The Italian brand stunned CES 2024 visitors with its Suprema system, which consists of two main speakers, two subwoofers, and an electronic crossover.

Sonus faber boasts that Suprema is its “most ambitious project to date” - not a throwaway statement when considering the company's current high-end offerings, such as the Il Cremonese ex3me and the Stradivari G2 we experienced at last year's Munich show, just for starters.

SUPREMA TOWERS

The Suprema's 1905 x 650 x 880mm (HxWxD) tower speakers sport the Sonus faber trademark lute shape, celebrating the first Guarneri violins of the Cremona region near which the brand is based. Multi-layered wood is used for the side panels with the illusion of 'wings' created by a unique 3D bending shape. This is completed by a leather front panel created in collaboration with renowned luxury furniture brand Poltrona Frau, whose Impact Less leather, a chromium-free tanning process leather, was launched in 2022.

The 4/5-way design has a rated 91dB 1m/2.83V sensitivity, quoted 4 Ohm nominal impedance and features eight front-firing speakers partnering with two rear-firing drivers. Here, we start with an all-new Camila midrange equipped with a pulp diaphragm with a non-circular membrane. As it isn't masked by suspensions, Sonus faber says this ensures maximum resolution and reduces resonances. Behind it is a new dual-drive magnet system with an organic basket previously used for the Stradivari woofers to control airflow.

The 6.5-inch midrange drivers are paired with a new 38mm mid-tweeter and 20mm super tweeter, both sporting treated silk domes. These sit in a “unique dedicated internal volume” designed to enhance the drivers' performance. The chamber and its inner walls maintain an organic shape. They are also made entirely of recycled cork, which, we are told, gives Sonus Faber bragging rights to be the first to use a natural and sustainable material to create acoustic volume.

The spec sheet states that the font-firing speakers cross over at 360, 430, 1700, and 6700 Hz, while the rear-firing driver crosses at 500 and 2300 Hz. The frequency response for the fronts is listed as 45Hz – 40KHz, while the rears are shown as covering 500Hz – 20KHz.

SUPREMA SUBS

Meanwhile, the 1451 x 850 x 525 mm (HxWxD) subwoofers feature an elliptical shape in honour of the Stradivari violin, as echoed by the aforementioned Sonus faber Stradivari. This design enables them to accommodate two 38cm transducers. These utilise carbon fibre membranes and a neodymium magnet motor system for undistorted pressures while covering its 16 to 30/80 Hz (variable based on the setting of the electronic crossover) frequency range. Furthermore, the speakers are decoupled from the ground using a mechanism produced in partnership with isolation specialists IsoAcoustics.

SUPREMA CROSSOVER

Finally, the electronic crossover is housed in a rectangular chassis that, like the rest of the Suprema system, comes in your choice of red, graphite or walnut finishes. This handles the integration between the speakers and subwoofers and is a dual mono, fully balanced design with all phase cutting and control circuits remaining purely analogue and created using selected discrete components. Sonus faber tells us that the Suprema's configuration system “aims to extend beyond the conventional limits of the frequency band coverage” and that the crossover filters that are partially visible on the sides of the main column use the best electroacoustic configurations experienced by the R&D team in the last decade.

The Sonus faber Suprema system is priced at £695,000 / US$750,000. However, if that is £/$70,000 above your budget, they do offer it with a single subwoofer for that very amount.

Visit Sonus faber for more information