SONUS FABER IL CREMONESE EX3ME

Keijo Tanskanen

FOREWORD

Sonus Faber was founded in 1983 by Mr.Franco Serblin and therefore they are celebrating 40th Anniversary very soon. Serblin left the company in 2008, but fortunately this did not seem to affect to the production and quality negatively. On the contrary, the models launched in 2010, like Guarneri Evolution and Amati Futura, seemed to take a remarkable steps forward and they went straight into the class of the best loudspeakers in their price category. Personally, I liked them a lot as well, but not quite enough for a purchase. A decade later the positive flow of development seems to continue!

At Hifihuone open doors in 2020, it didn’t take a long time to realize that Sonus Faber Il Cremonese Ex3me floorstanders are music deliverers of the highest order. Since my purchase of the Wilson Audio Sasha W/P, I had gone through huge amount of Hifi events and setups of serious enthusiasts without managing to find a real competitor for them, naturally in the limits of my budget, listening room requirements and my preferences. However, this visit was a game changer. What I heard was exceptionally well balanced and superbly organized music, from my own and well known test CDs, of course. Also, important was that Il Cremonese Ex3me had plenty of authority and dynamics in it's music reproduction, despite the front end did not consist of the most powerful and merciless components, in my opinion. So, after this visit I knew that these loudspeaker had real potential, even for replacing my Sashas. A closer look was mandatory in a proper time!

I am an engineer and I have my bald way to tell or write things. Actually, I hate listening or reading information which actually does not tell anything meaningful and I have to make some kind of rendition of the results or the most meaningful is told in a couple of sentence which are hidden in the crowd of spinoffs. Hopefully my way to approach reviewing is fine at least for the most of the readers!

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Type: Floorstanding 3,5 ways, 6 drivers, bass-reflex

Cabinet: Multilayered wood (sides), leather finishing High Density wood fiber (cabinet), massive Avional top and basis.

Drivers: 30 mm Diamond like Carbon Berilliym dome tweeter, 150 mm composite cone with Nd magnet midrange driver, 2 x 180 mm composite cone with Fe magnet woofers, 2x220 mm Nanocarbon fiber/Nomex Honeycomb long throw infra-woofers.

Crossover frequencies: 250 Hz and 2500 Hz

Frequency response: 25 Hz - 35000 Hz

Sensitivity: 92 dBSPL

Nominal impedance: 4 ohm

Dimensions (h x w x d): 1450 x 398 x 622 mm

Weight: 84 kg each

BACKGROUND

After a couple of arrangements and by a great help of Mr. Ari Niemi from Hifihuone, I finally got the loudspeakers into my listening room. Before the arrival, these specific units had been demoed successfully in Helsinki and also tested by a local Hifi magazine, Hifimaailma. However, I did not have any test results, domestic or international, before my decision and purchase.

Associated equipment:

CD player: Audionet Planck

Preamplifiers: Audionet PRE G2 and Illusion Line SE 1

Poweramplifier: Audionet MAX monoblocks

Interconnects: Transparent Generation 6 XL RCA and Reference MM2

Speaker cable: Transparent Reference MM2

Reference loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Sasha W/P

The speaker terminals were nicely located on the rigid bottom plate for easier handling. However, I would have liked to have terminals with longer wings for easier tightening.

LISTENING RESULTS AND COMPARISONS

THE START:

After installation and positioning the loudspeakers, just in the way Sonus Faber had guided (very near the places where the Sashas had been), we began listen to the music. From the very first notes it was clear that the speakers fit very well in my well threated 24 ,5 square meter listening room. The balance of the music was just as good as expected. The typical Sonus Faber excellencies were present, but there was also more. The resolution of the music was exemplary and the very ends of the audio frequency ranges were reproduced in the way, which I had never heard from Sonus Faber loudspeakers. It was already quite clear that these loudspeakers would stay in my listening room permanently! However, for making things absolutely sure, I took a two week test period, which included three returns of Sashas as well,


THE RESULTS OF THE TEST PERIOD:

During the test period I managed to improve visceral impact and sonic view by a more careful and uncompromising loudspeaker placement. Firstly, I could not really believe that the sonic picture was bigger and more focused than the one which was delivered by the Sashas, but so it was! The artists seemed to be higher on the stage, their locations were clearly more exact and there was more layered depth in the presentations. The sonic picture was also a tad more transparent. So, at once, a win for the Il Cremonese Ex3me in these features.

