Loudspeakers

If you're trying to decide whether to buy the Amati Tradition [HFN Oct '17] or this, its smaller sibling, there's little to choose between them in measured performance. The Amati Tradition offers a little more bass extension and will almost certainly go a little louder but otherwise the Serafino Tradition runs it close. Both have a specified 90dB sensitivity: we measured 89.6dB on pink noise for the Serafino (against 89.5dB for the Amati). Both have a nominal impedance of 4ohm but the Serafino is slightly easier to drive, despite its modulus dropping to a low of 3.0ohm (3.2ohm for the Amati). Better control of impedance phase angles at LF means that the Serafino's minimum EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) is 1.9ohm at 272Hz, 0.2ohm higher than the Amati's.

The Serafino's forward frequency response [Graph 1] – measured at 1m on the tweeter axis – is very similar to its stablemate's, both displaying a ~2dB presence band suckout followed by rising output to 20kHz. The Serafino's response errors are slightly lower at ±4.3dB and ±4.5dB but with both speakers the response can be flattened by listening a little off-axis. Pair matching, over the same 300Hz to 20kHz frequency range, was a tight ±0.6dB for the Serafino, better than for the Amati (±1.4dB). Only in bass extension does the Serafino fall a little short: our diffraction-corrected nearfield measurement showed 48Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz), just one-fifth of an octave higher than the 42Hz of the Amati. Both can be improved in-room by careful exploitation of boundary gain. The CSD waterfall [Graph 2] is also similar for the two speakers, showing a couple of low-treble breakup resonances. KH

Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83Vrms – Mean/IEC/Music): 91.5dB / 89.6dB / 88.8dB
Impedance modulus min/max (20Hz–20kHz): 3.0ohm @ 151Hz / 10.2ohm @ 2.5kHz
Impedance phase min/max (20Hz–20kHz): –28° @ 30Hz / 30° @ 353Hz
Pair matching/Response Error (300Hz–20kHz): ±0.6dB/ ±4.3dB/±4.5dB
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz): 48Hz / 32.5kHz/34.4kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m): 0.7% / 0.2% / 0.5%
Dimensions (HWD): 1091x396x485mm
Price: £17,998