audiophile listening as it does to high-impact home theater. I doubt you could find lower-priced speakers that combine the Liutos technical excellence and incredible craftsmanship.
Writing for The Absolute Sound, Neil Gader says, its a high-voltage performer, both infinitely entertaining and musical. Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, its the best speaker in the proud Sonus family.
To allow the Liuto to breathe well we have housed it in a room dedicated for two channel music. For source we have a Thorens TD158 TT and an Arcam FMJ CD17 CDP. For amplification we use either an Arcam FMJ A28 Integrated amplifier, or a combination of Parasounds 2100 pre-amp, and their power amp the A21 from their Halo Series. All interconnects and speaker cables are from Van den Hul.
Come and spend a weekend with us listening to your favourite albums playing in some of the best speakers you can get for their price. The FS comes at around 3L for a pair.
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