The new Aida reviewd by Michael Fremer

NorthStar

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I found and read this article:
? https://sublimeacoustic.com/blogs/news/making-the-case-for-active-crossovers-vs-passive

The Aida II has three set of binding posts, for tri-amplification.
Michel Fremer in his review I don't believe experimented with this option.
Me, I would, with six quality monobolck amps, if I was a professional hi-end audio reviewer. The more I can give to my reader's audience the better for them, and the better for me, and the better for the speaker's designers, manufacturers, importers, audio dealers.

We love simplicity, the vast majority, but the best is not always that simple.
Hundred-thirty Gs is a reasonable amount of dough for most.
Most expect some of the very best sound reproduction from a mechanical loudspeaker, like the Sonus Faber Aida II, you betcha. It better delivers in spades.

Yes the inside looks nice, the vibrating metal rod and the quality crossovers using premium parts.
The cabling too looks high quality, and the exterior is simply gorgeous, finished from impeccable mastercraft.

I'd like to hear comparisons with similarly priced Magico speakers.
Because they are not as nice looking externally, but internally they are very impressively designed and built. And to help the reviews are high praise, and secondary, the measurements fare very well.
Plus we have a good bunch here who are Magico speaker's owners.

The room where the speakers go in, will always have the biggest effect.
In Michael's room the Aida II had great effect on Michael's emotional music enjoyment level; his review was clear, his music selections well chosen and impacting from the Aida's.
He didn't mention that it was better than sex, but he did wrote the word "sex" in the third line of his review, in reference to an article of long time ago.

Would the Aida II sound better if tri-amped, if the crossovers were not inside its enclosure?
Sonus Faber must have explored various options, and with and without that vibrating rod running in the center between few driver's compartments/sections. Computers and measurements are part of any serious audio loudspeaker's designs. And divulging too much is no good in a very competitive high-end audio world where the high rolling money is chasing above the sky and around the moon.
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Yes. Around $2k to $3k more. As mentioned in many reviews, one advantage of external crossover allows one to bypass the passive crossover to go active.

There’s that. Plus, the external x-over is now not subject to the immense forces within the cabinet. I’m sure what Dickey was meaning is that the values of the internal crossover and the external crossover are exactly the same, therefore the speaker will sound the same...assuming that the crossover is not impacted by the forces within the speaker. Your dealer may not have fully recognized the point.
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Ron, back in the day KEF had something called a "Force canceling rod" connecting to opposing woofers which were enclosed inside the speaker. Here is one version, a old school stereo place told me they were a real PITA to repair. http://www.kef.com/uploads/files/en/museum_pdf/90s/Reference_Series_Models_One_to_Four_r.pdf

This seems somewhat different in application but you get the idea. One version 104/2 even had an external EQ the Kube which extended bass down to 20Hz.

By the way your new pic is pretty cool, looks much more real. The other one looked too perfect to me anyway.

Interesting! Thank you.
 

awsmone

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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?

CD1C9A3F-8590-40BA-BE0D-D8634F30F750.jpg
 

KeithR

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Your prior post wasn't stated that way...it said” Separtate box crossovers are generally poorly accepted” an absolute.

Because they are. Add complication, expense, cables, etc. hardly anyone makes them anymore as clearly they don’t sell.
 

DaveyF

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Because they are. Add complication, expense, cables, etc. hardly anyone makes them anymore as clearly they don’t sell.

Sorry Keith, but that’s more supposition. While they are more expensive to produce, since you need a separate enclosure, a stand alone x-over is going to be immune to a host of problems that the traditional in-the-box x-over suffers from. Most speaker designers know this, but the expense usually pushes them away from the solution. In a speaker that is designed to sell for north of $100k, I don’t personally believe that should be much of a consideration, and neither do several other designers who I have spoken to this about.
To say they clearly don’t sell...I don’t know where you get that idea from:confused:
 
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caesar

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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.










Thanks. These pictures seem like a big FUKC YOU from Stereophile to Rockport, YG, Magico fans, "Superior to the Almighty" Alon Wolf, Valin, "Worthless to the Audio Fans" Robert Harley and all those who have been preaching for the last decade how only metallical cabinets can sound great.

