Audiophilepure

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“Audiophiles, of course, cannot live by deep bass alone—at least the experienced ones. Those frequencies should provide a foundation for everything else that happens. I’ve mentioned this before, but Bob Clarke of Profundo loves to evaluate high-end audio systems with recordings of grand pianos—as opposed to female voice. That prompted a listen to Australian pianist/composer Alister Spence’s album, Whirlpool, a two-disc set that’s his first solo album in three decades.

Spence is a pianist who spends a lot of time on the left half of the keyboard, so to speak, and most of these improvisations focus on deep water—its power, its persistence, its expansiveness. The Joseph Audio Pulsar2 loudspeakers were so adept at drawing out that aquatic vastness that I could easily hear the inspiration from Debussy’s La Mer, that sublime and humbling rise and fall of ocean waves, without any hint from the liner notes.”

The Sonus faber Lumina III is a fairly petite floorstanding speaker, not heavy at all at 35 pounds per, which suggests another reason why these speakers are so affordable (MInimalism!) The ply on the baffle can be covered with wenge or walnut, or in gloss black. I was immediately interested in the wenge from the press photos but I got walnut, which is still gorgeous. You can also get them in matte with maple inlays, which sounds like something I’d dig. And, of course, the rest of the enclosure is covered in that “iconic” leather. (LUxury!)

The Lumina line borrows plenty of technologies from the more expensive lines, another reason for the affordable MSRPs. The tweeters are the same DAD (damped apex dome) models used in the Sonetto series, as are the 5” midrange drivers. The 5” paper cone woofers are new, designed to match well with the mids. The Sonus faber Lumina III is a three-way, four-driver design with a sensitivity of  89 dB and a 4-ohm impedance and a frequency response that goes down to about 40 Hz.

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“Listen to the self-titled track from The Scotts and the improvements are obvious, with the new version delivering harder hitting, more layered lows. The previous model sounds bloated and blurred in comparison. The extra control at low frequencies helps rhythmic drive and agility.

Move up the frequency range and the steps up in articulation and clarity are striking. Voices come through with greater subtlety, and it’s easier to hear changes in intonation and phrasing. The Series 2 offers a clearer view of the recording and sounds more balanced overall.

The differences between the speakers are just as stark when we play The Road OST from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The title track has a sparse piano opening and we’re struck with just how much more defined and open the new speakers sound.

Their presentation is tauter, and a little more forward than the originals, but also sounds more natural and transparent. Tonally, there’s been a shift away from what now seems like a slightly over-blown bass and overly rich lower midrange to something more neutral.”

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“Sonus Faber’s Electa Amator III ($10,000/pair) is different. In many ways, lining up this two-way minimonitor next to Focal’s flagship stand-mount is a study in contrasts. From its solid-walnut (not MDF!) cabinet to its use of marble and brass, it looks far more artisanal than the average bookshelf model, and its price includes matching stands of very high quality. The EAIII has the same 1.1” fabric-dome tweeter used in Sonus Faber’s flagship model, the Aida ($130,000/pair), and a 7.1” paper-coned midrange-woofer based on drivers higher in the Italian brand’s line. The EAIII is voiced differently from most of today’s speakers, with a “smiling” frequency response: that is, it slightly boosts the bass and treble. I adored it when I reviewed it in 2019, having greatly admired its build quality and visual charm. It also sounded very good, with punchy output in the all-important midbass. This, allied to its detailed yet rich, almost golden midrange, made listening through the EAIIIs great fun with every type of music I played.”

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“Full range, low distortion, no coloration: The thoroughbred performance of the Divin Marquis confirms that Göbel High End presents serious competition to the Wilsons, Magicos, Rockports, Tidals, von Schweikerts, and YG Acousticses of the cost-no-object loudspeaker world. I am going to miss the Göbels when they go back to the distributor, and I am not looking forward to packing them into the flight cases and maneuvering them up the steps to my vestibule.”

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“From the jump, the Sonnets presented an engaging, inviting, detailed yet utterly natural timbre, and a sound stage that bloomed in all directions. With some added care, the frequency range was very smooth and linear with an overall warm balance. No, they will not replace my 500 lb Sunny Cable Majestic15, or my 50K Lansche 4.1 with 4 powered 10 inch bass drivers and Plasma tweeters. I can say that the $8K Sonnets possesses wholly unique qualities that even some of the big dollar designs don’t possess in the same way. Ultimately what you get with the Sonnets add up to intense musicality, outstanding reproduction of timbre, great dynamic output, and effortless detail retrieval.”

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“With the full-port plug, the response drops off even less steep. D4 distortion is back up where it was with no port plug, but the D2 (2nd ordered harmonics) are lower. Overall, the harmonic distortion appears to be less, but the bass output is also a bit less (I left the volume control unchanged for all three bass response tests).”

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“Gordon concluded his review by saying that he “Enthusiastically recommended” the Shape 65. But that’s not where our experiences with this speaker ended — Jay Lee, our YouTube reviewer, performed a follow-up review for a SoundStage! Take 2 episode. He briefly used the Shape 65s on a desktop, as Gordon had, but did most of his listening with a two-channel system with the Focals perched on 24”H stands and driven by the single-ended (RCA) preamplifier outputs of his Hegel H190 integrated amplifier-DAC. In Jay’s small listening room, the Shape 65 sounded so much “like a floorstanding speaker . . . a properly full-sized one” that he had to reduce the speakers’ bass output by 2dB. He didn’t need a subwoofer — unlike with the other small speakers he has.

Playing all his favorite demo tracks, Jay was impressed by everything he heard through the Shape 65s. And when he played Sara K.’s “All Your Love (Turned to Passion),” he was “left in disbelief that this type of sound was coming out from two active monitors that were meant for nearfield [listening].” In fact, Jay was so taken by the Shape 65s’ sound that he wanted to extend the listening period of his review to “play around with the speakers even longer.” He concluded his video by saying that the Focal Shape 65 isn’t great only for studio professionals — it’s also great for audiophiles who “want a kick-ass speaker in their living room, listening room, or for a small, simple system.”