[ Home | Staff & Contacts | DIY & Tweaks | Listening tests | HiFi Playground | Music & Books ]

Sonus Faber Concertino

[Italian version]

[Sonus Faber Concertino]

The Concertino are two-way bass reflex bookshelf speakers, with hi-quality cones and a gorgeous finish (Italian walnut and black leather), which are outstanding considering the fact that a pair costs 1 million liras (more or less 700 US $).

These speakers caught my ears since the first time I listened to them, thanks to a remarkable behaviour at the low frequencies given the size of the woofer and of the cabinet.
Overall definition was good too with a special *grace* in the highs.
Once I brought these speakers into my smallish listening room (3.5x4.5x2.8m) I decided to use GM speaker stands. Sonus Faber makes some special stands for the Concertino, with bolts that lock INTO the speaker itself for a firmer mount.
Anyway the GM Audio (an Italian Company) are cheaper and definitely worth the money.
I placed the speakers 50 cm apart from the rear wall, slightly less from the lateral walls (given the dimensions of my room I couldn't do better).

I used a system as follows: Galactron MK2060 integrated amp and Teac CD5 CD player.
With this system the frequency response at the low end is stunning, you shouldn't expect to get 30Hz flat but, given the size of the Concertinos, an excellent mid-bass, clean and precise, makes you forget the lack of the extreme bass.
Consequently these speakers will be in trouble when forced in wide listening rooms and if you're an organ-music fanatic you'll be quite disappointed.
No problem if your room is small, like mine, and if your amplifier isn't exactly a monster. My Galactron (30 Watts per ch.) fits these babies perfectly, a very nice combo.
The sound is detailed with a clear and neat mid-range though the Concertino aren't hyper-detailed or analytical, they sound bright yet very sweet.
The tweeter sounds like some Morel or Dynaudio even if not at the same level of overall coherence, please remember the price of these speakers.
The highs are fast and it seems there's no upper bound to their extension.
3D imaging is great though stereo depth strongly depends on how far is the rear wall. Put them too far and you'll suffer from a lack of bass, as usual it's a delicate balancing act.
When you find the correct position the Concertinos literally disappear, creating a precise and very wide virtual soundstage.

I believe the Concertino do have the usual drawbacks of small-sized speakers, I'd not suggest to use 200 watts per ch. amplifiers since all that power could be useless. The Concertino sound fine even with a little amplifier.
With well-matched partners the Concertino are able to outperform any other speaker for the given price if not even more expensive ones.
You need to spend TWICE to get the sound of the Concertino without its obvious shortcomings. I'd suggest to spend that amount of money in a better amp or front-end.

© Copyright 1996 Giuliano Nicoletti - Translation Lucio Cadeddu - http://www.tnt-audio.com

[ Home | Staff & Contacts | DIY & Tweaks | Listening tests | HiFi Playground | Music & Books ]