The Sonus Faber Concertino G4 ‘Maestro’ Edition Is A Bookshelf Speaker Masterpiece
The home audio upgrade is meant to be heard and seen.
Very few speaker manufacturers can honestly claim their products have any artisanal qualities, but upscale Italian audio company Sonus faber continues to put sonic artisanship at the forefront with the latest addition to its Concertino bookshelf speaker range. And the brand had better—the name translates from Latin to English as “sound artisan.”
As a part of the Heritage collection, the Concertino G4 is an update of a trapezoidal design penned in the first 15 years of Sonus faber, which was founded in 1983. It’s a two-way speaker featuring a 1-inch silk dome tweeter, a 5-inch midwoofer, and a reflex duct positioned at the back of the cabinet. But Sonus faber has long favored the use of natural materials in its products—even the very earliest prototypes featured natural wood cabinets.
So for latest Concertino, an even stronger emphasis has been placed on using sustainable materials. That reflect duct, for instance, is made from paper and solid wood instead of plastic. The midwoofer is partially made from paper pulp and cradled in an organic basket, and the chassis holding the midwoofer and other components in place is made from recycled cork. The internal volume is housed in ribbed walnut and covered by a patented, plant-based leather alternative from Italian startup Ohoskin.
All of these elements come together in small package measuring about 1 foot deep and tall to create a what we assume is a beautifully balanced sound. Livio Cucuzza, Sonus faber’s vice president of research and development, previously told Maxim about the comprehensive tuning process used when testing every speaker all the way up to the flagship $750,000 Suprema system.
“We have a process to tune our speakers called ‘sound quality,’ which offers engineers a solid and replicable base to work on the most impalpable element of our products: the sound,” Cucuzza explained. “We used that same process for Suprema, but given the performance of the system, we added some new tracks. The list of tracks is a secret but features a vast range of genres, including strong electronic music, symphonic tracks, rock pieces, live performances and some simple male and female vocals. Having this kind of variety is crucial in understanding whether a system can sound ‘natural.’ ”
Like all of Sonus faber’s products, the Concertino G4 is meant to be heard and seen, and the best way to ensure the latter is to purchase the complementary iron steel stands featuring walnut veneer inserts, which are priced at $1,500 for a pair. The first Sonus faber 300 Concertino G4 pairs are “Maestro” editions, as denoted by a serialized brass plaque, go on sale for $5,000 per pair on October 24.
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