SONUS FABER Olympica II
Floorstanding loudspeakers
I was stunned by the ultimate craftsmanship – to me the Olympica represents the essence of beauty in modern cabinetmaking. They always knew in Sonus Faber how to appeal to emotions and every Sonus Faber speaker does have certain amount of character, yet the Olympica elevates it to a completely new level: the materials that were used, their application, the proportions and technical details are honed to perfection. It is unimaginable that the craftsmanship of the Olympica could be bettered.
Function and form
There are three different Olympicas – model I that is a stand mounted speaker and models II and III that are floorstanding, all based on the same aesthetics.
The footprint of the Olympicas is lyra-shaped which, in combination with complicated curvature of the cabinets, should help eliminate standing waves and combat diffraction issues. Sonus Faber applies similar concept across its portfolio, starting with budget Venere line and ending with ultra-expensive flagship Aida.
The Sonus Faber´s design team spiced the Olympicas with not that traditional solutions. The vertical bass reflex port has a shape of slot running along the side of the cabinet hidden under a polished and perforated aluminum strip. The devil is in the details and there are many fine details on the Olympicas: binary perforation of the strips covering reflex ports lends technical flair to the silky sheen of the walnut, the leather top with embedded Sonus Faber logo gives a touch of luxury and felt lined bottoms of the cabinets helps reduce floor reflections in top octaves. The Olympicas feature proprietary binding posts that enable bi-wiring and, last but not least, the transducer complement is tailor-made for the range.
Sonus Faber traditionally outsources their tweeters and woofers from reputable Scandic producers and the Olympicas are not an exception. 29mm 29XTR2 silk Damped Apex Dome tweeter is a combination of a dome and a ring radiator, 15cm midwoofer´s cone is composite of organic materials (paper, kapok and kenaf) ad 18cm woofers of the Olympica II and III is made of cellulose reinforced by sandwich of synthetic foam to achieve rigid yet lightest structure possible.
According to specifications the frequency responses of the Olympica I, II and III commence at 50, 40 and 35 Hz with 87 to 90 dB sensitivity. The upper extension is quoted to 30,000 Hz. All the Olympicas are nominally 4 ohm speakers which can be taken as granted so I would not see any limits for partnering amplifiers. Should you prefer using vacuum tubes than make sure that the amp is stable into 4 ohms.
Bass management
The side-firing port facilitates useful experimentation as depending on the acoustics of your listening room and proximity of walls you can choose whether the ports will be facing each other or vice versa. By doing this you can optimize performance of the speakers in the particular listening environment.
Notably the Olympica II seems to be a shier bass performer than much smaller Olympica I. Why is that? Unlike the standmount the floorstander features the specialized woofer that relieves the midwoofer and supports it only when needed. Thus the Olympica II’s lows are not that adrenaline-packed and pumping but seem to be more relaxed and less colored which proves more pleasant on ear over longer periods of time and truer to the original. Still, the Olympica II can rock as successfully as the smaller box and provides great dynamics that make your blood boil.
Clarity & delicacy
The both Olympicas are kind to the sound and are quite forgiving as far as the quality of recordings is concerned. Sonus Faber has the spirit of violin-makers in its veins so it should not surprise that strings, bowed or plucked, sound exquisite through the Olympica II, like the cello in Death is The Road to Awe (Clint Mansell – The Fountain, Nonesuch) performed by Kronos Quartet. The Olympica II nicely delineated the contrast of live strings against the syntetic backdrop and kept control over individual elements of the mix till the escalating cacophonic climax, even when the playback was louder than loud.
Tonal accuracy
The Burmester 082 was tonally more open and transparent. It provided greater dynamics and better transient attack like heard on strings and bass of Sanctus Lydian (Empire Brass Quintet). The Luxman cherished textures and afterglow – a kind of undescribable aura that hung in the air and provided organic unity of the performance. The Luxman was more lifelike whereas the Burmester was more technically perfect, the Luxman had better soundstage depth, the Burmester performed marginally better laterall - as usual, let your ears to be final arbiters for you. The important thing is that the Sonus Faber Olympicas do react sensitively to any change in the line up which means that they are transparent enough to reveal any dishonesty.
Spatial resolution
The Olympica II exhibits a higher degree of effortlessness comparing to the Olympica I. Natural authority, less stress, maturity – as if the speakers did not have to try that hard - these were the elements that came into the game with the Olympica II and had an impact on every aspect of its performance, most notable in Olympica II’s soundstaging. The soundstage of the Olympica II is beautifully three-dimensional, it lets the speakers disappear and establish a communication link with a listener. There was no lateral (left to right) constriction; the sound is extending outside the left and right box, which is perhaps not necessary for the recorded instruments themselves but absolutely necessary for the recorded ambience to bloom in the room. Thus the listener is receiving tiny rustles and reflections as they were heard by microphones in a studio or a concert hall, thus the music flies. Even in a modestly dimensioned listening room the depth of the soundstage was great and nicely layered in front-to-back continuum that mimicked what could be heard in reality.
Recommended resellers
HI-FI studio TYKON, Ostrava, tel. +420 723 449 894
Navrátil Audio, Havířov, tel. +420 737 821 360
Excelia HiFi, Chrudim, tel. +420 724 00 77 44
Manufacturer's website: http://www.sonusfaber.com
Associated components
- Sources: Luxman D-08
- Amplifiers: Luxman C-600f/M-600A, Burmester 082
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Neyton Frankfurt, Krautwire Mini ORG, CrystalConnect Piccolo Diamond
- Power conditioning: IsoTek Aquarius/Evo3 Syncro
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