Sonus faber Sonetto Ⅷ

摘要

Perhaps the best-known Italian speaker company, Sonus faber is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Much has changed since it was founded in Monteviale, Italy, and launched its first speaker, the Parva -including the expansion from being a one-brand company to a group encompassing such well-known names as Mcintosh and Audio Research - but the principles are still the same. Italian manufacture continues, and the speakers tend to have a style - and a price - marking them out as something a little different from the herd. In that context, the new Sonetto range, of which the Sonetto Ⅷ speaker we have here is the £5698 flagship, available in wood finishes, matt white and piano black, is almost conventional in its looks. You see, one of the ways Sonus faber is marking its anniversary is not a hugely expensive 'statement design' - after all, this is the company that once hired a Venetian palazzo to launch its huge 'Fenice' speaker [HFN Feb '11] before discovering later that there was a bit of a problem with that name and reverting to calling it 'The Sonus faber'. Instead what we have is a range aimed at 'the highest quality in music reproduction within a cost-conscious package'.