And cost-wise, "superior to the almighty" Alon Wolf must be pulling his hair out. Check out the metallical bracing on the magicos: https://www.dagogo.com/magico-q5-loudspeakers-review-part-2/2/ vs. the wood carving job on the Sonus Faber, material costs aside... The magico m3 retail like $75K (their m-pod gooters are about an additional $10K or so), while the aida is $130K. Hahaha. What a crazy hobby!
 

caesar

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Sound wise, I have heard these sound just ok with D'Agostino monoblocks. And they TOTALLY SUCK with Audio Research, which is owned by the same parent company. They sound completely flat and dead with ARC, no life, no beitzim. Seems like idiocy to pair SF and ARC.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Stereophile's Fremer did not review Aida with ARC amps, choosing beefy SS Darts instead, while the Stererphile show reporter Victor Jason Sirinius, reviewed Wilson driven by ARC in the same issue. Had Fremer reviewed the Aidas with ARC, the conclusion would have been that both the speakers and amps suck.
 

NorthStar

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Not that long ago I truly enjoyed reading Mike Lavigne's comments and impressions and analysis of few different amps with his speakers. It's from people like him who are supremely dedicated and true music explorers with various audio components that my audio education is evolving.

So what you've just said above Caesar is important...speakers/amps/room matching.
 

microstrip

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Sound wise, I have heard these sound just ok with D'Agostino monoblocks. And they TOTALLY SUCK with Audio Research, which is owned by the same parent company. They sound completely flat and dead with ARC, no life, no beitzim. Seems like idiocy to pair SF and ARC.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Stereophile's Fremer did not review Aida with ARC amps, choosing beefy SS Darts instead, while the Stererphile show reporter Victor Jason Sirinius, reviewed Wilson driven by ARC in the same issue. Had Fremer reviewed the Aidas with ARC, the conclusion would have been that both the speakers and amps suck.

Sorry, I listened to Aida II's with the new ARC REF160 monoblock's and they sounded excellent ...
 

awsmone

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587C5A97-FB86-44DC-A8C5-8AA63718296A.jpg
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.

I am wondering if in MF room he is struggling with the Allison effect?

why he has tried three different full range speakers with varying results but similar in room measurements
 

NorthStar

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A room cancellation effect caused by the two woofer drivers and the floor.
The Aida II has a x-over point @ 150Hz and another one @ 200Hz.
_____

* In another thread (tone controls) we were also discussing a balance control.
Plus good speaker's pairs should match their output within close tolerances, between the left and right speakers. Some have less than 0.25dB, others more.

Aida II

"Incidentally, the individual measured responses of the left and right speakers at the listening position indicated superb pair matching, the two outputs matching within 0.5dB from 600Hz to 8kHz."
 

GaryProtein

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

All joking aside, neither one of them thrill me.

The XLF was meh and the Aida made my ears bleed.
 

CKKeung

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Jun 17, 2011
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All joking aside, neither one of them thrill me.

The XLF was meh and the Aida made my ears bleed.

To be frank, Wilson Audio speakers are never my cup of tea.

I shall try to audition the Aida II in Hong Kong and post my view in WBF.
 

gadawg58

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Apr 7, 2018
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I heard the original Aida driven by McIntosh 1.2KW and was very disappointed. I’ll have to hear these as I used to love the old Extremas back in the early 90’s but haven’t really loved much of their newer product.

George
 

BruceD

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I heard the original Aida driven by McIntosh 1.2KW and was very disappointed. I’ll have to hear these as I used to love the old Extremas back in the early 90’s but haven’t really loved much of their newer product.

George

Same here--I own Original SF's always make point to listen to the latest creations-- They just don't have the same old magic--ah well as long as the Shareholders get a dividend I suppose:(

BruceD
 

microstrip

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Same here--I own Original SF's always make point to listen to the latest creations-- They just don't have the same old magic--ah well as long as the Shareholders get a dividend I suppose:(

BruceD

Well, I also still own original SF's and owned most of them - and yes, IMHO current ones do not sound like the originals. If people just want a speaker that just has the "magic" of the old version, they will surely be disappointed.

Can I ask what exact speakers are you addressing?
 

microstrip

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View attachment 43842

I am wondering if in MF room he is struggling with the Allison effect?

why he has tried three different full range speakers with varying results but similar in room measurements

Surely. The Allison is due to the constructive and destructive interference of sound waves after reflecting in the room boundaries. Rob Allison quantified a few of the peaks and dips arising from them. One of the problems of small/medium rooms is that we do not have a large variation of distances to try - in order to get good stereo, the range of positioning is small.
 

awsmone

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He says the bass peak isn’t audible but I wonder about the suck out between 100 and 200hz? I had this issue in a previous room and it robbed instruments of their body and timbre of acoustic instruments
 

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