The new Aida reviewd by Michael Fremer

CKKeung

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microstrip

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https://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-aida-loudspeaker
It's a most praising review.
Do you agree?
WBF members who have listened to the new Aida please give your comments.
Many thanks!

I listened to it, but not in my system ... :)

Please see https://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?25252-Audio-Research-Reference-160M&p=530721&viewfull=1#post530721.

It seems to me that MF was particularly pleased on how the Aida II's bass and scale integrated and synergized his limited size room. I have also listened to the Aida II's in a large room where I listened many times to the XLF, and no, in a large room IMHO the Aida II's can't match the XLF's in these aspects.
 

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Many of our readers will be in shock when they read MF on Beethoven 9th : :)

" I have sets of the Beethoven symphonies by Bernstein, Karajan, Klemperer, Leibowitz, Walter, and Paavo Järvi—all of them sound good, some better than others. This new one from Rattle and Berlin might be the most spatially together and believable of all, and it's digital. Of course, I think the reason for this is the minimal M/S miking. The digits are just how it's originally stored, and the software keeps getting better."
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-aida-loudspeaker#MjPOzTFqg9L3lD2l.99
 

CKKeung

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The XLF has to be better. Its msrp is USD210k. ;)
 

NorthStar

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They will need a lot of current looking @ their impedance across the full audio spectrum. ...And in particular in the 20 to 35Hz region (1st octave) when looking @ the phase.



Those need premium amplification, very robust.

They are gorgeous looking, and expensive.









 
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Ron Resnick

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A very informative post, Bob. Thank you.

I found the review very interesting, although I would like to ask Michael the question: "If you had no loudspeakers now, and if you wanted to buy a pair, and the Alexx and the Aida were the same exact price, which would you select?"

From Michael's review I cannot proffer a guess as to which he would select. What do you think?

PS1: I never heard a Sonus Faber speaker until I heard the Amati Homage at Jason Lord's The Source AV. I thought the Amati Homage sounded warm, smooth, detailed but not etched -- totally beautiful and engaging. I thought it was a wonderful speaker and, to my ears, an easy recommendation in that price range.

PS2: I was not aware that part of the Sonus Faber design is vibration rods and hanging things floating in the cabinet as an alternative to heroically inert cabinet construction. That sounds a little wacky to me. What's that about?
 

DaveyF

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A very informative post, Bob. Thank you.

I found the review very interesting, although I would like to ask Michael the question: "If you had no loudspeakers now, and if you wanted to buy a pair, and the Alexx and the Aida were the same exact price, which would you select?"

From Michael's review I cannot proffer a guess as to which he would select. What do you think?

PS1: I never heard a Sonus Faber speaker until I heard the Amati Homage at Jason Lord's The Source AV. I thought the Amati Homage sounded warm, smooth, detailed but not etched -- totally beautiful and engaging. I thought it was a wonderful speaker and, to my ears, an easy recommendation in that price range.

PS2: I was not aware that part of the Sonus Faber design is vibration rods and hanging things floating in the cabinet as an alternative to heroically inert cabinet construction. That sounds a little wacky to me. What's that about?

Ron, I don’t believe that the internal rods are “ hanging things floating in the cabinets “; instead I think they are connected to other parts of the cabinet and therefore act as reinforcement and strengthening for the cabinet walls.
MF goes to some length to point out that these newer designs are not the designs of Franco Serblin...which is in some ways unfortunate IMO.

As to which speaker MF would select, that seemed obvious by the review... the new Aida mk2. Unfortunately for Michael, I suspect his accommodation pricing would only give him the speaker at $65k and he is still contractually unable to sell his Alexx’s...due to his accommodation agreement on those...typically has to hold the product for one year...which it hasn’t been yet. Any bets that once the year is up, the Alexx’s will be on the market, lol.
 

BruceD

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MF goes to some length to point out that these newer designs are not the designs of Franco Serblin...which is in some ways unfortunate IMO.

Agree!-- I haven't heard a SF product I'd consider since Franco 's demise:(

YVMV

BruceD
 

NorthStar

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It is obvious to me too that Michael Fremer's Alexx's are going to end up on Audiogon. Right now he's probably checking his checking account and making some calculations. The Aida II's will find solace in Michael's listening room.