The bass of the Sashas was truly excellent and impressive, no question about it. However, Il Cremonese Ex3me delivered a bit more. The bass of Il Cremonese Ex3me was unbelievably extensive, flat and powerful for the size of the loudspeakers. I would say, that adding subwoofers besides these loudspeakers in my listening room would be an impossible task, absolutely, just because the bass extension reach 25 Hz without any attenuation and the level of the over-all bass is already a tad plenty. This kind of behaviour is actually not a flaw for me, instead, it suits very well for my favorite music samples and for my taste. So, a slight win for the Il Cremonese Ex3me!

The treble was not among the highest strengths of the Sashas, although they could deliver very natural cymbal and bell sounds. Therefore, I expected to have improvements in this region, and I got them. Besides delivering more natural and cleaner sound of high frequency instruments, Il Cremonese Ex3me improved also the articulation of midrange instruments. The sonic envelopes were simply a bit more accurate and pure, all the way from midrange to the highest treble. A clear win for the Il Cremonese Ex3me in this region.

The dynamics of the Sashas was already superb, but so it was with Il Cremonese Ex3mes. The both loudspeakers can deliver purely very rapid transients and explosive sounds. However, Il Cremonese Ex3me seemed to have a very slight edge in speed. On the contrary, Sasha specs show just a tad higher maximum dynamic range. However, this headroom extension is pointless for me, because I do not listen to the music very loud, not even close to the limits of these loudspeakers. Therefore in this case, I would say a tie, although Il Cremonese Ex3me may have a practical advantage.

Sonus Faber loudspeakers have an overwhelming reputation in reproduction of correct timbres of instruments. In this manner, I did not expect to have further improvements. Still, Il Cremonese Ex3me delivered very natural like timbres. Only a couple of CDs had hints of hardness, possibly because of the merciless and higher resolution of Ex3mes, at least partially. However, Sashas had it even more and I had lived with them happily over eleven years. So, not a big issue then and these drawbacks can be reduced partially by lowering listening volume. Actually, I cannot say for sure (nobody can), do these hints exist already in the information of the certain CDs or are they caused by the audio system. One can only guess. One way or the other, a win for the Il Cremonese Ex3me, once again.

THE ART

Although there is space for subjective tastes in audio, I think there is much more of it in evaluation of a speaker look. However, in the case of Il Cremonese Ex3me, I have not met a single person who do not like and value the look and finish of it. In my opinion they are almost perfect, having traditional stamps of manufacturer but also some personal ones. The look of the speaker is beautiful and constructively impressive at the same time, which is quite rare mix among the loudspeakers or even among the other products as well. The finish of the speaker is simply astounding, absolutely immaculate. Although the sound is my first priority in choosing loudspeakers, of course, a great look is definitely a remarkable bonus. Il Cremonese Ex3me offered this bonus overwhelmingly!

CONCLUSION

As you may have noticed, I made a careful side by side comparison with the Wilson Audio Sasha W/P, which already is a result of great engineering and still belong to the reference class of loudspeakers. I wouldn't have owned them so long time if this wasn't true. However, the listening results told a rough truth. Il Cremonese Ex3mes are better and higher performing loudspeakers. Even if I refer to my whole 45 years of Hifi experience, I cannot find a single loudspeaker which would have been or still is significantly better. Though, I have not heard everything and cannot say sure what parts of the audio systems finally have caused the noticed lacks. After all, there surely are better loudspeakers, at least in certain manners. However, besides the choice of Il Cremonese Ex3me was the most expensive audio purchase of my enthusiasm, it was also the best one, that's it!