Loudspeakers

Measured on Sonus faber’s recommended tweeter axis, the Sonetto V G2’s response shows a step near the top of the Camelia mid unit’s range (1.5kHz), before crossover. This is responsible for a blip (2.9dB) in pair matching and is also seen on the CSD waterfall [Graph 2] although the resonance is at a low level. Otherwise the response is broadly ‘flat’ prior to a peak in output of the silk ‘Damped Apex Dome’ at 18kHz that, in turn, pushes up the response errors to ±4.8dB and ±5.0dB, respectively (re. 200Hz-20kHz). Sonus faber claims a 40kHz extension for this latest version of the tweeter and, indeed, it reaches out to a fine 49kHz [–6dB re. 10kHz, pink shaded area Graph 1]. There’s an obvious roll off in HF output off-axis [grey trace, Graph 1], but the subjective balance may be preferable. Incidentally, the mid/treble grille causes a notch at 6-7kHz – you may want to remove it for critical listening [blue trace, Graph 1].

The lift in midband output boosts sensitivity to 90.1dB/1kHz (better than the rated 89dB) but the figure is a little lower at 88.6dB when averaged across 500Hz-8kHz. The down-firing port, meanwhile, helps conceal a quarterwave mode at 140Hz and others at 500Hz and 900Hz (also seen on the phase/ impedance plots) but the 36Hz tuning does assist in the final extension to 38Hz (-6dB re. 200Hz) of what is a fairly 'peaky' bass alignment [green shaded area, Graph 1]. Good sensitivity and a punchy bass come at the expense of a fairly tough load where the 2.78ohm/96Hz minimum and +49°/-66° swings in phase angle from 20Hz-100Hz all contribute to this speaker's 1.1ohm/82Hz EPDR. Bass freaks - this will test your amplifier. PM