A short but to the point review; he was more concentrated in listening and say less for more. His music selections...impeccable...great stuff.

Now if you would excuse me I need to go check my books while I'm making a peanut butter/jelly/banana sandwich. Oh, Michael forgot a very small detail but worth mentioning nonetheless; the high value WAF and high class fatal attraction decor very friendly. Did he mention the width, height and depth of the soundstage? He sure did, plus some more...spaciousness and realistic size venues.
_____

TUNED MASS DAMPER
"The TMD (Tuned Mass Damper) is a device normally used in the world’s biggest skyscrapers and consists of suspended masses placed inside of the speakers. While vibrating in antiphase, the TMD erases main vibrations and allows a clearer bass reproduction and a better silence reproduction."
 
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Ron Resnick

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This is what makes horse racing: from the review it is not at all obvious to me that Michael would trade out the Alexxs for the Aidas. Michael clearly preferred the soundstaging of the Aidas on classical music, and he enjoyed the low frequency resolution of the speakers. Those are but two parameters of loudspeaker performance, no?
 

LL21

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This is what makes horse racing: from the review it is not at all obvious to me that Michael would trade out the Alexxs for the Aidas. Michael clearly preferred the soundstaging of the Aidas on classical music, and he enjoyed the low frequency resolution of the speakers. Those are but two parameters of loudspeaker performance, no?

Speaking of horse racing, we have a reference by MF about how the Aida II bass was superior to Alexx which was in turn superior to XLF. But if you go back to the Alexx review, you will see that JA (who did the measurements) actually disagreed and preferred the XLF's bass in MF's room. Interesting reading.

Meanwhile, regarding the tensioned rods inside the Aida...i think they act as a sort of means of escape for vibrations which are channeled down thru the structure to the foundation plate at the bottom? In any event, if you read the measurements from JA, the cumulative spectral decay plot shows an incredible 'clean floor' which i thought was sometimes an indication of how well the cabinetry, etc was designed to protect against vibration? ("Normally, after the input signal has ended, the speaker should stop as well. However, some frequencies will decay slowly, and will show up on the graph as sustained frequencies in time. This will be an indicative of speaker ringing or panel resonances..." (Source: http://audiojudgement.com/cumulative-spectral-decay-csd-plot/)

918SFAidafig7.jpg

Source: (https://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-aida-loudspeaker-measurements)
 

Ron Resnick

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LL21 I agree on all points. The internal vibration rods certainly seem to work, at least from a measurement point of view. I just had never heard of such a design before.

I wonder if such a design is intended to reduce cost or to save weight, or both. I wonder how the heroically inert (e.g., Rockport Lyra) method would measure in a comparison?
 

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I prefer the vibrating cabinets. They sound even better when shun mook mpingo discs are placed on them and everything resonates in harmony
 

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I prefer the vibrating cabinets. They sound even better when shun mook mpingo discs are placed on them and everything resonates in harmony

I wonder if Mook is your last name :confused:.

Tang
 

bonzo75

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I prefer the vibrating cabinets. They sound even better when shun mook mpingo discs are placed on them and everything resonates in harmony

Having owned the old Aida's I can assure you the cabinets are basically inert. Anyone looking at the video displaying how the structured cabinet is built will easily accept it - the outer layer dampens the internal one. The cumulative spectral-decay plot shown in the review is really very good and compares very well with speakers such as Magico's.

I recommend that people who are interested in the techniques used by Sonus Faber in the Aida's read the original Sonus Faber literature - MF only summarizes them in a free style, and can be confusing and can give a wrong idea of the way they work.
 

PeterA

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Does anyone know if MF removes his other speakers from the listening room before engaging in a review of a new pair of speakers? If not, how does he overcome the "sound" that the other drivers may contribute to the space or the mass of large Wilsons in the space? He must remove the speakers because of the room size, but what a hassle given the size and weight of the Wilsons.
 

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It's also possible he got the new 12 inch arm explaining the larger soundstage and bass :cool:
 

Tango

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It's also possible he got the new 12 inch arm explaining the larger soundstage and bass :cool:

Come on man. Arms don’t do bigger sound stage.

Tang
 

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